Monday, January 31, 2005
FOCUS ON YOUR OWN FAMILY: Once again, MSNBC Countdown presenter Keith Olbermann shows, both on the air and on his web page, why news organizations are better known for telling the truth than people who make the most noise about morality. There's an old carpenter's axiom that comes into play here--"measure twice, cut once." The same goes double for communication, especially when it comes to saying potentially embarrassing things in e-mails to people who can put your words on television (see the Countdown repeat later tonight for details).
The short version of the story-after-the-story is that Focus on the Family was informed that Countdown was doing a story about the Spongebob "We Are Family" flap, with an invitation to present a statement. Instead, their response came after the piece aired in the form of a groan-inducing "attack the messenger, ignore the message" hypocrisy that a number of people who would presume to speak for the nation's morality have chosen instead of clarifying the underlying truth of what they've actually said. The Focus on the Family faithful were encouraged to flood the e-mails of the news broadcasters (the individuals, not the organizations) who got the most mileage out of the story, and e-mail they did. Some were apparently more lucid than others; by Olbermann's count, 10-20% were so eager to get to the point that they sent him blank messages. Out of the ones that actually typed something, my favorite warned Keith to "remember what we did to Tom Brokaw at ABC (sic)".
Meanwhile, James Dobson has issued an after-the-fact clarification, but on the electronic media tip has accepted only one of the hundreds of requests for interviews; not surprisingly it was on Fox News with Hannity and Colmes, a pair of commentators least likely to actually go nose-to-nose with him. It would've been nice if he had done something like this at the outset to defuse the brouhaha, but he's probably enjoying himself more by doing it the way he did. Anyway, it's so much more self-gratifying to paint yourself as a martyr instead of taking the steps to be sure you're understood.
Note to Dr. Dobson: If you don't really want to be part of a public debate, be careful about bringing up debate points in public. If, on the other hand, you just want somebody to say "yes, sir" every time you open your mouth, you should've become a drill sergeant when you had the chance. Oh yes, I don't have a degree in divinity, but I seem to remember that God really hates it when you lie, even if you're doing it in the course of calling other people on perceived lies. If you've followed the above links, you might be able to figure out what I'm talking about.
(Footnote: Profuse apologies to the drill sergeant for any offense from the above career advice, or tying your storied profession in with this story. It was just the first thing that popped into my head.)
The short version of the story-after-the-story is that Focus on the Family was informed that Countdown was doing a story about the Spongebob "We Are Family" flap, with an invitation to present a statement. Instead, their response came after the piece aired in the form of a groan-inducing "attack the messenger, ignore the message" hypocrisy that a number of people who would presume to speak for the nation's morality have chosen instead of clarifying the underlying truth of what they've actually said. The Focus on the Family faithful were encouraged to flood the e-mails of the news broadcasters (the individuals, not the organizations) who got the most mileage out of the story, and e-mail they did. Some were apparently more lucid than others; by Olbermann's count, 10-20% were so eager to get to the point that they sent him blank messages. Out of the ones that actually typed something, my favorite warned Keith to "remember what we did to Tom Brokaw at ABC (sic)".
Meanwhile, James Dobson has issued an after-the-fact clarification, but on the electronic media tip has accepted only one of the hundreds of requests for interviews; not surprisingly it was on Fox News with Hannity and Colmes, a pair of commentators least likely to actually go nose-to-nose with him. It would've been nice if he had done something like this at the outset to defuse the brouhaha, but he's probably enjoying himself more by doing it the way he did. Anyway, it's so much more self-gratifying to paint yourself as a martyr instead of taking the steps to be sure you're understood.
Note to Dr. Dobson: If you don't really want to be part of a public debate, be careful about bringing up debate points in public. If, on the other hand, you just want somebody to say "yes, sir" every time you open your mouth, you should've become a drill sergeant when you had the chance. Oh yes, I don't have a degree in divinity, but I seem to remember that God really hates it when you lie, even if you're doing it in the course of calling other people on perceived lies. If you've followed the above links, you might be able to figure out what I'm talking about.
(Footnote: Profuse apologies to the drill sergeant for any offense from the above career advice, or tying your storied profession in with this story. It was just the first thing that popped into my head.)
|| Eric 10:30 PM#
