SF Examiner "Coit" Title Needs Examination

Am I the only one who finds this headline crass? Probably. And, that is a problem.

The story has nothing to do with the well know and highly flawed birth control method. It’s a story about a delay in getting a food vendor licensed at the well known San Francisco landmark, Coit Tower.

But, I get it. Oh yes, the Coit Tower has a phallic shape. But, so does the handle of my toilet plunger.  

Without putting much thinking into it, I can think of several other titles that would not be as shameful and just as cutesy. How about:

“Coit Cuisine Crashes”

“Coit Tower Starving?”

“Coit Chowless”

“Chowless Coit,”

“Chow Cut at Coit”

The title, while eye catching, is unnecessary.

Cheap headlines like this only seem to cheapen the story, our minds, and our bodies. Garbage in, garbage out. Perhaps the Examiner is impregnated with the seductive embrace of convention whereby we all go around coarsening our culture at every turn.  

We don’t’ have to be infected by the same coarseness.

City of Clayton Stands Up to Abuse of Power

I first read about this in the Clayton Pioneer, our local paper. The publisher of the paper, Tamara Steiner, wrote an excellent editorial on this abuse of power by Thomas Peele, a Contra Costa Times investigative journalist. Refer to page 4 of the Clayton Pioneer 2-19-10. Another opinion article appeared in the Contra Costa Times that heralds the same alarm.

To be honest, I applaud Mr. Peele’s interest in keeping an eye on public expenditures, out tax dollars at work. Government is here to work for us and should be viewed something we need to keep lean and honest; it belongs to us after all. It should serve us while at the same time, stay out of our way.

Nevertheless, this is typical of the arrogance that we see with many of the folks who pursue a career in journalism.

American Journalists MIA on Global Warming

Our media, no way!

Click on the link below for the full story:

American Journalists MIA on Global Warming

Is it chilly outside or is it just me?

Global Warming, er uh, I mean cooling. No, its climate changes. Yeah, that's it! When are we going to grow a brain? Sad thing is, I doubt anyone will notice this hoax. Too many people have too much invested in this fraud emotionally, intellectually and economically.

Excerpt:

"Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon. And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming."

Click on the link below for the full article.

Climategate U-turn: Astonishment as scientist at centre of global warming email row admits data not well organised Mail Online

How The Networks Put Together a News Story

If you love Monte Python type humor you will love this. If you do not, you will still love it. Either way, it rings with truth.

This is great example how “so-called” truth is often communicated to us via style. Style is not substance. Style is distant to truth in that it plays on emotions and memories. It can be used to deceive. By comparison, style is like the music to the lyrics. Music can sound great, pleasing, and arousing; it can invoke anger or inspire. But it does so through the emotions, not the intellect. The music can be contradictory to the lyrics.

Substance on the other hand can be parsed, examined, dissected, tested, and debated by the intellect. The content, or lyrics in keeping with the song metaphor, can tell a great deal, if not the most important aspects, of the message.

Style is meant to accompany and compliment the substance or content. However, the content is the “meat” of the act. Sadly, today we are so easily sold on style and style is then used as the means to truth (and let’s not forget that the means are everything.)

By its very nature, style can not do what substance does. If it did, one would be able to tell what is on a man’s mind by looking at his hat.