WHEN THE MEDIA IS PROPERLY USED

The average person cannot know whether they are being told the truth or are are hearing and being told lies.  If one listens carefully to all sides of a position, on can use discretion about where the source of the most believable information exists.  Our problem is that half of our population is below average, many speak little English, and many more have average and below intelligence.

One that most people quickly recognize from the past was an era for which we can remain ashamed with Joseph McCarthy.  Despite his clear problem with paranoia, he was not really challenged until it was too late for too many whom he had destroyed.  Nevertheless, we could expect that the media would monitor itself.  Alas, not so.  The media is greedy, as many of our  country seems to have become, though occasionally Diogenes might find an honest person even in the United States

Bill Carter and Brian Stelter wrote in the NY Times on 12/28 in which they likened the Daily Show (during which Jon Stewart made a plea for the firemen injured by 9/11 to receive the medical care they were promised before it is too late for any more of them).  "That show was devoted to the bill and the comedian’s effort to right what he called “an outrageous abdication of our responsibility to those who were most heroic on 9/11.”    While Stewart insists he is not a journalist, it reminds me of the people who say , "I'm not a psychologist" and then go on to prove that one does not always have to have a degree and a label to do a job.  Jon Stewart proved that for himself that evening as he has many other evenings.  He also minimizes another excellent quality he has.  Teaching practice asserts one cannot learn on the defensive as easily as in a non-threatening environment listening to one for whom they feel respect.  More people can hear Stewart because they have learned to respect and trust him.  To read the NY Times article, click here.