Captain Digital

Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.

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Media

Now, even the media admits it.

This won’t be a long post, because I’ve got a lot of work to do this morning. But I couldn’t resist posting a link to an ABC News online article that I found…amazing. 

A nationally-recognized journalist for one of the Big Three networks has written an in-depth article not just on the maintstream media’s bias – but of how it’s gone so far that even Dan Rather has protested. 

This is heady stuff. 

I’m not sure if I agree with his conclusions (I think the reporters themselves bear a huge amount of the blame) but it’s a worthwhile read as it is almost guaranteed to spark debate, given that it appeared on ABC News. 

Enjoy.

Groupthink.

groupthink (grūp’thĭngk’) n. The act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view.

It is a part of human nature to want to belong. Belonging takes many forms – families, clubs, schools, sports teams and their fans, and even politics. In society, many of us classify themselves by labels that indicate to which group we belong. Conservative. Liberal. Republican. Democrat. But where things get weird is when one group takes hold of the idea that their ideas and beliefs are not only superior to the other groups, but that the other groups are stupid, wrong, and even dangerous.

Welcome to politics in 2008. [Read more…] about Groupthink.

The choice we face in this election.

 

NOTE: This post is a slightly edited version of a piece I wrote in response to an article published in Animation World Network magazine. 
— • —
As Election Day ’08 draws near, it’s obvious that this election represents the crossing of the Rubicon for America. As voters, We the People have a choice to make, and it’s a dramatically different one than we’ve faced before. In our generation, we’ve never had to face a decision that offers such stark contrasts – Obama, the anti-war, anti-big business, big-government candidate or McCain, the pro-business, anti-tax, political maverick – who in any other year would be described as a moderate (in almost every respect, except for his position the war). 
Those on the left would have you believe that the choice we face is between the “progressive” ideas of the cool, calm and collected Obama, versus a senile, mad dog (McCain) prone to rash decisions and irresponsible positions on the war, the economy, and our future.
But pause with me for a nanosecond, and let’s consider a few (verifiable) facts, and see if those on the Left have  all the answers. [Read more…] about The choice we face in this election.

Once more, dear friends, into the studio…

I actually used to own one of these dinosaurs. Really.
I actually used to own one of these dinosaurs. Really.

It’s come to my attention that I am like the cobbler’s children, shoeless, in spite of their father’s profession. I am a musician, without any recent recorded samples of my work. This is an inconvenient, but not insurmountable problem. 

 

So today, I’m gonna fix it. 

Of course, in my own, inimitable, Captain Digital fashion, I can’t resist a little feature creep, allowing the scope to grow past the prime purpose of the mission.  [Read more…] about Once more, dear friends, into the studio…

Saturday Night Comatose

Apparently like most of America, I was suckered into watching Saturday Night Live for the much ballyhooed Sarah Palin appearance. It had been hyped (by just about everybody) for so long, perhaps my expectations were too high. For the record, I thought that, in both her bits, Governor Palin was gracious, a good sport, and looked like the only adult in the room. Everybody else looked like what they were – entertainers who weren’t that entertaining, more spoiled kids riffing on a throwaway joke as if it were the next “Who’s On First” routine. And I’m not just talking about the Palin sketches. I’m talking about the entire show. (You know the show’s a dog when the best – and most memorable – thing on it is the musical guest. Where are the Muppets when they need them?) [Read more…] about Saturday Night Comatose

The Morning After Debate.

The insatiable appetite of the 24/7 news cycles has begat an unfortunate dividend – an explosion in the demand for pundits. They are all over Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS – you name it. Now the media keeps blurring the lines between job descriptions, but for the sake of this argument, allow me to clairfy the titles and job descriptions of what you’re supposed to be seeing on TV: [Read more…] about The Morning After Debate.

McCain Steps Up.

I was expecting another snooze-fest at this evening’s final debate. I anticipated a bunch of talking points, wrapped in some dialog suitable as a cure for insomnia. Listening to their minions on the news shows, I figured we’d get more of the same, especially from McCain. I believed he would do exactly what he’d done before – keep to his one-man-revival of a Midwestern version of The Importance of Being Earnest.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. [Read more…] about McCain Steps Up.

Feedback.

Hi. Got a minute? I’ve got some questions for you, and I hope you’ll take the time to read this and let me know what you think. 

I’ve been a writer for a long time. Wrote a couple of books a few years back, on Flash and animation. Plan to write more in the future (although probably not more tech books – turns out they have a shelf life measured in months…not years). In the meantime, I blog, not just because I’d like to keep my writing chops up, but because I have to. I don’t mean someone’s holding a gun to my head…I mean I feel compelled to write, and it seems pretty stupid to write stuff and never have it read. Blogging allows me to share my thoughts with others, and it costs nothing (other than my time) to do so. [Read more…] about Feedback.

The (Un)fairness Doctrine.

While I still believe McCain is gonna win this thing, if the Democrats should prove victorious, one of the first things I expect to see them do, come January, will be to attempt to mute the voice of conservatives on talk radio and television by way of a return to the “Fairness Doctrine.” I suspect they will try to expand it’s reach to include the online world – blogs in particular, likely by allowing lawsuits against bloggers for saying anything that cannot be legally verified in court.

Now before you get your knickers in a twist, consider this. While I believe the Fairness Doctrine to have been ironically named, completely UNfair, and a stupid waste of the government’s time, the truth is, the Return of the Fairness Doctrine (coming soon to a House of Representatives near YOU!) could completely blow up in their faces. Here’s why: Liberals OWN the mainstream media. Even the mainstream press has acknowledged that MSNBC is in the tank for Obama. We have enough judges on the Supreme Court to make some very interesting rulings. What would happen if the Fairness Doctrine came before the highest court in the land? I could see a ruling whereby they say, “Fine. You want the fairness doctrine? You have to make it REALLY fair this time around. That means, we include all the media – Hollywood, TV, the nightly news, et cetera. No hiding behind the ridiculous claim of news versus opinion…everything gets counted.”

What a bombshell THAT would be. [Read more…] about The (Un)fairness Doctrine.

No Reason for Treason

The problem with Campaign ’08 is that you’ve got people on one side that look at their candidate as the next best thing to the Messiah, and people on the other side that are lukewarm (at best) about theirs. (On the other hand, we can’t WAIT to pull the lever for Palin!) Combine this with the polarization of both sides and you have a recipe for problems – neither side wants to see problems with their own camp, and both are only interested in pointing out the flaws in the other’s candidates. 

Fair enough. I get it. No big. But wait…what if the other guy does something really, really bad? Can anyone recognize and admit to a fatal flaw in their own candidate? I don’t know. But we’re about to find out. [Read more…] about No Reason for Treason