Re: MF July 28, 2007

On Jul 28, 9:07 am, "peter...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <racss...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


Is he saying that he never goes to conferences, luncheons, meetings,
etc. except by walking? (Or does that explain why his political views
all come from newspapers and magazines -- that he never actually takes
the opportunity to find out what people in the actual live world of
business and politics are talking about?)

Having been a reporter, I'm aware of how many interesting things go on
that are worth attending if your job involves commenting on complex
issues. For instance, when I was covering the Quebec sovereignty issue
in the late 1980s, I went up to Montreal frequently. It was only about
30 miles each way, but, of course, if I'd been living in the city, I
could have taken subways or buses ... which still isn't biking or
walking. Still, fair enough, you can live in the city without a car
and in the major cities, it's often handier to take public
transportation than to handle parking issues. I'll also grant that, if
you're not working tight deadlines, you won't have to call a cab to
make it on time.

But, to use that example, there were things going on in Ottawa and
Quebec City that it would be best to occasionally attend. Not every
time, if you're just commenting. But once in awhile, yeah, you should
go see what's going on. And I flew down to New York City one time for
a panel discussion at Quebec House because it offered an important
perspective that wasn't going to be available in Montreal or
Plattsburgh.

A couple of points:

1. Seeing things in person doesn't guarantee solid commentary. Ted
Rall travels a lot, and it doesn't seem to inform his perspective
much.

2. You can sit back and get your information from the media, if you
trust the media to report completely. But, while I don't believe in a
conspiracy, I do believe in (a) the inevitablity of compression and
(b) incompetence. Often both. So, it's not that I *distrust* the
media, but I've been on the scene enough times to know that what I
want to get out of a conference, a speech or a meeting may not be what
the reporter chose to report on in the 2 minutes or the 18 inches
given.

I think the Duck answers my objection -- he DOES trust certain
branches of the media, way too much, and a lot of the DS citations
here are because he sits on his ass and takes the word of highly
suspect, highly partisan media rather than going out into the real
world and getting his information on his own.

Again, Ted Rall is just as blind and he doesn't sit on his ass. This
isn't a liberal-conservative thing, despite Andy's repeated accusation
that I don't trust conservatives. I don't trust blind, true-believing
partisans of any stripe.

And I don't trust commentators who sit on their asses and pontificate,
unless they cite multiple sources from multiple perspectives, and I
haven't heard the duck do that. Obviously, it's hard to do in a panel
format, but it's not hard to quote one perspective one day and another
the next.

My guesses are:
1. He's not counting the mileage logged in the car, which is
registered in his wife's name, which he often takes instead of the
truck, which is in his name.
2. He's not counting mileage logged in taxis, limos and other
commercial transportation.

If he's living in the core city, it's possible he goes everywhere by
bike, foot or bus/subway.

(And by "limo" I meant those hotel/airport minibuses, not the kind
with Jeeves up front. Sheesh -- do you really need a country boy to
explain these things? My point is that, like cabs, they take small
groups of people to specific addresses -- so I don't count them along
with subways and buses as "public transportation.")

Still, I think he'd do better commentary if he went and saw the things
he talks about. But, again, it doesn't work for Rall, so maybe it
wouldn't work for Tinsley.

Mike Peterson
http://nellieblogs.blogspot.com

.

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