I am a fan of John Stewart. Anyone who reads my Facebook or blog might have picked up on that. (Hey, anyone who has Obama on his show and manages to ask real questions and still be funny deserves some respect!) Yesterday was his "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the National Mall in DC. Scam? Not sure. But he makes me laugh and think at the same time, so I was interested. Unfortunately it started at 3:00 a.m. my time so I couldn't keep up with the twitting on it. So this morning, thought I would document my search for the news on this story...
Went with twitter first as I knew the event was wrapping up. Lots of tweets. Nothing that gave me any information whatsoever. [UPDATE: Turns out I was looking at an "unofficial" hashtag!]
First of all, the Google news headlines included one from Fox which stated "'Rally for 'Sanity' Draws Insane Crowd". Fox was smart enough to find a man in a green suit supporting marijuana legalization to get a quote from. I was also happy to read that Steward appeal to a "younger generation". I suspected that that 40 was the new 20! But all in all, not too bed as of 30 minutes after the close of the Rally!
Went to the official Daily Show site. The default video was the weekly recap. Tried the link to the Rally to Restore Sanity on this site. But it was just old advertising from previous shows.
I was interested in NPR's view. They felt that the performance of the "Roots" was a high, but the lenght of the performance (40 minutes) was a low. I'm disappointed that another low as Stewart's intordouction of Kid Rock did not elicit an emotional response from the crowd. I love Kid Rock. Oh, and discovered that JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater recorded a video, but no link to the video.
YouTube? Hundreds of videos, but couldn't find anything I wanted to watch. No current videos easily found.
Aggregation may be the way to go. Huff Post? Geesh, all about the Sanity buses. Not interested. Yahoo? Looked like Google results, just a different order...
So let me say right that I am already 30 minutes into my search for news and I have basically found nothing that kept my interest for more than 45 seconds. It took me longer to type these thoughts so far. People, this is not making sense to me! Is it possible that what is wrong with the media is me? On I go...
Went to Facebook for event. Whew, some real comments. Pictures. Yet the commentary feels oddly, well, 'Facebook'-like. Nothing very funny. Nothing really interesting. Must...move..on... Just let me check a few more status's...
On a fluke, checked CSPAN. Wow. Found news. Organized. Live feed. Official Twitter feed. Video links. Commentary that sounds like actual reality-based opinion. Finally I get my information. Excuse me while I take a break...
Ok. 20 minutes of reading and watching videos and I feel satisfied. (man, that was a long Roots performance!) Since my real reason for writing the entry today was not on the actual Rally itself, but on the channels used to find information regarding current events, I'll pass on providing my own personal commentary on the outcomes of this other than to say that the sign which read "hyperbole is the greatest threat of all time" sums up my feelings nicely. My real comment here is about the process which we as news consumers approach find out information. Granted I had little caffeine after a night of Halloweening with adult beverages. But the fact I had no official "go-to" for my information is in fact an indication of our current media environment. So today all I kept wishing I had been in DC so I would KNOW what the vibe was like and KNOW what was said. And then it hit me. Unless I experience an event live, for myself, my source of information will probably impose their own spin. I am sure that any one reading who has any political science knowledge will quickly recognize my naive comments here. I recognize American history is full of desire to speak our minds without censorship. [Note my elusive reference to the First Amendment. However this will be the last reference to the word censorship] But what do we do as a society when you have no trusting source of information? Well, we create social channels such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. But maybe these sources are not good mediums either. Today, they were not. Admittedly I was not searching for information on the upcoming election [insert chuckle here].
For my own sanity, I now recognize that I have to be more active in participating in events which are influencing our American rights and way of life. For myself, the real eureka moment was to recognize that inactive participation in any political topic is not going to do it for me. Media by definition will exaggerate for effect. Social frameworks support and encourage "viral" communication which is a bigger crap shoot than trying to find Fair & Balanced news on Fox. OK, so maybe the Rally was not such an influence for most of you reading. But the upcoming elections are. I'll be honest and admit that I am not voting. Voting from China is frankly a pain in the behind and since we are now nomads and claim no American State as our own, I feel no sense of urgency in voting. HOWEVER, my apathy does not excuse those of your are going to be IMPACTED by your elected officials. I challenge you all to find a way to get involved and discover the real story behind your candidates. Don't affiliate with a single party, amalgamate with all of them! Read/watch Fox, but then read/watch MSNBC. Attend a debate. Learn the names of your School Board members. Go to a local Township Zoning meeting. In the U.S. there are 89,500 local governments, including 3,033 counties, 19,492 municipalities, 16,500 townships, 13,000 school districts. How many of us know anything about this? If you don't know anything, find someone who does. GET ACTIVE!
Ok, better start actively picking up the results of last night's active participation in a party...
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