The Goat Pen

Professor Tiger wrote:I actually kinda like Rachel Maddow. She is a rare liberal talking head that is capable of smiling.

Luckily I don't watch MSNBC ever so I don't have to suffer this unholy cross between Bronson Pinchot and John Stewart. I do like Big Eddie though. Used to listen to his radio show. He was on point a good bit of the time. My guess is he left MSNBC because he was talking about real left wing issues they did not want talked about.

Even MSNBC is establishment and ultimately right wing

good lord

It's true...

How so? That sounds like someone saying, "Fox News is a shill for the Left."

Of course that's what it sounds like to you...

That's what the two party system does. You're programmed from birth to pick a side and root your ass off for the one of your choosing and the other side is responsible for all the problems in the country. Dems are always liberals and left by definition, despite the fact that both sides are now way out on the right compared to where they were 60+ years ago. Hell Eisenhower believed in a 90% top tax rate. He was a Republican but would be seen as a radical socialist today.

Anything run by a big corporation is going to be pro-establishment, which is right wing by definition. How much time does MSNBC spend talking about the underlying issue of wealth disparity? My guess is not much and that they spend a lot of time on identity/cultural pieces which do nothing but keep us distracted and divided, ultimately maintaining the status quo, i.e. right wing.

its about making money

and making money in media means attracting an audience and getting advertisers.

to say that a corporation is by default right wing because they have a business model to maximize revenue is a generality that isn't tied to the face of their business when dealing with the public.

Conservatives don't watch MSNBC, Liberals I assume don't watch Fox.

The reason Rachel Maddow is blowing up is the same reason Rush Limbaugh blew up when Clinton was elected. Like minded people want to hear a voice that will speak to their views when they feel the nation is going in a direction they don't support. Its why Trump supporters now only number a handful at these rallys when he was attracting thousands of people beyond capacity when he was a candidate. TheTrump people don't feel the need to take action , the nation is going in the direction they want.

On the whole there is and has always been a liberal slant to the media. 50 years ago it was about having an obligation to expose corruption and inform the people. Journalists have always been idealists.

Now its about influencing the nation to a specific viewpoint. MSNBC, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times - all are filled with liberal and progressive idealists. A conservative is considered a novelty act.

Fox News is the same way, they are just blatantly shallow about it

Yes it's about making money. Fragmenting the masses along identity/cultural lines is unfortunately profitable in and of itself because people are easily sucked into hating others that are different, especially when they're told they are the victims, which is happening on both sides (side note it's always hilarious when O'Reilly tries to say that white males are the real victims). If you google "wealth disparity MSNBC" the first few hits are lo and behold to a Rachel Maddow piece where she talks about it but along racial lines. Granted it is a racial issue since black folks have been the underclass of choice since they were brought here in the slave trade, but addressing it as such in the media never achieves anything but a quick divide and conquer.

The media is slanted to the left in places, enough so that the right can point and scream "left wing media!" and have there be some truth to it (not talk radio, which is almost all right wing propaganda). Even MSNBC though doesn't typically address the really important issues of the left like Citizens United, fairness doctrine, the two party system being a joke, and the fact that we are quickly slipping into a corporate oligarchy. MSNBC doesn't question basic facets of the establishment (that I'm aware of) because the guys at the top are all super rich billionaires and the last thing they want is the masses waking up to just how crooked the system really is. They are at heart right wing if you understand what left and right really are.

The people are the ones with the real power, they just don't realize it. And as long as we are divided into small easily manipulated fragments which are then pitted against each other, something which MSNBC plays a vital role in, we never will.

Noam Chomsky would be proud of that post...

More like Sheldon Wolin.

Poor desperate hurricane survivors raiding a Foot Locker to get basic provisions to survive...

https://www.local10.com/weather/hurrica ... 4300005617

Well, Irma, like so many other hurricanes, was a bust, at least in terms of Florida and the US. Of course, there is always some damage and they'll focus on that (they had some Florida senator on this morning, he was already talking about the multiple billions it was going to take for the clean up, his venal joy was palpable), but far more times than not, the damage and destruction from any given hurricane is far, far less than the build up and the hype. Seems like it's been awhile since I've seen the combined effort of every media outlet go as all-in on their coverage (which of course also means their dire predictions and warnings) as they did for Irma, maybe it was b/c Harvey had whetted their appetite for destruction, or maybe it was b/c Irma looked like such a sure thing to do, at the very least, a bit more damage than the average hurricane, in which case they would have something extra to point to in order to justify the whole coverage. Alas. It was classic this morning, they went to the local reporter in Miami, her voice was still quivering with fear and warning, telling people "Just b/c the sun is out and it's not raining doesn't mean it's safe." Goddamn, the sun is out and it's not raining, it is fucking safe you cunt. Then, like a stern school marm, she said "I just spoke to a man who was taking his surf board out, this is definitely NOT what officials want!" Fuck you, cunt! Fuck all ya'll!!

I haven't seen anything about the Florida Keys yet, they actually might've sustained some real, serious damage...

My cousin lives in St. Thomas and they got mostly wiped out by this. It's not pretty down there.

brother in law in naples

pretty bad down there

Yes, those Caribbean islands were truly devastated, which is fairly common, and I suspect the Keys got hit pretty hard, but they were interviewing some folks in S. Florida who didn't seem too fazed. That's why I said "in terms of Florida and the US mainland". Sorry to hear about your cousin...

They were only supposed to be there for a year and now it's been five. I just saw her at a wedding and she was saying that they were really struggling with the life they loved down there and possible need to come back here to help her sick mother. Looks like the decision may have been made for her.

I am grateful that it veered to the west and degraded. The idea of a Cat 5 hurricane directly hitting Miami was too terrible to contemplate.

The situation in St. Maarten is pretty dire. There is a large local poor population in the interior with resorts and rich villas along the coasts. There is no effective policing there and anarchy is prevailing with groups of machete wielding locals threatening tourists.

guy sitting in front of me at the meeting I am in today has a vacation home in Naples.

He had a webcam for security.

He can't reach anyone and power has been out since 9:30am yesterday