Workers, Lurkers, and Televised Blogs....

I have discussed with several people on several occasions how to get more comments on my blog. Interestingly I find that I am not the only one who is frustrated by those who visit the site but stay for so short a time that they cannot see how wonderful it is(shameless plug) read it, or even understand what it is about. Then there are those who stay on for a few hours, reading and learning about who I am or who I want to be, but leave no comment. Those individuals are called “lurkers”.

It was requested that I somehow address those “lurkers”. I was unsure of how to do so. But I think I have come up with the perfect answer.... Televised Blogs. Madness you say. Voodoo you exclaim, but alas, hear me out.

How many of these “lurkers” scream loudly at the television when an umpire or referee makes a bad call in a baseball or basketball game? How many comment on the stupidity of whatever news story is on the television right now. Opinions are prevalent in today’s society. Some are educated, some are less than. But, most people who put their lives out there on the internet, their opinions out there on the internet in the form of “blogs” want to hear your opinion too. We are trying to learn. About our world, ourselves, and we want to learn from you. So, leave a comment now and then, we know you are out there, we see our hit counters going up and up, and still we are not learning. We value your opinion, it helps us keep an open mind about the world. And, who knows, maybe you will learn something too. Nothing wrong with that is there?

How the “WHY??” Generation Has Changed Mainstream News Media.

From The Book "Please Pass The Pork" Politics, Corruption, and Collusion In Small Town America by Terry G. Bernard.

Chapter 7
Don't Trust "Mainstream" Media

I remember the days of news when the purpose of the media was to report news. It seems that in the past ten years, the role, or more importantly, the role of the media as viewed by the public, has become to tell the public “why” and incident occurred and not “what” incident if any has occurred.

It is important to remember that the role of the media never has been or never will be to tell us “why”. Interestingly, the media does not know why. I reported news for many years before deciding to become an author and never during the investigation of a lead, follow up, or during any other part of the reporting process have ever found out why something happened. Do not sit back on your recliner or sofa and believe what televised media is telling you if they are telling you why something happened. It is important to note that whenever a so-called “expert” is professing his wealth of knowledge upon your senses he always at some point qualifies his statements by saying “of course we are merely speculating”. The press should never speculate. That is not their job.

The two most important factors to remember when considering news coverage are ambiguity and protection of rights. At any point where media starts to speculate on why an incident occurred or why someone did what they did all ambiguity is lost. If a member of the press is speculating on an incident with or without all of the facts he is injecting his opinion into the discussion. How can ambiguity exist with personal opinion involved? It is also important to remember that when protecting the rights of all involved the most important person to protect is not the public, the families of the injured, or even the victims. Where the press is concerned the most important person whose rights has to be protected is the suspect. Now, I know many of you are asking yourself “WHY?” Thank you for making my point for me. What if by some chance the individual at Virginia Tech had been misidentified. What if he had not committed both shootings? Before we even knew how many were dead, and if the rest were safe, the media was speculating “WHY?”. Please note that even after receiving the letters as well as the videos that the Virginia Tech shooter sent to NBC news, none of us nor any of them truly know why he did what he did. Even if he had not taken his own life, would we ever truly know why? Who, What, Where----that’s the news and should still be. Sadly this is not the case.

Remember always, especially when you are upset at a member of the media for not telling you “why” something happened, he does not know, and he never will. And more importantly remember that truly, by definition, it is not his job to tell you. If you want to know “WHAT” ask a real “newsman”. If you want to know “why”, ask Dr. Phil.

In closing of this chapter may I say that the media in today’s society is failing you miserably. They are failing you by giving you what you “want”, and losing sight of what they are responsible for. And please notice, that during the writing of this I never asked “why?” But without speculation, and with ambiguity you know why.

New Subtitle.

Please tell me what you think of the new blog subtitle. No more gloom agony and despair for your amusement.

The Rebirth of Common Sense???

Is the rebirth of common sense underway? Is Benton Arkansas the barometer for what is to come? A few days ago the voters of Benton went to the polls to vote on whether or not an extra one half cent in sales taxes to build a new city park. Now the first amazing thing is that the tax was defeated. The second is that it was defeated 87% against 13% for. The third amazing thing is the fact that of the registered voters that qualified to cast their ballot, 83 percent showed up to the polls. Now that sounds like a-lot, and it is, but here is just how "a-lot" it is. It is more voters than turned out to vote for a president nationwide in the last four elections "COMBINED!" Now a friend of mine and I were talking about this and his question was how did they get such a turnout? Maybe it is the rebirth of common sense. Maybe it was just that dramatically stupid. We may never know for sure, but the question must be asked. With the possibility of upcoming votes on local tax extensions, increases, or however they are being defined at this hour, is Benton The Barometer? Remember folks very few of us spend large sums of money on one item without planning it out. Why would we let "someone else" spend large sums of OUR money without a plan? What is the plan? Where are the goals? What is it going to look like? You don't know because neither does he.

