Mike Rowe Comments on Glenn Beck, Bill Maher, Dialogue

That's why I pretty much don't listen to any political talk show or read any political writers.

 

I've often debated whether a talk show host helps people determine their opinions, or just reinforces they beliefs they already had or wanted to have. I lean towards the latter.

 

It's absolutely the latter. If I could cure one societal "ill" in this country, it'd be to abolish the principal of identifying a favorable conclusion, and then trying to reverse-engineer an argument or facts to support it.

And BOTH parties are absolute experts at it, as are many of their most feverish supporters.

 

I think their job is to make ppl more comfortable with their own biases.

 

I think they have done harm by fanning flames for the sake of a buck. That includes folks like Maddow & Maher. Nothing wrong with making money. At all. But I can't be too impressed with a $25k donation to the guy that's trying to undo some of the same damage caused by the person making the donation in the course of making said $25k.

 

They reinforce already held positions 99.9999% of the time. Period.

 

Same with blogs and forums that only lean one way. My father is bad about only reading what he wants to read and never an opposing view. Just a echo chamber.

 

an awful lot of liberals watch foxnews. hell i watch the daily show occasionally even though I can't stand the bias.

 

ridiculous. their job is viewers and they morph into attracting the largest viewership.

 

I could careless about his drug habit, and if he's doing nothing illegal to make his money, why should I care? I'm sure Bill Maher has done drugs and loves to make money too.

 

As far as talk shows go, I'd say the one thing that conservatives have figured out that liberals haven't is to at least entertain and lighten up every now and then. Every time I listen to liberal radio, it's just the host being angry about whatever the entire time.

 

99% of all news is entertainment now. It's the nature of the beast.

 

I watch all types, but I don't DVR The Union Channel or any other. Let me amend, I watch all types of news. I don't watch any political op/ed shows that masquerade as news shows.

 

Nothing happens in a vaccuum.

 

yup. it's a business first. this is why i always laugh when liberals pull the "brainwashed by foxnews" card.

 

What does this have to do with the issue at hand?

 

And how do they morph into attracting the largest viewership? They tell the target audience that their bias against the opposition in all issues is just. People seem to like being told they're right on matters they deem important.

 

The Libertarian view is "as long as I'm not hurting anyone else", right?

 

Hurting someone's feelings doesn't apply to that, and another person making money doesn't make me poor.

 

i watch almost nothing. i might watch fox news one or twice a month. never watch any national news. i read multiple newspapers a day though.