[PREV - CYCLE_OF_VIOLENCE]    [TOP]

SMALL_THUMB_RULE

                                              July 20, 2006

     The New York Times ran
     a front page, above the fold
     story announcing that                 
     even the Arab leaders              I'm beginning to think    
     were all against Hezbollah.        that "front page, above   
                                        the fold" is a synonym for      
     The "Democracy Now"                "bald faced lies" where   
     worldview seems to be that         the Times is concerned.          
     there's some sincere                                            
     criticism of Hezbollah
     (particularly from the                                     
     aforementioned "leaders"),              So: I'm now at a point    
     the common folks are much               where I reflexively     
     more divided.                           disbelieve "The New York
                                             Times", and (largely)   
                                             reflexively believe        
                                             "Democracy Now".        
                                                                    


                          Is this at all defensible?

                          Obviously, this is the sort
                          of thing that can get out of
                          hand.


                                            In all honesty,
                                            didn't I used to
                                            be this way with
                                            the Libertarian
                                            press?


                                               My defense there was that
                                               I'd never caught them
                                               making something up -- if
                                               they had a problem, it
                                               was a tendency to skip
                                               inconvenient facts until
                                               they felt like they had a
                                               way to deal with them.

                                               Lies of omission, but
                                               rarely of commission, and
                                               rarely any outright errors.

                         It's possible that
                         in general this can
                         be said of any
                         minority press.

                         They can't get away
                         with blatant fakery,
                         and so don't try.


   So the rule of thumb
   is that smaller is
   better...

   Pay attention to the
   opposition, whoever
   they happen to be.

   Be contrarian.


--------
[NEXT - OFF_THE_FENCE]