Ed's talk: Jul 2, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

media "noise" and information overload

I haven't written this on Huffington Post as there was no immediate reason to.

But in every topic that comes up in any of the media, you can find arguments pro or con. The modern tendency to be "fair and balanced" encourages the most ridiculous statements often prefaced by the words "everyone knows that..." as if it were true. After a while, I'm sure the best of us don't know if we are coming or going.

Coffee is good for you vs. 10 reasons you should give up coffee. (Dr. Mark Hyman on HP), people are in favor of universal health care vs people are not in favor of it (many articles).

As another case in point, I felt it necessary to look up "Operation Fast and Furious"  on Wikipedia, because of the Issa-Holder contretemps, which, in its attempt to be balanced, left me with my eyes glazing over. And I can repeat this complaint many times over.

I don't know whether it is my aging brain or the inability of commentators to express themselves clearly or possibly both.