This is off topic but does anyone else think the media’s cheerleading and live coverage of the billionaires’ space flights was a tad over the top? I kept thinking it was another example of how overly impressed they are by egotistic rich guys. It reminded me of their excessive, mostly positive coverage of Trump during the 2016 primaries.
I know it isn't a popular opinion, but I found the social media's constant "they should be feeding the poor instead" a lot more over-the-top than the mainstream media's relatively mild admiration. Yes, congratulatory hagiographic coverage is plainly still rooted in Reaganesque wealth worship, but the 'all capitalism is evil and I know how to spend their money better than they do and we should take it from them and punish them for having it' socialist critique is every bit as egotistical, if not quite as self-involved. There was a time when the space industry was very popular, and I can't see the idea that the coverage might have been programmed as a counter to the constant bad-news-newscycle that Trump and the pandemic have brought us as a bad thing. No doubt reactionary and disaffected leftists will find it impossible to see this as a good faith effort by the media, trained as they are to hear the word "distraction" as nothing other than evidence of mal-intent. But the original state-based space race provided incalculable dividends to the world's poor, in development of technology and also in expanding our collective vision, despite being just another battle in the Cold War. The commercialization of the space industry, and the attendant drastic reduction in the cost of launching mass into orbit, will quite possibly do the same. The fact that the three under-taxed and over-privileged industrialists celebrated this competitive achievement with personal joy rides means nothing more than the fact that it no longer takes years of rigorous training to get the chance to view the Earth from orbit, and it is no longer considered a mark of courage to even try.
I was home during the launch. What I saw was live coverage and fawning commentary. I don’t care if rich guys want to spend their money like that. In fact I am tired of the idea that it is up to rich people to solve problems like world poverty or disease. That is the responsibility of citizens and their governments.
What I do object to is the media giving them so much more attention than they usually give to more substantive space flights, manned or unmanned, or to other much more important topics. I am not the only one who noticed this:
“Jeff Bezos Got as Much Morning Show Coverage in a Day as Climate Change Got All Last Year
The morning broadcast TV news cares more about a billionaire's few minutes in space than the fate of the planet.”
What these men did is at the level of the very first space flights that I saw as a young girl and the stated purpose is for space tourism for the wealthy, not scientific achievement.
I get your point, but if poor people could "solve poverty", there would be no poor people. It doesn't matter if space tourism is for the rich, it brings down the cost of launching mass into orbit for everyone else, too.
I'm not defending the media's warped priorities, but you're basically just trying to find someone to blame for the fact that life isn't fair.
I did not say that I think rich people should solve poverty or that rich people can’t spend their money on luxuries. And I am certainly don’t think poor people can solve poverty but governments can go a long way to doing that with tax dollars. Just using the money that was wasted on Trump’s tax cuts would go a long way. And I do think rich guys and corporations should pay taxes so that we can better address problems like poverty and climate change.
I believe you have successfully sidestepped my point without comprehending it, congratulations. You may continue with your spouting of blindingly obvious critiques of bad gov't policy now. But please consider, as you do, that no increase in taxation short of economy-crippling socialist utopianism will prevent very rich people from being able to afford ego-driven luxuries that will garner a distastefully large proportion of media coverage.
My mistake. I thought you were actually trying to have a serious debate instead of criticizing me for things I never said. Next time I won’t waste my time. Hope that helps.
If there’s a good response to that, well, I’ve been saying it for three days, and asking why it’s supposed to be intrinsically good that a private entity has accomplished this. And I haven’t heard one good answer.
Someone tried to tell me private space travel would be “more accessible.” Sure, if you have $28 million and/or Jeff Bezos likes you.
John Glenn, the first American in space, was the son of a plumber and a teacher. You think he would’ve ever gotten a seat on Jeff Bezos’ plaything?
Did you? Oh, you meant other people have. And so there is no reason for anyone to do so ever again?
Aside from the epistemic red herring of demanding that something be "intrinsically good" to be beneficial, there are two important aspects of a private entity accomplishing this. First, it is a private entity accomplishing this, where before only governments could, meaning more access. Second, it is three private entities doing so, providing the competitive pressure to ensure it is done as efficiently as possible, and effectively guaranteeing that however expensive a seat (or cost per pound, for non-human payloads, more importantly) is now, it will be lower in the future.
