media

November 15, 2020

A meditation on the character of a political speaker and, by extension, a voter (Oct. 31/20 with Nov. 15/20 addendum)

Loosely put, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. More specifically, on Aristotle’s definition, rhetoric is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” We all use rhetoric to convince others of some thing or other, but some of us are more skilled than others to this end. Some become especially Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

aristotle, armagedon, Biden, character, dark, election, ethos, evil, extreme, foreign, good, goodness, interference, light, logos, media, pathos, rhetoric, Trump, truth, Von Clausewitz, war
September 28, 2020

Thoughtlets .xvii.

Dear Chris Cuomo (CNN), a.k.a. The Great Interrupter, Let your interviewee finish a sentence. Continue reading

Thoughtlets

annoying, Chris Cuomo, CNN, habit, interrupt, interview, media, news
September 28, 2020

Thoughtlets .xiv.

Dear News-Media folks, It’s hard to take you seriously when you report Tweets. It appears that Tweets are to journalists as seeds are to chickens, fodder for mindless feeding frenzies. Continue reading

Thoughtlets

CNN, Fox, journalism, journalist, media, MSNBC, news, reporter, Tweets, Twitter
September 28, 2020

Thoughtlets .xiii.

Dear News-Media folks, You need to lose the following annoying cliches: ‘double down’, ‘walk it back’, and ‘going forward’. Continue reading

Thoughtlets

cliches, complaint, criticism, journalism, journalist, media, news, Tweets
September 18, 2020

Thoughtlets .viii.

Stand in one room while the television is on in the other. Now see if you can distinguish the voices of Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) and Tucker Carlson (Fox News). I can’t. Notice that it’s not just their voices that are similar, it’s their style. Each sounds like a pouty prepubescent child who, in a jealous Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

analyses, analysis, anger, Carlson, commentary, Fox News, Maddow, media, MSNBC, oratory, partisan, polarization, political, politics, rhetoric, style, television, voice
August 29, 2020

Saturday Morning Pam-Toons. Truth sets you free?

TRUTH. IT’S TRUE. TELL THE TRUTH. I’M TELLING THE TRUTH. YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH. YOU CAN HAVE THE TRUTH WHEN YOU PRY IT OUT OF MY COLD, DEAD HANDS. TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. THE TRUTH AS I SEE IT. TRUE FOR YOU, BUT NOT FOR ME. TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. BE Continue reading

Pam-Toons

belief, cartoon, doxa, epistemic, epistemology, ethics, graphic, jtb, justified, knowledge, media, narrative, opinion, Philosophy, rhetoric, true, truth
July 8, 2020

People are saying

*Update: substitute for “pandemic” any highly charged story currently looping on news media. “People are saying….” People are saying all kinds of things as this pandemic unfolds. Of course they are, that’s what people do !! Inspiring things, horrible things, hypocritical things, smart things, stupid things, true things, false things, all kinds of things. Some Continue reading

Catch-All

anxiety, health, immunity, information, media, mental health, pandemic, Philosophy, relief, stress