Media Trick

 



Back during the Vietnam War, when people were protesting by the thousands against U.S. policy, conservative elements of the media resorted to an old and dishonest trick to make the protesters look bad. They would single out the craziest looking person from the protest rally, interview them, photograph them and then put that protester on the front page as the most visible symbol of the entire rally. While most of those protesting were much more normal looking and acting than the crazies they singled out, people reading about the rally got the impression that it was only a bunch of nuts that were opposing the war.

It's therefore ironic to see the same technique revived today from the Left to portray the critics of the Obama Administration. Media sources friendly to the Administration have been going to the numerous protests against President Obama's policies and focusing on the non typical extremists in the crowd, hoping that the public will assume that is what those who oppose Obama are like. The thousands of working men and soccer moms attending with their children are ignored, while the two drunken rednecks accusing Obama of being a Nazi get all the attention.

Such techniques usually don't work in the long run if there are genuine issues to be raised. No matter how much the media tried to portray the anti-Vietnam movement as consisting of crackpots, doing so could not prevent the growing doubts of average Americans about the war. In the same way, the media attempts to dismiss the anti-Obama protesters has increasingly less traction as more and more Americans conclude that regardless of who is protesting and how, there are legitimate reasons for deep concern.





In case you want to wear bugs here are examples of bug jewelry on display in the window of the Skera Gallery in Northampton.

Frank Sinatra was undoubtedly a legend,, but too often overlooked is the brief but brilliant career of his daughter Nancy, who unlike her old man had the sense to retire before she was past her prime. I remember how my straight friends used to drag me to divey Springfield strip clubs where Nancy's These Boots Were Made for Walkin' was played several times a night while the strippers made stupid S&M moves. The audience always went crazy. Straight people - I'll never understand them.