Easter Bunny Goodness.....

Look what the Easter bunny brought me. Now I will never leave the house. 60 inches of HDTV Digital Picture 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound happiness. WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Home Sick....

Now the title is sort of misleading I will admit. I was in an accident many years ago and there was a good bit of damage done to my left leg. Henceforth, scar tissue and blood clots. My leg looks like a purple balloon. Oh well I guess I will get to catch up on my laying around doing nothing. I have been too busy lately to keep up with it anyway.

On Citizenship....

“Democracy is the worst form of government ever attempted in the world. The only exceptions to this are all of the other ones ever attempted.” This quote from Winston Churchill is a volume, a novel of citizenship wrapped into a single sentence. But what does it say?

It is lost on the citizen of today the importance and the value of what his responsibilities are. A Great example is Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin, and others before and after him, risked their very lives to give us what we have today. I speak not of soldiers, wars, and battles. What we are discussing here and now is the actual risk they took. Back in 1776 the very breath of splitting from England, was considered treason and punishable by death. Yes folks, DEATH. No trial, no appeal, no mercy. Now Benjamin Franklin, a patriot yes, a scholar yes, but not a citizen. Benjamin Franklin, and others, risked their lives in the mere hope of citizenship, the mere hope of building something that would live on past themselves and their namesakes. Now for himself and others to risk so much for something that they knew from the beginning was so horribly flawed is at the least remarkable. Democracy. Now as the reapers of the rewards of those risks, what are our responsibilities as citizens? There is only one. It is our duty, our responsibility, to question the leaders that we have chosen. Democracy is a form of government that allows us to put in place people to make decisions under our scrutiny and our direction. It is our duty. It is the building block of our system of government. Why don’t we? I think all citizens have lost the purpose for our elected officials. Our elected officials were never meant to be the leaders! Their sole responsibility as elected officials, is to be our voice in the dark. Their sole responsibility is to yell above the crowd, and say WE ARE CITIZENS AND WE SHALL BE HEARD!!!!! If you are not questioning your elected representatives, and I do not mean in your mind, or among yourselves. I mean walking directly to your officials and asking them WHY, then you are not a citizen. Your duties and responsibilities are few, and in the technological world of today with cars, telephones, computers, so on....these responsibilities are easy to full-fill. And remember something else very important. When you ask WHY it is those officials duty, and responsibility to tell you why. Do not be afraid. We are the leaders, they are our voice. It is time for all of us, to lead. It is time once again for our voices to speak for us.

Of Sheep and Men

Excerpt from the book: "Please Pass The Pork" Politics Collusion and Corruption in Small Town America by Terry G Bernard


What do sheep and humans have in common? Let us ponder this for a moment shall we. First we must discuss the icon of sheep. The shepherd. When you think of a shepherd, what is the first thing you think of? The hook of course. Now sheep do not recognize their owners necessarily but they do recognize the hook. This shepherd could be leading them to fertile pastures of green grass and cool mountain water to drink, a virtual paradise in the mind of sheep. Then, on the other hand, this shepherd could be leading them to a cliff, deep, dark, and fraught with peril and their complete destruction. They don’t know. Do you see a herd of sheep sending out other sheep to investigate whether or not they are embarked on a journey that will full-fill all of their dreams, or a journey that will end in their destruction. No, you do not. He leads, they follow and no one utters a word unless the sheep get out of line.

Now to humans. The interesting thing about humans is they have the ability to do what sheep don’t. Investigate. The problem with humans is that when they ask a question, they don’t really want to hear the truth. They want to hear whatever answer suits them best. There are humans out there that will go forth from the herd, investigate the destination, then report back to the herd. The problem is, if the herd doesn’t like what the others have discovered, it suddenly becomes fabrication, or worse the nature of humanity takes over, and the investigators find the cliff and report back that it is green grass and cool water. Humans also can choose their shepherd, which is a unique advantage. But, there in also lies the problem. Once humans choose their shepherd, they are pretty much done.

Now, where is the advantage that the sheep have. It is simple, they always recognize the hook. Humans rarely do. Humans see or more importantly “hear” the hook one time, and they follow the shepherd blindly to whatever end is in store.

So, to the original question. What do sheep and humans have in common? The answer is: They both will follow anyone with a hook no matter what the consequences.