{"id":525,"date":"2011-07-14T22:32:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T22:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experts.patheos.com\/expert\/frederickwschmidt\/?p=525"},"modified":"2011-07-14T22:32:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T22:32:24","slug":"sleaze-slant-and-assassination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2011\/07\/sleaze-slant-and-assassination\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleaze, Slant, and Assassination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The New York Times <\/em>can\u2019t stop reporting on \u201cThe News of the World\u201d debacle.\u00a0 They run two or more \u201cnews\u201d articles a day and throw in an editorial \u2014 just in case the editorializing isn\u2019t finished.\u00a0 They devoted only one article to the work of American Bridge<\/a> and stuck to \u201cjust the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Fielding quietly stalks his prey \u2014 Republicans \u2014 with his video camera, patiently waiting for a political\u00a0moment worthy of YouTube.\u00a0 At 27, he is a full-time \u201ctracker\u201d for American Bridge 21st Century, a new Democratic organization that aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates in 2011 and 2012, looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups next year.\u2026If all works as planned, incriminating moments captured by\u00a0American Bridge will quickly become part of the political bloodstream.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Together, the Murdoch group, American Bridge, and the Tendenz<\/em> of reporting in the Times <\/em>provide a window into the way we get our news.<\/p>\n

If you thought (or hoped) that listening to the news would provide you a good faith effort at an objective window into the events of the day \u2014 or if you thought that the effort would provide you with a window into information that would equip you to shoulder your responsibility as a voter and citizen \u2014 forget it.\u00a0 Wear a HAZMAT suit, prepare to pick through the garbage, and remember, whatever you are being told, has a slant to it \u2014 and not just the slant that comes from the inevitably subjective character of any judgment we humans make, but an unvarnished, conscious effort to tell you what to think.<\/p>\n

Most reporting today (especially on any vaguely political subject) is reporting on non-events \u2014 a pep rally to get the faithful snarling and snapping at the opposition.\u00a0 Small wonder, then, that sleaze, slant, and assassination are now the weapons of choice in political and public discourse.<\/p>\n

It should to be named for the moral and spiritual failure that it is.<\/p>\n

So what can we do?<\/p>\n