Scary Thoughts

I have had a lot of time lately to think. Because I've been home sick (Relax, I won't use this blog post to whine about Pneumonia again)that translates into a lot of extra time, just sitting here thinking about stuff. I'm not a big TV guy and though I love to read I haven't always felt well enough the last couple of days (OK, that was a short, oblique reference to having Pneumonia)to do it so I've just sat back and reflected on stuff.

My friends are now going:"Holy Sh$t, that's a scary thought, Thom sitting around thinking all day, watch out!..." and I can't say I would blame them. It can be rather frightening, that place between my ears, I'll be the first to admit it. But occasionally, at least lately, it does me some good once in a while to go over things in my life and see how it's actually going. But this time I didn't really do any reflecting....I just got annoyed.

Yea, I did...I sat there and thought about things that bug me these days.Commercials, lousy drivers, TV shows, etc. Things like people who still have election signage in their yard two freakin' weeks after the election ended. OK, we know you a procrastinator, take the damn sign down already, sheesh!

Fox News programing from 5-11p as another. I'm seriously considering jumping off a bridge if I have to see or hear Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck or Shawn Hannity give their "fair and balanced" opinion even one more time. I know I've already bitched about this but since I live w/someone who watches that stuff religiously, owns the home I live in and is hard of hearing to boot, I'm stuck. Basically that means seeing or at least hearing it constantly for 3 or more hours every single night. And hell, I'm what I'd call an open-minded, somewhat conservative person! It's not that I always disagree w/everything they say...it's that they actually make no effort at all to truly be fair and balanced. That's what really grinds me. Their idea of fair/balanced was that when FN was introduced, it gave the viewing audience a alternative view point to the  3 Network News Departments and CNN, who obviously had a fairly Democratic agenda to promote.

None of the News Networks are fair and balanced, not ONE!...It's not their job, nope their job is to make $$ for the owners by selling a format that attracts advertisers because a ton of people are watching their programming...that's it. They are out for the MONEY...and there is nothing wrong with that.The issue is that some folks actually believe that the folks at FOX are actually promoting a conservative agenda because it's the right thing to do.....nope, NO Way. It's the lucrative thing to do because they realized that a vast group of Americans are conservative and there was absolutely NO network that catered to the conservative viewpoint. They have the entire market to themselves. Rupert Murdoch is many things, being stupid is not one of them. He's a brilliant businessman and this was an absolutely awesome business decision to create Fox News.

I think it's become immensely popular for people to gather their news by watching these opinion oriented shoes like O'Reilly, etc. because they are quite entertaining. But that's where the slope gets a bit slippery in my opinion.It is entertainment, not news...sure there is some news thrown in but the show should not be the one and only resource to form one's opinions on candidates for office or other important issues. That is whats dangerous..because a lot of people on all sides of the political spectrum are doing just that, getting "their" opinion from CNN, FN, MSNBC, etc.and accepting what they are hearing as the truth. It's not THE TRUTH, it's merely the networks OPINION. Please show me how Glenn Beck is the least bit fair and balanced and has anything to say about actual news?! It's an opinion show, plain and simple... and that's great, more power to him. Just don't try feeding the line of crap that this is NEWS and that it's BALANCED.

Honestly, to make informed judgments on candidates for office, economic issues, international relations and environmental issues, etc. one needs to put the work in to get multiple opinions, research a bit then form an actual opinion of their own....that's my take anyway. We live in a free country, why not exercise your right to make your OWN choices instead of just doing what someone on TV says to do. That's not too different then how the Third Reich came into existence....

Now that I have covered that, I'm to tired to write anymore this afternoon so the rest of my "things that annoy me blog" will have to wait for another time. I have to get my rest, I have Pneumonia, 'ya know!