Thoughts from a Grumpy Old Man

This posting has nothing to do with running but, I have a place to rant, so why not? 

I have found a problem with social media.  It doesn't lend itself to debate.  The art of conversation and true discussion is lost.  And, the world and it's people can only tolerate 10 seconds sound bites or short quips to make their point.  For example, I have a friend who showed a clip of a movie whose subject is about the United States increasing national deficit on his Facebook page.  If you have ever seen a Michael Moore movie, well, let's just say it is an anti-Michael Moore film. 

I commented basically saying that, 'I understand people's concern over the deficit and how this will affect people's grandchildren but didn't Ronald Reagan increase our national deficit at an alarming rate as well and people thought the world was coming to an end then?   Politicians always seem to use the national debt as part of scare tactics.'  Strip all the politics aside, I was really interested in finding out if the two eras were similar or different.  But the answers to my comment was basically, 'well, Obama is a poopy-head'.  Sigh.  This is helpful?

The world of media, my first love growing up, has changed so drastically since I was young.  There is more concern about Lindsay Lohan's prison time than flooding in Pakistan.  News commentators are considered 'real' when they are nothing more than entertainers.  All of them.  And, to paraphrase Allen Iverson, 'Mosques?  We're talking about mosques?'  Really?  Does it truly show how patriotic you are if you take one side or another?   Where are we getting our information from and should we really trust it anymore?

Below are links to three articles I recently read voicing my frustration over the world we live in.  It is sad we cannot compromise and find solutions without looking like we are 'caving in' to the other side.  I hope people realize the way media (social, mainstream, seems to be all.) is set up now, we are all lemurs jumping off cliffs when they tell us so.  My suggestion is to find alternatives to Fox, msnbc, CNN because they will just scare you to death.  But only if it increases their ratings.

Who decides the News?  by Kara Miller

August:  The Media's Silly Season by Mark Leccese

Consideration seems a relic of the past by Joanna Malloy