Dealing with People on the Internet 102: Dealing With TV People via the Internet
February 17th 2007 13:59
The great thing about the internet is it links up people with lots of information really quickly. I can watch snippets of an American TV show from Australia or get up to date feeds of the Dow Jones… or not bother maybe.
It also gives me the chance to see politics on the other end of the world and, god forbid, comment on it.
I’m not a liberal, I’m not a conservative, I’m a hypocrite. I take the side that agrees with me most at any time of the day, so I can agree with anyone of any political persuasion lest they be extremist right or left-wingers.
To that end it isn’t always simply about dealing with people on the Internet, it’s about dealing with TV people on the Internet, mainly on YouTube actually.
Let me take an example, this may boil the blood of some people and make others turn their heads away in disgust, popular(?) conservative news anchor Bill O’Reilly claims in the ‘O’Reilly Factor’ that 75% of the worlds violence comes from Muslims.
Well it is no secret, Bill has a thing against Muslims especially when he implies the cause of 75% of world violence is from Muslims. I don’t know how much violence there is in the world and in what way he’s defining violence, I also will not bother with him trying to get this bit of information out. Neither will I get angry with this exaggerated misleading statistic. Actually the only person I’m even slightly pissed off with right now is that guy who decided to show up on Bill’s show.
Like I mentioned in the 101 entry, people like this are just trolls except in this case they have their own TV shows. Does that make them anymore influential than someone who sits down behind a computer? When you take into account that ‘The O’Reilly Factors’ median age of its viewers is 71 you begin to understand why Bill is Bill and why I have no problem with that at all.
He isn’t convincing anyone or changing minds much less informing. He’s preaching to the converted, to 71-year-old lifelong conservatives. This reflects the way O’Reilly goes about communicating with the audience where he isn’t so much delivering news that he’s teaching.
So why get mad? It is quite clear that Bill is desperately trying to stay relevant in this day and age as his slowly thinning out audience (pending replacements) are his only viewers.
This really is no more than dealing with trolls, it really doesn’t matter if they have their own TV show, a troll is a troll.
I picked Bill O'Reilly for this entry because he is one of the most prolific trolls in history. To understand just more about him you can listen to an excerpt from this radio show 'Radio Factor'.
It also gives me the chance to see politics on the other end of the world and, god forbid, comment on it.
I’m not a liberal, I’m not a conservative, I’m a hypocrite. I take the side that agrees with me most at any time of the day, so I can agree with anyone of any political persuasion lest they be extremist right or left-wingers.
To that end it isn’t always simply about dealing with people on the Internet, it’s about dealing with TV people on the Internet, mainly on YouTube actually.
Let me take an example, this may boil the blood of some people and make others turn their heads away in disgust, popular(?) conservative news anchor Bill O’Reilly claims in the ‘O’Reilly Factor’ that 75% of the worlds violence comes from Muslims.
Well it is no secret, Bill has a thing against Muslims especially when he implies the cause of 75% of world violence is from Muslims. I don’t know how much violence there is in the world and in what way he’s defining violence, I also will not bother with him trying to get this bit of information out. Neither will I get angry with this exaggerated misleading statistic. Actually the only person I’m even slightly pissed off with right now is that guy who decided to show up on Bill’s show.
Like I mentioned in the 101 entry, people like this are just trolls except in this case they have their own TV shows. Does that make them anymore influential than someone who sits down behind a computer? When you take into account that ‘The O’Reilly Factors’ median age of its viewers is 71 you begin to understand why Bill is Bill and why I have no problem with that at all.
He isn’t convincing anyone or changing minds much less informing. He’s preaching to the converted, to 71-year-old lifelong conservatives. This reflects the way O’Reilly goes about communicating with the audience where he isn’t so much delivering news that he’s teaching.
So why get mad? It is quite clear that Bill is desperately trying to stay relevant in this day and age as his slowly thinning out audience (pending replacements) are his only viewers.
This really is no more than dealing with trolls, it really doesn’t matter if they have their own TV show, a troll is a troll.
I picked Bill O'Reilly for this entry because he is one of the most prolific trolls in history. To understand just more about him you can listen to an excerpt from this radio show 'Radio Factor'.
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Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
It's not just Bill, it's the entire Fox Network. They are very scary and renowned for their ultra-conservative views. Take this clip on Happy Feet, in a post by Mrs M.
I really have a hard time with the "I'm for myself and against everything attitude" which seems to prevail in the US.
And as for '75% of the violence in the US is from the Muslim Community" - I'd love to know where that statistic came from. And "most of the world's violence originates from the Muslim world"! Whoa! In Australia someone on TV would suffer some serious repercussions after a statement like that!
It also amuses me that he criticises the Muslims fr getting upset when they are offended or slandered. I'd love to see how the Bible Belt would react to a worldwide high-profile jibe leveled at Christianity.
Blinkered Hypocrisy. It's frightening. And as I have mentioned before, Australia is modeling itslef on the US. It's only a matter of time unless we stop making Aussie Foreign Policy with George Bush's signature.
My two cents. I'm done now ;o)
Comment by Damo
Other than that getting upset over every crackpot on television is precisely what sell. You hate them but you watch them. My tactic is to reduce their rating by at least one viewer.
Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
I am just very intolerant of intolerance.