DL Open Thread Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024
For most people the record-breaking heat of 2023 wasn’t surprising – only Republicans pretend not to know about global warming – but it was to scientists, because the increase was greater than known processes would allow for. Something else is going on, and climate scientists don’t know what it is or might be. If 2023 was an anomaly, 2024 probably won’t be much hotter. If not…
The political media is hopelessly wedded to its horse-race narratives, so the breathless coverage of the Iowa caucuses will dominate headlines for the next three days even though the only race is for second place, and nobody outside the political-journalism ecosphere gives a fuck.
If the media were more interested in facts than narrative – it isn’t, the clowns who teach journalism have been yammering about “narrative” for at least a generation – they would tell you that the Republican Party is on the verge of collapse as it becomes the cult of a malignant personality. State parties all over the country are going tits-up as slavish devotion to the Big Lie empties their bank accounts and occupies what passes for their minds. It seems like a good narrative to me, but political journalists take themselves too seriously to lean into dark comedy.
Most new technologies start out with glowing predictions about potential wonders. Not so with so-called artificial intelligence – people have been predicting disaster from its conception. Before disaster arrives, though, there will be a thousand lesser insults, indignities and, yes, crimes. For example, some cretinous outfit fed all George Carlin’s cable specials into one of these programs and produced a “new” Carlin special. Is that kosher? Carlin’s daughter doesn’t think so. She’s suing, as well she should. The most obnoxious part: They turned Carlin into a pitchman for AI. I only wish Carlin were still with us so I could hear his vicious takedown of these jackals.
The floor’s yours.
I miss Carlin as well, and would love to hear what he has to say, then again the same for Dorothy Parker. As for the media I refer to them as the Corporate Media, as profit and sensation are what motivates them. Rupert Murdoch won, journalism lost.
Reuters interviewed Trump supporters in five states:
It’s worth the read; not your usual “journalist drops-in-at-diner” piece. Each of them gave what (to them) were rational reasons, all wrong-headed. All of them live in an alternate information universe.
Here are the money quotes from each of the five:
MARK LIPP, BUSINESS CONSULTANT, NEVADA
CAMILLA MOORE, RETIRED CITY MANAGER, GEORGIA
CARLOS RUIZ, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, ARIZONA
MEGAN CHUDEREWICZ-ADAMS, SALES MANAGER, PENNSYLVANIA
RANDY JOHNSON, TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR, MICHIGAN
I’m curious: Why would it be worth my time to read this? I don’t give a fuck what deluded people say.
For me, it’s because I don’t spend any time with these people, so a ten-minute read is worth it to me to keep up with the downward spiral of my fellow Americans. My takeway is that they are now in an impenetrable information cocoon.
I guess I get all of that I need doing the news roundups. But I have found that this information cocoon encompasses all of them, including the ones you would have considered smart in the Before Times.
Excellent question/response Al. You can get your fill of the delusional idiots all day and all night via CNN interviews and “town hall” coverage of gatherings of cultists (with a dash of Republican debate coverage thrown at the wall) all courtesy of CNN.
John Kowalko
I never watch infotainment on TV. If it weren’t for eaveswatching (the TV is on when I’m in the room) I wouldn’t see any at all.
Nobody laying on their deathbed ever said, “I wish I had watched more TV.”