CSotD: Tuesday Roundup & More
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Here a generally liberal and a generally conservative cartoonist offer a similar take on the Supreme Court’s finding that, because Roundup’s label doesn’t say it causes cancer, you can’t sue in state courts for Bayer failing to warn you that it causes cancer.
Which sounds ridiculous, and there’s a more complex explanation, but it boils down to a ruling that if you got cancer from using Roundup, tough noogies, because state laws can’t override what chemical companies have to disclose.
Or something.
I think it means that Bayer is also not responsible for anybody overdosing on heroin, though this 1901 ad does say that the efficient dose is very small. But it doesn’t specifically warn against taking more than that, nor does it mention any risk of becoming dependent on the stuff.
Congress later put some restrictions on sale of heroin, but I’ll bet if Bayer appealed to the Supreme Court, we’d get a 6-3 finding that those laws were an improper restraint on wealthy corporations.
The State of Texas has made the teaching of folklore mandatory in public schools, but only that taken from a Protestant version of texts approved by the Pope. If I don’t say so, and quite likely even if I do, somebody will say that the books of the Bible were approved by scholars around the Fourth Century and that’s true but it still ultimately rested on the pope’s authority.
Otherwise, you get clay birds.
I think folklore is a great teaching tool, but there are people who sincerely believe that Noah had kangaroos and polar bears in his ark, and don’t want to hear that Gilgamesh also survived the Flood, as did Deucalion and Pyrrha.
Though if you believe only one person did, it must have been Noah, because otherwise there wouldn’t be any animals. Except for ducks.
The required parts of the the New International Readers Version of the Bible that must be taught to Protestant and Catholic and Jewish and Muslim and Buddhist and agnostic and atheist children include not only Noah’s Ark but Adam & Eve, and if they raise any questions, the answer is “Because God wanted it that way.”
A more troubling question would be “Why aren’t we also required to read about the Monkey King and Arjuna?” which would get you sent to the principal’s office.
First time is a mandatory three-day suspension. Second time calls for burning at the stake.
Still on the topic of what people ought to believe, Royaards is correct that trust in media is fading, and he points out some obvious causes: Outrageous lies and intentional propaganda from government sources, nonsense and deliberate falsehoods on social media, and a general flow of dishonesty from other sources.
And we’re chest deep in it all.
Constant Readers have often seen this 2005 Danziger piece, since it hasn’t lost much relevance over 21 years except that blogs have become more influential, which takes some of the “Thank God” out of things.
The irrational nitwit in the corner of the bar now threatens to become an “influencer,” which he certainly was not in the days of Cronkite, and the fact that he’s no longer a nuisance in his own neighborhood is small consolation if he currently has an approving audience of thousands, or more.
I remember back when most of us were alternately annoyed and amused by local screwballs. In a small town, the village fulminator was somebody’s brother or cousin or in-law, and the part that Cheers got wrong in the character of Cliff was that Cliff often had his facts straight, even if only Norm wanted to hear his uniquely off-center interpretation of them.
That’s the difference between a pedant and a crank.
Which brings us to Wexler’s rogues gallery of “paid agitators,” because much of the influence of eccentric opinionators has been validated by Fox, and by the unleashing of talk radio by the dropping of the Fairness Doctrine.
Like Cliff Claven, the commentators of Fox generally have a factual basis behind their opinions, but unlike Cliff, their stretching of facts to fit their opinions is more intentional, and while it’s not as toxic and blatantly off-the-rails as the lies that brought Alex Jones to bankruptcy or that left decent folks agape when Megyn Kelly unleashed an astonishingly unhinged racist rant against Haitians, it’s not without direction from the top.
Talk Radio may be a matter of radio networks and station owners wanting ratings and profits at any price, but Fox and its imitators have a specific political agenda. And that agenda was documented and revealed when Fox was forced to cough up $787 million for its deliberate lies about Dominion Voting Systems.
Wexler’s term “Poorly Educated” goes beyond its superficial meaning of people who weren’t paying attention in class or dropped out or otherwise failed to absorb the material. It also includes highly articulate, literate people who never learned how to evaluate sources and to apply logic.
Like medieval scientists, they begin with a conclusion and then seek facts to justify it, rather than examining facts and seeing where they lead. That wouldn’t be so bad if their conclusions were sprinkled among other conclusions by other people, but that’s not how it works.
In the current media world, too few people hear two sides. They choose a point of view that appeals to them and hear nothing else. Fox people watch Fox, MSNow people watch MSNow and car radios are either tuned to rightwing talk or to NPR, but they don’t alternate from one to the other.
JD Vance opined the other day that Watergate would be no big deal today, and that he thinks he’s a lot like Nixon and, besides, people treated Trump just like they treated Nixon, though Republicans didn’t boycott serving on the Senate Watergate Committee.
There were, however, people back then who thought Nixon was innocent, and here’s a good discussion of that. The main difference between then and now is that they didn’t have entire networks and radio stations dedicated to spreading pro-corruption opinions.
And on the rare occasions when a network aired both sides of an issue, they made sure both sides were arrogant twits. That’s called “fairness.”
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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