I don't know what Bezos' (or Musk's, or Branson's) parents did. Do you think that's any more relevant than Glenn's parent's occupations?
I think the proper label for that power is THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT AMERICAN'S PREFERENCES OF WHAT INFORMATION THEY ARE INTERESTED IN. Sports reportes are paid more because they are worth more to the company paying them in terms of the popularity of their publication/programming, not because Americans are somehow more evil than other human beings.
Remember - DeSantis is supposed to be the mythical "smarter Trump." Like the FG, DeSantis seems to believe that Covid will disappear if Floridians will just clap louder.
Josh Marshall hit the bulls-eye with this observation in today's Talking Points Memo!
"The DC political press has Stockholm syndrome when it comes to the GOP’s aggressive use of power. So it’s as if political reporters can’t quite process Democratic power moves (which are rarer) as anything other than a GOP win."
As I have written before, I strongly believe it is because they are deeply sexist, impressed by guys who act like manly men, even when it is clearly just an act. They bizarrely thought that chickenhawk, faux cowboy Dubya was more of a man than his “wimpy” fighter pilot dad or the “effete” John Kerry.
When was the last time someone who spent 45 minutes a day teasing and poofing his hair, and probably another 20 minutes applying facial makeup, was regarded by the media as an alpha male? The mind boggles. Imagine Maureen Dowd if the Former Guy had run as a Dem.
“Please, governor, we’re begging you, handle the COVID problem. Be a leader.“
I mean, I guess for form’s sake they have to “beg” him like this once. But I hope they’re ready to write the next piece, one that recognizes that he is not a leader, specifically because he doesn’t want to be. Tens of thousands of people in his state have died, are dying and will die, and he actively, aggressively, doesn’t care.
Begging doesn’t help. Call on him to resign. I don’t know what the recall procedures are in Florida, but if there’s some kind of provision, call for the process to start. Don’t beg someone who doesn’t care.
I want to know why suddenly guys like De Santiago, Sean Hannity and Steve Doofy are urging people to get vaccinated. I would put money on them getting pressure from rich donors and advertisers who are freaked out by the recent sharp drop in the stock market attributed the growing threat from the Delta variant.
The answer is out there, if you're willing to look and connect the dots. Biden was reported to have contacted the Murdochs, and also just recently publicly and flatly said that Facebook is killing people. No doubt he informed them that if Fox keeps pushing dangerous medical disinformation, they, the Murdochs personally, might not just be facing civil suits for liability, but actual criminal charges of homicide.
In the end, it isn't like they are actually "urging" people to get vaccinated. They said that, once each, and then immediately went back to spreading FUD, while still insisting they never suggested people shouldn't get vaccinated to begin with. That's obvious CYA bullshit, moderated through lawyers, not any kind of principled revision of their position or rhetoric.
Many of these same beltway journalists (and others like Joe Scarborough) were leading the charge to end mask wearing for the vaccinated (because they had gotten theirs early) even when the rest of us unwashed were struggling to get appointments for our first shots. They wanted the pandemic to be over and made it seem like it was.
In attitude they are very much like Trumpkins in mocking smart Dems—their love of Trump spectacle vs “boring” Joe; their hatred of Al Gore and how flattered they were with W’s nicknames; etc.
Remember when the Orlando Sentinel spent the past decades endorsing every corrupt Republican for office? I do. Don’t treat the right wing media company who brought us here like a hero now. That’s an erroneous conclusion. Tribune-owned Orlando Sentinel helped BUILD Republican power in Florida. Now they’re our heroes? Hahahahaha!
De Santis is the epitome of a power hungry hack among many other power hungry hacks in the FL legislature. Another soulless member of the R party, must be a requirement these days. Politico’s fawning story about him was cringeworthy. I can’t believe he went to Yale either!
D.C. is a one-company town, and the pundits are the citizens. Politico is the gossip-society pages of that town.
Never forget that the Clintons were initially torpedoed by Sally Quinn (The wife of the WaPo’s editor Ben Bradley) because they didn’t have enough swell parties.
