Is NPR insulting us?

[wurzel]

Today their reporter (name sounded like "Rowlands"?) and his interviewer agreed that Kerry was too "nuanced" when he said. "As Senator I would still have voted to give the president authority for war. But as president I would have used that authority very differently." Is that really too "nuanced" for the American public? Does NPR really think we are that dumb? Are we that dumb?

[kiahzero]

1. Some are

Some are willing to lie about what IWR actually did.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. At the risk of dissapointing you...

Yes. There is a ridiculous number of folks who are dumb. The sadder fact is that they have made the active decision to be dumb. To not inquire and analyze. To ignore clear facts and accept illusions, because it's just easier. To remain ignorant.

I have heard people brag about having made these decisions. Far too often.

[wurzel]

4. Wow. I wish now I hadn't asked. n/t

[krkaufman]

20. Example

I wanted to throttle a friend of my brother's, back in July, when he said he was "exercising the Constitution to its fullest -- by choosing not to vote." He then said he'd never voted and seemed proud of it, as though his apathy and ignorance were a great achievement.

Scary thing is... he's in his mid-40s and has 2 boys of military age.

F-ing clueless.

[Quahog]

3. Sadly, they may be right

We have been dumbed down as a nation to the point where everything must be either black or white. Kerry has already been forced by bush*s division of everything into good and evil columns to dumb down HIS argument. Remember, he DID NOT VOTE TO GO TO WAR. He voted to give the chimp the power to make the decision to go to war AFTER all diplomatic avenues to resolution had been tried and exhausted. Now he is forced by the moronic level of the discourse to say, "I voted for war, and I would vote for it again, but I would conduct a different kind of war."

And to many Americans, that is waffling.

You know what's weird? I was ironing clothes for work the other night while Mrs. Quahog flipped through the channels, and we landed on this show called "Love or Money." I'm not going to try to explain it to those who haven't seen it, but it is a popular reality TV show that involves multiple levels of treachery, deceit and backstabbing.

People seem to LOVE this stuff, but to me it was excessively "nuanced" to be really entertaining. How come Americans can't understand what Kerry is saying, but they can go on at lenght around the office about how contestant A is pretending to be in love with contestand B while contestant C is trading the REAL check for the million dollars with contestant D and never get confused?

[bogey18]

5. Have you looked recently

at the list of the most popular shows on television? Check that list then ask the question again is the American public that dumb.

There are still a lot of people out there who do not know the difference between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

[kcwayne]

6. A psychiatrist that I know told me the average IQ in America

runs between 90-100. I don't know him well enough to know the credibility of what he is saying, but my thought was, that explains Republicanism.

[AP]

7. Psst. IQ tests are guaged so that 100 is the average.

No matter how smart or dumb America gets, collectively, the IQ test intends that 100 is always the average.

[kcwayne]

12. Well that's interesting

I was unaware of that. So it would be interesting to know how someone who scores 100 today would compare to someone that scored 100 25 years ago. I recently scored 25 points higher on an IQ test than what I scored when I took one in high school. I attributed it to 30 years of reading and working in a field where I am always solving logic problems. Maybe the difference is the average has sunk that much?

[woo me with science]

13. good question...

actually, people are smarter today than they were 25 years ago--at least according to the tests. they renorm and revise them occasionally, and people today do significantly better than people did 25 years ago, given the same kinds of items.

[Green Lantern]

17. Might not

mean they are smarter-it may just mean that the test takers think more like the test makers now. Therefore IQ would only indicate a closer correlation between the two, and not a relatively higher marker for intelligence.

[alittlelark]

15. Perhaps the Psychiatrist was comparing world-wide

IQ scores to those of Americans?:shrug:

[murray hill farm]

19. Average IQ

If the average IQ in the USA is 100, does that mean that one half of the voters in the USA have a lower than average IQ. Perhaps that explains a lot...one of the downsides of democracy? Or not!!!

[AP]

23. I'm starting to worry about the IQ of duers. Of course half the voters

have a below average IQ. That's the definition of average.

[Zynx]

24. Nope, that's the definition of median. Average can be weighted above or

below the median due to extreme outliers, sometimes dramatically above or below the median.

[Julien Sorel]

8. The unfortunate downside is, the dumber people are treated,

the dumber they become. So as soon as a statement like "I think voting for the authority to go to war was right; the way Bush abused that authority was wrong" becomes considered too complex a thought for public comsumption, the level of public discourse is ratcheted down, to the detriment of everyone. It's an example of how the practice of politics can degrade the process of politics over time. You end up with politicians behaving like simpletons, because that's what the public has learned to see as good.

Notice the spin, by the way: pointing out the country has suffered under Bush and that he hasn't earned the right to stay in office is "pessimism;" pointing out that the authority Bush was given to invade Iraq was misused is "too nuanced."

[wurzel]

10. So just saying over and over again "too nuanced" it becomes too nuanced?

If reporters had never said it was too nuanced, would what Kerry said be too nuanced? Has our media become so incestuous that even "honest" reporters just parrot the FOX line because it is the loudest? I like that analysis of the "pessimism" spin. But it seems to me with the kind of communication ability the Dems have they should be able to counteract this. Understanding, of course that the media is largely in the hands of Republicans. Is our real problem mediocre reporters, rather than bright reporters with an agenda?

[Swede]

9. Look how Chaney pulled "sensitive" out of context and ran with it.

An entire segment of Cheney's speech was based on it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Not too "nuanced" too damned wishy-washy.

"As Senator I would still have voted to give the president authority for war. But as president I would have used that authority very differently."

Someone should point out to Kerry that when he voted for the war, he wasn't president.

Hopefully, he will get to be president and do something realistic to end the war he authorized with his pathetic vote.

[Junkdrawer]

14. NPR: Thinking Person's Propaganda...

NPR used to be a non-commercial, straight shooting news organization.

The Right found that very threatening, so they cut Federal funding and made them reach out to corporations for support.

Sooo... market forces took hold and now NPR offers propaganda specifically aimed at a more urbane, upscale market segment.

Sad really. Like watching your grandmother turn to alcoholism after a long, productive life.

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. Think of Joe Sixpack...

out there in Grabowski land. Often core voters -- IF the message means something to them. They listen to sound bites and want them to grab their attention in clear, simple language.

[Strelnikov_]

18. "The Best Argument Against Democracy . . .

. . is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

Winston Churchill

[wurzel]

22. Did he ever get it right. n/t

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. Did so few things happen that they need to fill time with analysis?

What happened to reporting the news?