Noise: the silent enemy.

In today's NYTimes:

"While noise is never cited as a reason for the spasms of violence, it is a silent enemy that makes the pressures of life that much harder to cope with, people on the streets here said."

Your accidental irony is laughable, Mr. Slackman; so is your last name.

/via rob v.

Shame on the NY Times

What happens when you hire a partisan hack, ersatz journalist, and world-historically bad prognosticator in the name of editorial "balance?" Well, when you're not reduced to publishing 800-words of inane drivel thumbed into a blackberry from a Sunday night soiree at Henry Kissinger's house (btw, Tighten Uppers throw better parties than right wing blowhards), you're stuck with breathtakingly inaccurate, hyperventilating accusations about somebody's patriotism that hinge on thinly-sourced gruel from the venerable publishing institution that is Newsmax.com.

I'm referring to the now-discredited column by Bill Kristol in today's Times which states, citing Newsmax as a source, that (via. Marc Ambider):

But Ronald Kessler, a journalist who has written about Wright’s ministry, claims that Obama was in fact in the pews at Trinity last July 22. That’s when Wright blamed the “arrogance” of the “United States of White America” for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. In any case, given the apparent frequency of such statements in Wright’s preaching and their centrality to his worldview, the pretense that over all these years Obama had no idea that Wright was saying such things is hard to sustain.

This is, of course, demonstrably false, thus undermining the entire point of Kristol's inane column. Obama was travelling to Miami when this speech was made. Hey Bill Keller, nice hire! You could have enriched your readers with any one of dozens of credible conservative commentators, and you had to go hire the biggest hack in the entire media landscape. Tighten up, buddy.

Bonus upside: I can't wait for the paper's right-wing critics to lambast their editorial page for their lax journalistic integrity and call for Kristol's resignation.

PBS, it's nutritious

I've grown up on PBS - Sesame Street, The New Yankee Workshop, and Yan Can Cook. So it was without hesitation, when Jim Lehrer of The News Hour asked me to check out a New York Times article calling into question the relevance of PBS and The News Hour, that I went to the Times website to read. I don't think the author, Charles McGrath, was a viewer of 321 Contact or Reading Rainbow, and I'd like to unleash Oscar the Grouch on him to distribute a tighten up smack down for his view. The article gives props to NPR, which is good, but it attacks a strawman PBS without mentioning, among other things, programs like Frontline and the children's programming. Read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/arts/television/17mcgr.html

On the serious side, PBS provides nuance in an increasingly polarized world. Its news and current affairs programs are not about truth or righteousness but about discussion and examination. These values are antithetical to a conservative temperament or modern examples of entertainment, both of which have left the U.S. culturally and politically stagnant. PBS is a conduit of world opinion and culture, as well as a mirror of our own culture; it is sad that many people no longer care to see this reflection. PBS is worth funding because it is a reasoned and contemplative alternative to what's been created by free market mass media, media producing content driven by efficiency (reality TV), shock appeals (context-less sex and violence), and divisiveness (cable news).

Although funding for PBS has been cut over the past decade, it still packs punch and has relevance. My advice to Mr. McGrath at the Times: Turn off Flavor of Love, tighten up, click on PBS, and watch Norm Abram use his skills to build an Adirondack chair.