Very low - what should we do ?
May 16th 2011, 2:40 pm
#166
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 13,270
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
It's not "usurping" national/international news though. That is supplied at a different time (all networks except for Fox) or place (Fox, which I don't believe has any network-wide news service except for cable-only Fox News).
I do agree the quality of local-affiliate local news is dire.
I do agree the quality of local-affiliate local news is dire.
As everyone agrees, local news sucks ... so don't watch it! Local news in the US is a disgrace, but as others have said, the quality of shows such as 'The Daily Show', 'The Colbert Report', and 'Real Time with Bill Maher' is fantastic.
So don't let yourself get 'low' just because some stuff sucks ...
May 17th 2011, 1:17 am
#167
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Location: Rural Virginia
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Re: Very low - what should we do ?
I think more to the point is that the local stations are absolutely dire and tell you practically nothing about what is going on in the local area either. I just put them on sometimes to laugh at their silly hair and all the mistakes they make trying to read things out.
May 17th 2011, 4:29 am
#168
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Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 983
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
We have one for a rug cleaning company which shows them scrubbing Oriental rugs with a broom while saturating them in a big puddle of water. This may be "the way" but I`m not chancing it!
May 18th 2011, 6:20 am
#169
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,579
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
The 'American Dream', and the 'Land of the free and the home of the brave' stuff doesn't really bother me - it's really a set of slogans or mission statements and they serve a valuable purpose - they are the kind of thing you need to forge a sense of purpose into your culture.
Case in point - Soviet Russia. Dreadful place to live but it had awesome slogans like 'Bread, peace and land', ' We'll give for the building of Socialism in 1931 ... 8 million ton of raw iron!!!', 'every day life is getting better' and 'Without pity, we'll decimate and obliterate the enemy'. Result - a strong sense of national pride and identity.
http://www.designglobe.net/wp-conten...nda-poster.jpg
The UK on the other hand is a great place to live but the majority of the inhabitants seem to think it is a shytehole - probably because we don't have a decent slogan. Maybe it could be 'cheer up you bunch of miserable tossers'
Case in point - Soviet Russia. Dreadful place to live but it had awesome slogans like 'Bread, peace and land', ' We'll give for the building of Socialism in 1931 ... 8 million ton of raw iron!!!', 'every day life is getting better' and 'Without pity, we'll decimate and obliterate the enemy'. Result - a strong sense of national pride and identity.
http://www.designglobe.net/wp-conten...nda-poster.jpg
The UK on the other hand is a great place to live but the majority of the inhabitants seem to think it is a shytehole - probably because we don't have a decent slogan. Maybe it could be 'cheer up you bunch of miserable tossers'
May 18th 2011, 10:51 am
#170
Ping-ponger
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,025
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
To be honest, I pay very little attention to world news these days. I used to be a news snob, reading the Economist avidly, listening to NPR, and so on. I could probably have told you half the world's prime ministers ... Life is better without it.
Seriously ... just how much do you need to know? At any given moment, there will be a skirmish in the middle east. Israel will be invading someplace, and Palestinians will be doing a few suicide bombs. The US will be either invading, or leaving, some country. The global economy will be on an upswing or a downswing. Australia will be on fire; someplace (Japan, Chile, California, Hawaii, Haiti ...) will be experiencing a major earthquake; Hurricanes will be passing through some unfortunate towns, the Mississippi will be overflowing, and New Orleans will be on the verge of disaster. North Korea will be flexing it's muscles. Taiwan will be fearful of the latest China rumblings. The Catholic church will be denying some claim about molestation. Politicians will be denying claims of infidelity ... and so on and so on. I've been reading the papers for 40 years and after a while ... it's the same old same old.
I'm obviously being a bit cynical here ... I DO enjoy a good dose of news now and again ... but the British / European obsession with knowing everything about everywhere these days quite frankly amuses me. I never made a conscious decision to stop paying attention, but I noticed at some point that I could go months without really knowing what was going on, and further, I noticed that I felt better not knowing. I get emotional/depressed when I hear about torture, death, suffering, pain, poverty, misery ... and you can guarantee that a good dose of those are going to be happening SOMEWHERE in the world at any given moment.
