I Like My News Like My Water: Unflavored



When I ask for a glass of water in a restaurant now it invariably comes with a wedge of lemon. When and why did this become the norm? Was this the idea of the Lemon Council? There is a Lemon Council, right? There must be as there are lobbyists for everything now. Did their sour, puckered lips sweet talk every eating and drinking establishment in country with promised tax loopholes? Or maybe its a Lemon Consortium that strong arms bars to "add a slice if theys knows what's good for 'em." I'm thinking they are just taking their lead from news organizations.
News organizations all flavor their news. That goes for whether whether they are online, on air, or on Death Row (the medium formally known as "Print".) Rather than scouring the Internet looking for news I find myself scouring the news looking for unfiltered versions. Most have an overtly political bent, others focus on technology, or sensationalism.
It annoys me to no end that I have to go out of my way to request water without lemon when without lemon is the way it should be served. And it's nearly impossible finding straight news sources these days. Where do you go for your news?
The point of social media news is to supply the facts while they occur without any agenda. For me, the opinions of other news readers seem to carry the most validity. I now like the sites like Reddit that rank their featured news by reader views as it saves me the time and frustration of reading through the muck. Yes Reddit, whose viewers in an interview with President Obama posed the very important question of "Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?" Make fun of Reddit as much as like — in fact it's encouraged. It keeps the news posts and posters honest.
Of course there are many sites that let you tailor your news page to your liking. But really it's the equivalent of letting you choose which lemons you'd like in your water and how many slices you'd like to add.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to discern what agenda is being pushed upon us and ever more clear that skepticism is required for nearly every news source we encounter. The point is if I want to flavor my water I shall do so myself. And I want my news like my water: fresh, in a clear glass, and unflavored.
Article first published as A Glass of News; No Lemon, Please on Technorati.

Comments

Post a Comment

What say you?

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media and Politics: Soap Box or Silence?

Image
It's that time of year again when your Facebook feed and Twitter roll gets inundated with post after post condemning candidates in one political party or praising those in another. I've posted the occasional political cartoon and meme: Hillary tweeting dark thoughts in her dark glasses; The Donald being The Donald. Many would argue it was with the intent to influence or persuade. I maintain it's because it made me chuckle, but political commentary on social media has become no laughing matter. Outrageous comments expressing our views to anyone who listen.are what social media is for, right? Our candidates do it so why shouldn't we? It sure is tempting to share that observation you heard on the drive into work, that statistic you read online, that funny meme that lambastes that candidate you've never trusted, so why hold back? It's your page to rule. Delete those posts and opinions that you find outrageous and promote the ones that champion your caus
Read more

Keeping the "Party" in the Business Christmas Party.

Image
I attended a Holiday Party this week. I mean, I think it was a party...   This is not an article on the  validity of the War on Christmas or the value of replacing the word Christmas with Holiday . No this is business. And about a business Holiday party where not only was "Christmas" removed from the party, the partying was removed from the party.  And the fun. Dickens knew how to throw a party - at least on paper he did. When I think of Christmas parties, I think of  A C hristmas Carol 's Fezziwig: young Ebenezer Scrooge's jovial boss. OK, I guess I think of Mr. Magoo's version first but I grew up with that Christmas Carol classic and still put "razzleberry dressing" on my morning toast. The point is that those were real Christmas parties back then. Plenty of food and spirits, music and dance, mistletoe and egg nog, and no liabilities. There was no drunk driving because everyone walked there - or perhaps rode a carriage pulled by a s
Read more

Donald, Megyn, and the Curious Art of NYC Social Media

Image
Social media lessons we can all learn from the most outspoken, opinionated, yet fascinating Presidential candidate. If you were slapped by a stranger, would you turn and run, restrain them, or hit back?  For many of us raised in and around New York City, a slap is returned with a closed fist to the jaw. Not fighting fair? The attitude is, if you make an unprovoked or unfair hit we will hit you much harder. This transcends socioeconomic class. Perhaps it's why one time New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt would speak softly and carry that big stick. The same applies to verbal slapping which has moved for the most part from the streets to the Web. Twitter seems to be the arena of choice where tweets fly quickly with stinging jabs.  A football player disses a rival team; a rapper calls out another for not having street creds. The retorts that are often crude, inflammatory, libelous even - but good fodder for our reality-obsessed public that relishes these verb
Read more