Comments on: The Objective Primate Problem

By: skink air

skink air — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:18:07 +0000

Obviously you are not a robot, “skin care.” BTW I followed your link and it made me want to engage in LESS skin care. Way to accomplish your goals! Assuming robots have goals!

By: skin care

skin care — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:43:20 +0000

Inspiring post i hve seen..The post got positive comments so far and am too thumbs up for this article..

By: Bai Ben-nu

Bai Ben-nu — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:17:39 +0000

Yeah, that was penetrating. “the first reason it's a loss is because… he lost.” Deep, indeed.
More to the point, isn't the whole notion of tallying up these micro “wins” and “defeats,” whether done by a partisan American or a journo Canadian, all of a piece? Doesn't seem too different to me at all. I guess if your realm of debate ranges all the way from CNN and Fox to the far reaches of the FT, then yeah, wow, mind-blowing, bracing critique.

It's like someone who lives on porridge being wowed by oatmeal.

By: Will Wilkinson

Will Wilkinson — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:52:58 +0000

I guess it's contextual. I had been watching cable news, which was hysterical and full of spin and counter-spin and meta-spin. In comparison, the blase, straightforward commentary by what seems like a not-very-invested non-American (turns out she's Canadian) in this segment seemed refreshing. It is noteworthy in its plainness.

By: Miles

Miles — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:39:31 +0000

Lighthouse's first paragraph seems pretty on-target to me.

As far as I can tell, there's just about nothing noteworthy or insightful in the FT report to which this posting provides a link.

Am I missing something?

By: Lighthouse

Lighthouse — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:46:48 +0000

Really? So objective journalism is basically intoning in a serious manner what every body already knows? I keep waiting for her to say something interesting but it was pretty much what I think everyone figured out on their own by listening to the news report. In other words it was meaningless commentary.

I have always assumed that the emptiness of American journalism was a function of having to fill so many column inches or broadcast minutes each and every day rather there was any real news or not. But maybe it is tied more to an attempt to increase ratings. Based on this, objective journalism is boring and pedantic. Not going to sell much soap with that.

By: Reality Man

Reality Man — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:07:52 +0000

The best part is this is all happening in the part of the Obama administration that is chronologically as far away from an election as possible. Nobody is going to be voted out of office over the crime museum. Obama's approval ratings today will have no connection to what happens in the Congressional elections in 2010 or the Presidential election in 2012. All these meta-popularity questions are silly.

By: qshio

qshio — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:05:20 +0000

Couldn't agree more, and I say this as a former media researcher for a presidential campaign.

By: mk

mk — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:47:57 +0000

I agree that viewership goes up when the media focuses on political meta-questions. It turns attention to ideas that everyone can grasp (does this help Obama? Is he in trouble?) The harder, substantive questions may cause more people to tune out.

Political play-by-play reporting is sort of like celebrity play-by-play reporting, but it lets the audience think they're worrying about important issues at the same time. And, they sort of are. But not in a way conducive to doing the right thing.

By: James

James — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:54:14 +0000

Amen, Will. My biggest pet peeve is listening to talking heads go on about how if legislation X is passed, how will it effect political party Y? Who cares! I want to know how it effects me.

By: Cool Cal

Cool Cal — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:39:23 +0000

All I know is that whenever I see Peter Schiff interviewed regarding the financial situation or the bailouts, whatever former beauty pageant contestant de jour happens to be sitting across from him inevitably responds, “Well, you just seem to be awfully hung up on all this economic mumbo-jumbo when clearly there are going to be a lot of people out there suffering.”

By: manuelg

manuelg — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:43:17 +0000

> I think the problem with the American media is that it’s full of Americans who overestimate the importance of American micro-politics…

That's not a bug, that's a feature. It attracts a demographic that can be packaged for advertisers: Tribal-warfare junkies with the attention spans of lemurs. Naturally, the different tribes are attracted by different colors of shiny objects…