Just offering a different perspective
Seriously ... just how much do you need to know? At any given moment, there will be a skirmish in the middle east. Israel will be invading someplace, and Palestinians will be doing a few suicide bombs. The US will be either invading, or leaving, some country. The global economy will be on an upswing or a downswing. Australia will be on fire; someplace (Japan, Chile, California, Hawaii, Haiti ...) will be experiencing a major earthquake; Hurricanes will be passing through some unfortunate towns, the Mississippi will be overflowing, and New Orleans will be on the verge of disaster. North Korea will be flexing it's muscles. Taiwan will be fearful of the latest China rumblings. The Catholic church will be denying some claim about molestation. Politicians will be denying claims of infidelity ... and so on and so on. I've been reading the papers for 40 years and after a while ... it's the same old same old.
I'm obviously being a bit cynical here ... I DO enjoy a good dose of news now and again ... but the British / European obsession with knowing everything about everywhere these days quite frankly amuses me. I never made a conscious decision to stop paying attention, but I noticed at some point that I could go months without really knowing what was going on, and further, I noticed that I felt better not knowing. I get emotional/depressed when I hear about torture, death, suffering, pain, poverty, misery ... and you can guarantee that a good dose of those are going to be happening SOMEWHERE in the world at any given moment.
Just offering a different perspective
Cheery news on the BBC News site tonight:
Two men are to stand trial over the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in 1993.
Clarke clarifies remarks on rape
Strauss-Kahn 'in new bail plea'
US sanctions target Syria's Assad
Police launch Huhne points probe
May defends cuts to police budget
Afghanistan bomb blast 'kills 13'
- and we hit rock-bottom with "Salmond re-elected first minister"
No wonder Brits are so miserable.
May 18th 2011, 11:16 am
#171
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
Iagree about the misery-porn and prurient obsession with human depravity in the supposedly superior British news.
Cheery news on the BBC News site tonight:
Two men are to stand trial over the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in 1993.
Clarke clarifies remarks on rape
Strauss-Kahn 'in new bail plea'
US sanctions target Syria's Assad
Police launch Huhne points probe
May defends cuts to police budget
Afghanistan bomb blast 'kills 13'
- and we hit rock-bottom with "Salmond re-elected first minister"
No wonder Brits are so miserable.
Cheery news on the BBC News site tonight:
Two men are to stand trial over the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in 1993.
Clarke clarifies remarks on rape
Strauss-Kahn 'in new bail plea'
US sanctions target Syria's Assad
Police launch Huhne points probe
May defends cuts to police budget
Afghanistan bomb blast 'kills 13'
- and we hit rock-bottom with "Salmond re-elected first minister"
No wonder Brits are so miserable.
When did everyone get so happy-clappy that they can't take real news?
May 18th 2011, 11:53 am
#172
Are we there yet?
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: 31 miles from Cool (California)
Posts: 2,467
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
Iagree about the misery-porn and prurient obsession with human depravity in the supposedly superior British news.
Cheery news on the BBC News site tonight:
Two men are to stand trial over the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in 1993.
Clarke clarifies remarks on rape
Strauss-Kahn 'in new bail plea'
US sanctions target Syria's Assad
Police launch Huhne points probe
May defends cuts to police budget
Afghanistan bomb blast 'kills 13'
- and we hit rock-bottom with "Salmond re-elected first minister"
No wonder Brits are so miserable.
Cheery news on the BBC News site tonight:
Two men are to stand trial over the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in 1993.
Clarke clarifies remarks on rape
Strauss-Kahn 'in new bail plea'
US sanctions target Syria's Assad
Police launch Huhne points probe
May defends cuts to police budget
Afghanistan bomb blast 'kills 13'
- and we hit rock-bottom with "Salmond re-elected first minister"
No wonder Brits are so miserable.