Miss Sally was also deeply insulted that Hillary had turned down her offer to receive Sally’s condescending counsel about how a First Lady should behave. This article by Gene Lyons is a great description of the disdain the DC Kool Kids Klub had for the inferior Clinton rubes. I particularly like that Lyons points out that Sally’s outrage over Bill’s affair with Monica is the height of hypocrisy because Sally’s hubby wrote in his memoir about how his affair with the much younger Sally led to his divorce and their marriage. Sally set out to seduce Bradlee by sending him anyonymous flirty notes. Lyons rightly calls Sally a successful Monica.
Outlets look to what others have found successful from a bottom line perspective. Even at the expense of good journalism. The fluffers are succeeding disproportionately. I wish I hadn't read the linked article at Politico. Geesh.
Proving once again that Flor-I-duh is the state of goobers. Bugs Bunny had it right when he sawed off the state and it fell into the Atlantic. I’m so tired of colossal stupidity.
This is off topic but does anyone else think the media’s cheerleading and live coverage of the billionaires’ space flights was a tad over the top? I kept thinking it was another example of how overly impressed they are by egotistic rich guys. It reminded me of their excessive, mostly positive coverage of Trump during the 2016 primaries.
Well, who at the WaPo wouldn’t want to see their boss blasted into space?
Gee it was a shame Dr. Smith didn't program the Robot to sabotage the flight...
I know it isn't a popular opinion, but I found the social media's constant "they should be feeding the poor instead" a lot more over-the-top than the mainstream media's relatively mild admiration. Yes, congratulatory hagiographic coverage is plainly still rooted in Reaganesque wealth worship, but the 'all capitalism is evil and I know how to spend their money better than they do and we should take it from them and punish them for having it' socialist critique is every bit as egotistical, if not quite as self-involved. There was a time when the space industry was very popular, and I can't see the idea that the coverage might have been programmed as a counter to the constant bad-news-newscycle that Trump and the pandemic have brought us as a bad thing. No doubt reactionary and disaffected leftists will find it impossible to see this as a good faith effort by the media, trained as they are to hear the word "distraction" as nothing other than evidence of mal-intent. But the original state-based space race provided incalculable dividends to the world's poor, in development of technology and also in expanding our collective vision, despite being just another battle in the Cold War. The commercialization of the space industry, and the attendant drastic reduction in the cost of launching mass into orbit, will quite possibly do the same. The fact that the three under-taxed and over-privileged industrialists celebrated this competitive achievement with personal joy rides means nothing more than the fact that it no longer takes years of rigorous training to get the chance to view the Earth from orbit, and it is no longer considered a mark of courage to even try.
I was home during the launch. What I saw was live coverage and fawning commentary. I don’t care if rich guys want to spend their money like that. In fact I am tired of the idea that it is up to rich people to solve problems like world poverty or disease. That is the responsibility of citizens and their governments.
What I do object to is the media giving them so much more attention than they usually give to more substantive space flights, manned or unmanned, or to other much more important topics. I am not the only one who noticed this:
“Jeff Bezos Got as Much Morning Show Coverage in a Day as Climate Change Got All Last Year
The morning broadcast TV news cares more about a billionaire's few minutes in space than the fate of the planet.”
https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-got-as-much-morning-show-coverage-in-a-day-a-1847334966
What these men did is at the level of the very first space flights that I saw as a young girl and the stated purpose is for space tourism for the wealthy, not scientific achievement.
I get your point, but if poor people could "solve poverty", there would be no poor people. It doesn't matter if space tourism is for the rich, it brings down the cost of launching mass into orbit for everyone else, too.
I'm not defending the media's warped priorities, but you're basically just trying to find someone to blame for the fact that life isn't fair.
I did not say that I think rich people should solve poverty or that rich people can’t spend their money on luxuries. And I am certainly don’t think poor people can solve poverty but governments can go a long way to doing that with tax dollars. Just using the money that was wasted on Trump’s tax cuts would go a long way. And I do think rich guys and corporations should pay taxes so that we can better address problems like poverty and climate change.
I believe you have successfully sidestepped my point without comprehending it, congratulations. You may continue with your spouting of blindingly obvious critiques of bad gov't policy now. But please consider, as you do, that no increase in taxation short of economy-crippling socialist utopianism will prevent very rich people from being able to afford ego-driven luxuries that will garner a distastefully large proportion of media coverage.
Thanks for your time. Hope it helps.
My mistake. I thought you were actually trying to have a serious debate instead of criticizing me for things I never said. Next time I won’t waste my time. Hope that helps.
