Sunday, December 05, 2010

My opinion? Does it really add content?

My eyes pop open at 3:27a almost every morning. I don't have to look at the clock to know what time it is. I try to go back to sleep but always have watch something on television to lull me back into my dreams. Last night it was an HBO Documentaries Watch Public Speaking with Fran Lebowitz. It was brilliant and I love/agree with every opinion she offered. Especially her take on the news these days. I have been saying this for years ... I don't want anyone's 'opinion' about the news of the day. And that is really what you get everywhere - emotive opinions. I want someone to deliver the news, with little emotions and all facts. My first choice for new is BBC and PBS NewsHour. And concerning online news ... I DON'T WANT READER'S FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS. I have said this forever. Readers that leave those comments almost never have a good word to say. They have an agenda. I don't want my eyes to even happen over any words in a comment section. It distracts from the real story, the real news. But once one news agency has implemented that option, they all follow suit. Yes, I agree with Fran. Dumbing down of the news. Inserting personal opinions. Asking viewers add their poor quality phone-photos or their comments. All bad ideas when it concerns news ... it is news 'diluted'.

You talk in the film about how our culture is awash in cheap opinion. If that's so, what makes yours valuable?
"Well, first of all, I know it's an opinion. Here's what I believe. Everyone is always always saying, "I think this. I think that." But what they really mean is, "I feel this. I feel that." They don't think anything. They don't know what think means. So we're not really getting what people think. We're getting what people feel. And really, what could be more deadly? The number of people whose feelings you care about? Very few. At least, I care about the feelings of very few people. You have to admit that the media is quite raucous now, and that's because it's emotion masquerading as thought. Thought is not actually that raucous. It's not that I don't have emotions. It's that I know the difference between my emotions and my thoughts."

If I were a star-gazer, here are a few that I would be gazing at ... personalities that I think I 'get'. Whoopie Goldberg (I love her hair, her style, she feels genuine!), of course, Fran Lebowitz, Diane Keaton (I love her style and when people criticize what she wears on the Red Carpet ... well, I don't get it. I always think she has chosen the perfect outfit.) Also faves, Tilda Swinton (she is the female-hair-style-equivalent of Robert Patterson -- I mean, what hair product do they use and where can I get it?) and there is no one lovelier than Cate Blanchett.

I lost a day of work yesterday and now I am feeling very under-the-gun. Must go work!

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