Tw@t
May 18th 2011, 12:57 pm
#173
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: North East Ohio, USA
Posts: 1,948
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
[QUOTE=Sally Redux;9373618]Surely it's good news if someone is going to be tried for the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
When did everyone get so happy-clappy that they can't take real news?[/QUOTE]
Exactly!!!!
When did everyone get so happy-clappy that they can't take real news?[/QUOTE]
Exactly!!!!
May 18th 2011, 1:10 pm
#174
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,579
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
May 19th 2011, 3:08 am
#175
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Joined: Apr 2004
Location: CHELTENHAM, Gloucestershire, England
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Re: Very low - what should we do ?
The coverage in the British media given over to this particular news item - Clarke's choice of words on the issue of "different types of rape" - has been so OTT it's beyond belief! It's as if it was the only item of news on the face of the planet, but what would you expect when the UK media, espcially the crappy BBC, is well and truly over influenced by the feminist agenda. I refused to listen to BBC 1 TV or BBC Radio Five Live today...that's all they could focus on - Clarke's well intentioned but misinterpreted choice of words on a highly sensitive topic.
May 19th 2011, 3:14 am
#176
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 12,894
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
It's as if it was the only item of news on the face of the planet, but what would you expect when the UK media, espcially the crappy BBC, is well and truly over influenced by the feminist agenda. I refused to listen to BBC 1 TV or BBC Radio Five Live today...that's all they could focus on - Clarke's well intentioned but misinterpreted choice of words on a highly sensitive topic.
Kenneth Clarke is an old white man who's really out of touch. Proposing to halve rapists sentences if they plead guilty is worthy of the criticism it's been getting.
May 19th 2011, 3:19 am
#177
A lion in your lap
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sparta NJ
Posts: 7,605
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
All this anti-BBC stuff you continually post just makes you look a bit stupid. I'm beginning to suspect it's because you applied for some kind of journalism job wth them and they turned you down.
May 19th 2011, 4:23 am
#178
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Re: Very low - what should we do ?
May 19th 2011, 5:42 am
#179
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Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,025
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
I'm not looking for happy-clappy, just saying that the "real world" that most of us live in isn't as miserable as the news seems to want to portray.
I agree re: the Stephen Lawrence trial, but again, even this news piece is covered (on TV, anyway) in a way that, after briefly mentioning the positive headline focuses on the misery associated with the story.
I watch the British Pride Awards every year (I think that's what it's called) and it makes me wonder why we don't have more stories like that, about the positive side of humanity rather than titillation obsessed with humanity's underbelly.
May 19th 2011, 5:44 am
#180
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Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Vermont
Posts: 3,264
Re: Very low - what should we do ?
I'm not saying bad news should be banned, just that there seems to be an overemphasis on crime, war, deprivation, and other gloom and doom. I'd just like a bit more balance.
I'm not looking for happy-clappy, just saying that the "real world" that most of us live in isn't as miserable as the news seems to want to portray.
I agree re: the Stephen Lawrence trial, but again, even this news piece is covered (on TV, anyway) in a way that, after briefly mentioning the positive headline focuses on the misery associated with the story.
I watch the British Pride Awards every year (I think that's what it's called) and it makes me wonder why we don't have more stories like that, about the positive side of humanity rather than titillation obsessed with humanity's underbelly.
I'm not looking for happy-clappy, just saying that the "real world" that most of us live in isn't as miserable as the news seems to want to portray.
I agree re: the Stephen Lawrence trial, but again, even this news piece is covered (on TV, anyway) in a way that, after briefly mentioning the positive headline focuses on the misery associated with the story.
I watch the British Pride Awards every year (I think that's what it's called) and it makes me wonder why we don't have more stories like that, about the positive side of humanity rather than titillation obsessed with humanity's underbelly.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
Some more
http://www.thehappynews.com/
and this is the one I was thinking or originally.
http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/
Last edited by nethead; May 19th 2011 at 5:51 am.