Bored me to tears....first have no cable tv, but didn't read about it and didn't want to.
We already went to space.
If there’s a good response to that, well, I’ve been saying it for three days, and asking why it’s supposed to be intrinsically good that a private entity has accomplished this. And I haven’t heard one good answer.
Someone tried to tell me private space travel would be “more accessible.” Sure, if you have $28 million and/or Jeff Bezos likes you.
John Glenn, the first American in space, was the son of a plumber and a teacher. You think he would’ve ever gotten a seat on Jeff Bezos’ plaything?
"We already went to space."
Did you? Oh, you meant other people have. And so there is no reason for anyone to do so ever again?
Aside from the epistemic red herring of demanding that something be "intrinsically good" to be beneficial, there are two important aspects of a private entity accomplishing this. First, it is a private entity accomplishing this, where before only governments could, meaning more access. Second, it is three private entities doing so, providing the competitive pressure to ensure it is done as efficiently as possible, and effectively guaranteeing that however expensive a seat (or cost per pound, for non-human payloads, more importantly) is now, it will be lower in the future.
I don't know what Bezos' (or Musk's, or Branson's) parents did. Do you think that's any more relevant than Glenn's parent's occupations?
I think the proper label for that power is THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT AMERICAN'S PREFERENCES OF WHAT INFORMATION THEY ARE INTERESTED IN. Sports reportes are paid more because they are worth more to the company paying them in terms of the popularity of their publication/programming, not because Americans are somehow more evil than other human beings.
Remember - DeSantis is supposed to be the mythical "smarter Trump." Like the FG, DeSantis seems to believe that Covid will disappear if Floridians will just clap louder.
I mean he went to Yale! Lol
Someone should tell the media that merely being less insane doesn't make a person smarter.
Josh Marshall hit the bulls-eye with this observation in today's Talking Points Memo!
"The DC political press has Stockholm syndrome when it comes to the GOP’s aggressive use of power. So it’s as if political reporters can’t quite process Democratic power moves (which are rarer) as anything other than a GOP win."
oh gosh yes. Or as I’ve said for years, DC press worship GOP hardball
As I have written before, I strongly believe it is because they are deeply sexist, impressed by guys who act like manly men, even when it is clearly just an act. They bizarrely thought that chickenhawk, faux cowboy Dubya was more of a man than his “wimpy” fighter pilot dad or the “effete” John Kerry.
When was the last time someone who spent 45 minutes a day teasing and poofing his hair, and probably another 20 minutes applying facial makeup, was regarded by the media as an alpha male? The mind boggles. Imagine Maureen Dowd if the Former Guy had run as a Dem.
Well guess who else got COVID?
Florida AG Moody tests positive for COVID days after being with DeSantis in Texas
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article252938903.html?via=newsletter&source=BI-CS-All
“Please, governor, we’re begging you, handle the COVID problem. Be a leader.“
I mean, I guess for form’s sake they have to “beg” him like this once. But I hope they’re ready to write the next piece, one that recognizes that he is not a leader, specifically because he doesn’t want to be. Tens of thousands of people in his state have died, are dying and will die, and he actively, aggressively, doesn’t care.
Begging doesn’t help. Call on him to resign. I don’t know what the recall procedures are in Florida, but if there’s some kind of provision, call for the process to start. Don’t beg someone who doesn’t care.
just yesterday he finally suggested people get vaccinated-too little too late
I want to know why suddenly guys like De Santiago, Sean Hannity and Steve Doofy are urging people to get vaccinated. I would put money on them getting pressure from rich donors and advertisers who are freaked out by the recent sharp drop in the stock market attributed the growing threat from the Delta variant.
The answer is out there, if you're willing to look and connect the dots. Biden was reported to have contacted the Murdochs, and also just recently publicly and flatly said that Facebook is killing people. No doubt he informed them that if Fox keeps pushing dangerous medical disinformation, they, the Murdochs personally, might not just be facing civil suits for liability, but actual criminal charges of homicide.
In the end, it isn't like they are actually "urging" people to get vaccinated. They said that, once each, and then immediately went back to spreading FUD, while still insisting they never suggested people shouldn't get vaccinated to begin with. That's obvious CYA bullshit, moderated through lawyers, not any kind of principled revision of their position or rhetoric.
I'm curious about that also.
Strictly for the benefit of Politico and Axios, I’m sure.
