I've posted this a couple of times today...but it is a quote worth repeating. I believe that the reason America is polarized into the "right" and "left" is the result of advocacy journalism. As Mark Twain said "There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press."
I believe in freedom of speech and in freedom of the press. I do not believe that opinion, hype and propaganda should be labeled "news". When I read about "The War On Religion" and "The War On Women" I am reminded of George Orwell's novel "1984" where "The Ministry Of Truth" used "newspeak" to shape the public's opinion of events. The basic idea behind Newspeak is to remove all shades of meaning from language. A 'war" means there is bloodshed, property destruction and death. To maintain otherwise is misguided at best and dishonest at its' worst. "Hatecrime" isn't far from "thoughtcrime" and the press is using semantics in a dangerous way. This isn't anything new. George Orwell saw this happening while he worked at the Ministry of Information for the British during the Second World War.
No matter what news source you follow, be it Fox News, MSNBC, or Comedy Central, be aware that there is usually a slant or agenda behind almost all news we hear in America today, intentional or not. The most unbiased news source I hear these days is the B.B.C. It of course, can be very dry and boring which is what you get when you remove all of the rating-grabbing gimmicks and subjectivity out of a broadcast.
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