Letters to the Editor
softdog
Published Letters: 186 Editor's Choice: 8
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Also, enough with the "you treat us like flyover states" stuff
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll bet over half the comments on Salon come from people in the Flyover States, so please stop this hyperbole about the total voicelessness of over half the nation's land mass.
It was originally bankers, media barons and wealthy pundits who were assumed to view anything outside NYC/LA as an unsophisticated void.
The majority of people do not view the world as a void between major costal cities and even the wealthy urban centers have populations who experience the economy like "regular" Americans.
Conversely, the rest of America is chock full of privileged louts who have no idea what financial anxiety is really like.
The contempt for "flyover" America can certainly be seen in the Texas-based Enron employees who sabatoged California's electric grid for profit.
Being a selfish jerk is not exclusive to one locale - or one group really. It is easier to keeps one's perspective at the bottom, but there are still some misperceptions - and the idea of flyover meaning more integrity or more voiceless is one.
Of course, these concepts are often fed to us by those seeking to avoid responsibility by directing our attention elsewhere. Let's not be bitter at the people who started and profited from this war - who are all over the USA.
Instead let us ignore the selfish ones around us and direct anger only at that one person in the plane overhead who is surely responsible for all our woes.
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Well Written or Not, It's still devoid of substance
[Read the article: Bitter as hell in Pennsylvania]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Salon has had ONE mention of the torture scandal and at least FIVE about the word bitter.
I've noticed that Salon has fewer and fewer feature articles, relying mostly on blogs and columnists. It is tiresome when most of these feature are devoted to primary controverseys driven by feelings and sensationalism.
If you must obsess over the primary conflict, how about more focus on policies, voting records, staff afilliation. Or how about a closer look at media manipulation (at least as long as Glenn Greenwald is on leave)?
Or at the very least, how about just putting an article or blog about something else at the top of the page?
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I don't care if an article supports either candidate.
[Read the article: Bitter as hell in Pennsylvania]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Also - It doesn't matter if the writing is decent and restrained, or if it favors the candidate you support, it's still just another set of anecdotes and opinions about voter feelings.
And as usual, the headline is aiming to keep the flamewar going, far more than the article.
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Get it right Shapiro: Gibson and Stephanopoulos were devoid of substance and rife with gotcha politics
[Read the article: Obama and Clinton fizzle in Philly]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm so tired of the individuals who decide on content of news - editors, reporters, producers, presenters, pundits - hiding from their responsibility with the impersonal term "the media".
Under this generalized term they act like their own knowing actions and choices are some detached mass akin to the weather. They blame the behavior of the public, the candidates or the market for what they do on their own.
If the debate was "devoid of substance and rife with gotcha politics" we have the names of who chose this: Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos and their staffs. They asked the questions, they directed the focus.
While the candidates might have done more to push back, it's a lot harder to combat the frame which others place around you. They were probably hampered by the risk of being demonized by those setting the frame.
And now Walter Shapiro mostly give a pass to Gibson and Stephanopoulos and continues to dwell on the substanceless and gotcha material.
If he was really so bothered by it, he could do some actual reporting on the candidates real policies and positions. But that would require moving past the flaccid standards of commentary.
It's easier to perpetuate the scam of And Wednesday night, the Philadelphia finale flunked by whining about "drama" and "intellectual nourishment" than renouncing the former and providing the latter.
It's time to stop turning the guns on Clinton/Obama and start facing the media powerful.
Salon should be ashamed to print excerpts from Glenn Greenwald's book while being a prime example of the problem he dissects.
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The Irony of Salon printing this
[Read the article: Media hypocrites love personality politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find it ironic - in the sad juxtaposition sense - that Salon prints this excerpt.
This is the website which published the dishonest screed: "Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!" Just one of a daily dose of cheap shots aimed at stirring up readers over personality politics with no attention to the issues. Meanwhile there has been ONLY ONE ARTICLE about the torture scandal - and it was about the lack of coverage.
And today's featured article is a thumbsucker by Walter Shapiro which pretty much gives a pass to ABC for a debate driven by personality politics.
Salon should be ashamed of themselves for being a prime example of the shoddy behavior Glenn details in his book.
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Salon's Redemption is Glenn Greenwald
[Read the article: The harmony between the Right and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you to Mr. Greenwald for the careful dissection of where the line was crossed in the media participation in rhetorical fallacies.
Salon is slightly redeemed by employing you and providing you with a platform, but it would be far better if they walked the walk you talk about.