'Cruel & Usual Punishment'

I'm not having fun anymore.

During this primary season I've watched misleading stories with misleading headlines, stories that had no business being headlines, stories about seemingly nothing at all, arguments for the sake of arguments, reporting without any attention to context, outright lies, news about words found in people's cat's fur and skateboarding dogs, presidential celebrity genealogical ties, far too many youtube videos and insignificant blogs like my own. In other words, I've witnessed from the media 'pushers', the complete absence of journalistic integrity (whatever that means) and very little actual reporting.

Here are some fun examples from watchdogs, Media Matters:

CNN's Lou Dobbs thinks by receiving endorsement from Hispanic Gov. Richardson, Obama must want to harbor illegals. Genius.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803240009?f=h_latest

Fox News wants to contemplate the finer points of candidate beards and how that speaks to ethnic voters. You can't make this stuff up.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803240006?f=h_latest

Had enough racism? Try blatant sexism (oh and unapologetic bias).
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803250011?f=h_latest

People just expect Republicans to pander to crazy pastors and agents of intolerance, so its not really news:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803250012?f=h_top

This one is fun. Even Fox News finds Fox News ridiculous:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803210008

And apparently I'm not the only one getting angry:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2008/03/24/moos.touchy.touchy.cnn

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One man went one step further in the wake of all of this media driven depression. He faced the monster, looked it straight in the eye and found out that you should NEVER look it straight in the eye! It will turn your soul to stone!

A Washington Post columnist watched political pundits on tv and blogs for 24 hours straight, lost sense of humor, will to live, and the strength to kill himself. [Washington Post]

'Cruel and Usual Punishment'
One man with more courage than brains sacrifices himself on the altar of punditry, and, in so doing, fails to redeem us all

By Gene Weingarten
Sunday, March 23, 2008; Page W12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031802463.html

THE CRUDDIEST MOMENT OF THE CRAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE ON EARTH happened as I found myself watching five televisions simultaneously, each containing a different political pundit opining on the same subject. When I looked down toward my computer screen to see what the bloggers were saying about it, I noticed that a button on my shirt had come undone...

...Surely this neurotic impulse to hear and be heard means something, good or bad, about our national character. Doesn't the world need one individual with the courage and audacity to expose himself to it all -- punditry in newspapers, punditry on TV, punditry on the radio, punditry on the Web -- for 24 hours straight?

No? Well, too late.

(story continued)