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Health & Fitness

EXTRA, EXTRA, Read some about it!

I would like to think I am a fairly well informed adult. Granted, there are probably a few out there who would argue that point, but that is for a whole other blog. I watch the local news cast, CNN, Fox, and I get a lot from Patch. I look at the news on various internet places. As it has been said before, I am a bartender and sometimes it is in my job description to have a clue what is going on in the world.

Let me tell you folks, the big cable networks do not make that easy. Why you may ask? Well, because for the most part they are idiots and not that well informed.

I hear constantly how one has a leftist agenda and the other a right. Fine. I am adult enough and smart enough to read between the middle. Their still both idiots. As a side note, when has the media ever been fair and balanced? Heck, Ben Franklin started newspapers in this country as political rags to try and defame his enemies. Our first newspapers were nothing but political slander.

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Again, I digress. Sorry but I do that sometimes. I will give you some examples of why I have such a problem with these big networks though.

Last winter, as a snow storm “raged” across the Northeast, there was a reporter from a network I shall not name (Who’s name starts with a C and ends with an N) standing out in two inches of snow in front of a gentleman in a two wheel drive pick-up truck with a plow on it. The reporters response as the truck spun its tires? “As you can see, even the heavy equipment is getting stuck in the snow!”

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What? Heavy equipment? I have been to Maine and all of the Northeast. (I drove a semi-truck for many years.) They know what a heavy snow plow is! It snows there! Do some research.

Another was a very unfortunate story. Two young children were killed by an African Python that came through their ceiling while sleeping. It was a true tragedy. However, a reporter stood in front of a glass cage doing his report and described the giant snake (An articulated Boa) in the cage, made the statement it was just like the snake that had killed the children. (It was not even close.) Followed by a question about the children. His response was “Irregardless of what we think…”

Oh my god! You are a professional journalist. Not only is that a double negative, it is not even a word. You might as well do a story on the true flavor of Snozzberries.

Not that the other more right wing network, which again I shall not name (Starts with and F ends with a big old U! oh, sorry… X). During the recent TSA shooting, there was an eyewitness being interviewed on TV. The witness was Tory Belleci. The first time, the anchor stated we will be talking to “her” next. Okay, one time is fine. The problem is that Tory is male and not only that but has been on a cultural phenomenon known as Mythbusters for over ten years. Oh yeah, and the anchor introduced him as she while on the phone said she as he spoke. I am no multi-million dollar news network, but I am pretty sure there could have been a lowly intern screaming into his ear after the first mistake. Maybe saying something to the fact of “Quit calling him a girl!”

Now these are all just small piddle type things that in the grand scheme have no or little impact on the real story. What it does state to me is that “Hey, we can’t be bothered with the small things. Just get the story out there so we can all spin it and reduce it into baby food for the masses!” Not to mention those stories that get printed from satirical sites as if they are real.

All this being said don’t believe everything you hear. As a matter of fact, believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. Get the idea and check different sources. I suppose, that is doing their job, but at least you won’t look like an idiot compared to them. Well, some may still, but we can’t help everyone.

In closing, this is why I do enjoy my Patch. It keeps things simple and direct.

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