George Rebane
Unmitigated media bullshit. This afternoon watching a news program, I was again reminded that most programming on the air that is advertised as news is nothing but third person rehash. What fills most of the ‘content time’ on news programs is the anchor or reporters interviewing each other, patronizing politicians, and third party has-beens. An example called on to give us his reflections on the Ukrainian war was a former CIA station chief from somewhere, who was asked as to his assessment of what was going on in the war. Now what a former CIA station chief would know that is special is a mystery to me – he neither established such credentials nor did he enlighten the audience with something new we had not heard of or some new insight as to what was happening. No, the gentleman regurgitated what everyone who tries to keep up has already known for a week or longer. Unmitigated dated pap was all that came forth. And when you consider the contribution of other such ‘guests’, they all say essentially the same thing – yesterday’s news or simply sidestepping what would be a telling question. Literally 80% of content is such a rehash or doing the sidestepping two-step – bottom line, the information rate is dismally low. And when you consider that the content factor of all news programs is at most about 60%, you get an idea of what a gross waste of time watching a live news program is. You get a little improvement when you use your DVR, but not much. A vast wasteland indeed.
Towards scale and controlled networks. A regular reader/commenter (@ 746am) argues that “it’s essentially impossible to avoid economies of scale, which centralizes the beast, plus network effects tend to drive towards gigantism.”
Yes, there is always the push toward economies of scale, but that vicious cycle is abetted only by corporatism. A liberal government’s role is to maintain minimally regulated markets which allow the entry of more nimble and efficient smaller competitors, thereby creating virtuous (self-correcting) cycles. That is not possible under Democrats and today’s limp-wristed Republicans.
Actually, network effects support efficiently operating complex systems (e.g. economies and societies) structured with distributed control and knowledge. For an open network (i.e. a complete graph) to become the handmaiden of autocracy will require massive pruning of links and the elimination of politically incorrect nodes. We witness this today in autocratic countries, and with Dems in charge, will no doubt see the process gain ground in America.
[30mar22 update] Freedom in the 50 states. “California is a classic left-wing state on social issues, (and) one of the least free states in the country, largely because of its long-standing poor performance on economic freedom.” So states the Cato Institute in its latest exhaustively researched annual report (summarized here and pdf download here). The freedom index is based on the attributes of fiscal, regulatory, and personal freedoms sliced and diced into many different components. California ranks 48th overall, miserably surpassed only by Hawaii (49) and New York (50).
[1apr22 update] Another perspective might be helpful. So, we have this from the comment stream of an FN story about the Smith/Rock slapping imbroglio by someone calling himself ‘fuzzy12’ – “Maybe now would be a good time to give thanks for the great contributions of the Black community to our society. Their peaceful and generous nature make them ideal neighbors, lending testimony to their exceptional family values and parenting skills unrivaled by any other culture. Their commitment to academic excellence enriches our schools and serves as an example to all who hope to achieve prominence as a people. Real estate values are fueled by the mix of African-Americans into an area due to their caring and respectful nature of these communities, an example of all they have achieved through their enthusiasm for self-improvement by hard work and a self-reliant can-do nature. We must not forget their abhorrence for crime and their dedication to observing the law. Without their industrious and creative drive, we would be poorer as a nation.” (H/T to correspondent)
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