Many of these same beltway journalists (and others like Joe Scarborough) were leading the charge to end mask wearing for the vaccinated (because they had gotten theirs early) even when the rest of us unwashed were struggling to get appointments for our first shots. They wanted the pandemic to be over and made it seem like it was.
In attitude they are very much like Trumpkins in mocking smart Dems—their love of Trump spectacle vs “boring” Joe; their hatred of Al Gore and how flattered they were with W’s nicknames; etc.
Which is why I won't listen or watch Morning Joke.
I don't watch MSNBROC at all.
Who watches television?
This line comes from a Mad Magazine piece "How To Be Smart," circa 1957.
Wally Wood used the line to good effect in that piece, but there's no doubt it was in common use before that.
Remember when the Orlando Sentinel spent the past decades endorsing every corrupt Republican for office? I do. Don’t treat the right wing media company who brought us here like a hero now. That’s an erroneous conclusion. Tribune-owned Orlando Sentinel helped BUILD Republican power in Florida. Now they’re our heroes? Hahahahaha!
good pt….or you can make case *even* Orlando Sentinel thinks DeSantis AWOL
The name should be spelled “DieSantis”.
It's pronounced "death SEN-tence".
Don't forget his lawsuit to stop the cruise lines and other businesses from requiring proof of vaccination.
This is why I refer to that liar as Ron DeSADIST!
As for the corrupted Press Corpse...well they thought they picked a winner but instead they picked a booger...
I love how they are enamored with a guy who wrote a book claiming slavery was not that bad. That is very significant to me.
Even Bill Maher was on the Desantis love train.
Did you expect that anti-Vaxxer to do anything else?
Bill Maher is vaccinated. He was anti-mask for the vaccinated.
De Santis is the epitome of a power hungry hack among many other power hungry hacks in the FL legislature. Another soulless member of the R party, must be a requirement these days. Politico’s fawning story about him was cringeworthy. I can’t believe he went to Yale either!
First, the Slave Trade was also protected in the constitution; as in no prohibition for 20 years.
To the point.
DeSantis has been cooking to Covid figures in Florida for a year plus now.
Why does the Lamestream Media "accept" the cooked figures?
I suggest the pressure of competition or the "publish or perish" doctrine.
Equally there "needs" to be the news to fill the "coverage" time. I suspect you can see this in the 24/7 "news" services. The hours have to be filled.
Seriously, Mr. Boehlert, how much does a "journalist" need to produce each (day?) to justify his paycheck?
cooking (and hiding) the books for sure!
All the Press Corpse has to do is recite the latest GOP propaganda to keep that $weet $weet ¢a$h flowing into their bank accounts!
D.C. is a one-company town, and the pundits are the citizens. Politico is the gossip-society pages of that town.
Never forget that the Clintons were initially torpedoed by Sally Quinn (The wife of the WaPo’s editor Ben Bradley) because they didn’t have enough swell parties.
Miss Sally was also deeply insulted that Hillary had turned down her offer to receive Sally’s condescending counsel about how a First Lady should behave. This article by Gene Lyons is a great description of the disdain the DC Kool Kids Klub had for the inferior Clinton rubes. I particularly like that Lyons points out that Sally’s outrage over Bill’s affair with Monica is the height of hypocrisy because Sally’s hubby wrote in his memoir about how his affair with the much younger Sally led to his divorce and their marriage. Sally set out to seduce Bradlee by sending him anyonymous flirty notes. Lyons rightly calls Sally a successful Monica.
https://arktimes.com/columns/gene-lyons/2014/07/02/lyons-media-hating-on-hillary-clinton
I have had the book "The Hunting Of The President" for years and I need to read it.
Outlets look to what others have found successful from a bottom line perspective. Even at the expense of good journalism. The fluffers are succeeding disproportionately. I wish I hadn't read the linked article at Politico. Geesh.
Charlie Pierce is right when he calls Politico "Tiger Beat On The Potomac"!
He also gives them their due when they get something right, which is almost never. Pierce is a national treasure.
Not to mention we badly need the laughs.
Proving once again that Flor-I-duh is the state of goobers. Bugs Bunny had it right when he sawed off the state and it fell into the Atlantic. I’m so tired of colossal stupidity.
Only a matter of time before global warming turns Florida into Atlantis.