Month: May 2009

The Wild West: Bias and Myth in Media, Ctd

by Lane Wallace

A follow-up to my earlier post on the MoMA "Into the Sunset" exhibit …

My second thought on the subject: While it's true that any photo or story is only a piece of a far more complex puzzle, it's also true that photographers (and writers) make choices about which puzzle pieces they capture and share with the rest of us. Every day. On every subject. But are they intentionally skewing our vision, or trying to reinforce a fantasy image? Well… sometimes. A travel magazine generally doesn't want to see the slums of a Caribbean island vacation spot. The assignment is to talk about and show the pretty places. And the old newspaper adage "if it bleeds, it leads," didn't crop up out of nowhere. In addition, we all view the world through our own particular lenses. And there are certainly photographers and writers who have an axe to grind, or an agenda to push.

However. I would argue that the bias the vast majority of professional photographers and writers have is not toward one take on a story or another.

It's toward a compelling story, period. The photo that's dramatic. The unexpected story that cuts against the grain. The moment that stops people in their tracks and makes them re-think their assumptions. The one photo that tells a story better than 1,000 words. 

We know we can't tell the entire story in one article, or one photo. So we try to find something compelling that represents an important aspect of the story. And, hopefully, we get to tell other pieces, in other stories and images. So that over time, we can paint a fuller picture of a complex milieu. Are our efforts flawed, even when we try our best to tell a story representational of the "truth"? Of course. We have to live with that. Truth is elusive. So we tell stories. And we hope, on our best days, that we provide enough pieces of the puzzle for people to: a) get some sense of what the overall image is, and b) realize that it's a complex image that goes beyond any easy categorization or answer. 

Backfire

by Patrick Appel

Yglesias thinks that the GOP is losing the torture debate:

…in their zeal to score a tactical win, the right has made a truth commission more likely not less likely. Obama wanted to avoid a backward-looking focus on torture in part because it distracted from his legislative agenda. But if we’re going to be looking backward anyway, thanks to conservatives’ insistence on complaining about Pelosi, then the move forward strategy lacks a rationale. And far from forcing a standoff in which Pelosi will abandon her support for an investigation, the right has forced her into a corner from which she can’t give in to moderate Democrats’ opposition to such a move without looking like she’s cravenly attempting to save her own skin.

Symbiotic Parasites

by Patrick Appel

I've neglected to comment on the brouhaha surrounding Dowd lifting a line from Josh Marshall because it felt largely irrelevant, but Greenwald makes a good point:

The tale of the put-upon news organizations and the pilfering, parasitical bloggers has always been more self-serving mythology than reality.  That's not to say that there's no truth to it, but the picture has always been much more complicated.  After all, a principal reason for the emergence of a political blogosphere is precisely because it performed functions that establishment media outlets fail to perform.  If all bloggers did was just replicate what traditional news organizations did and offered nothing original, nobody would read blogs.  And especially now, as bloggers and online writers engage in much more so-called "original reporting" and punditry, the parasitical behavior is often the reverse of how it is depicted.  The Maureen Dowd/Josh Marshall episode is a particularly vivid and dramatic example of that, but it is far from uncommon.

The Scarlet Vest

by Chris Bodenner

US soldiers on suicide watch are often forced to wear orange or red vests to set them apart from their camouflaged brethren. Elspeth Reeve reports:

The purpose of the vest is, ostensibly, to make it easy for others to keep an eye on a suicidal soldier, but forcing a soldier to advertise his own depression creates a powerful stigma. "When you see what happens to someone on suicide watch—the orange vest, the trips to the chaplain, the drill sergeant talking about them when they're not there, saying they can't handle the military. … When you see that, you're going to think twice about speaking up and saying you need some help. … You don't want to be like that guy," the recruit from Benning says.

"I can't think of anything worse in the ethos of the military," says Polly Coe, a therapist who treats soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky. Singling out suicidal soldiers, she says, "makes them more suicidal."

Why Class Still Matters

by Richard Florida

Class is a word that elicits strong, and sometimes strange, reactions from many Americans. Once a powerful construct understanding economies and societies, class has been all but banished from the lexicon of social scientists and from the public conversation.

It's time we put class back in the center of our vocabulary, especially so during this ongoing economic crisis and reset. The impacts of the crisis have been extremely uneven by class – hitting hardest at the industrial working class and their communities.

Over the coming week, I'll be posting on that, and also on the powerful effects of class on the wealth, innovativeness, and happiness of nations, drawing on a variety of statistical analyses conducted with Charlotta Mellander and my Martin Prosperity Institute colleagues.

We define class simply by peoples' position in the economy - not by perceived status, level of income, or what we consume, but by the kind of work we do. Conveniently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps detailed statistics on the myriad occupations that make up the U.S. economy.

We identify three core classes:

The working class who work in production, transportation, construction, and related jobs.

The service class who work in jobs like food prep, grounds cleaning, building maintenance, personal care, administrative offices, and community, social, and protective services.

The creative class of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs; artists, designers, media types, and entertainers; and knowledge-based professionals in management, health care, education, and related fields.

I'll report on the relationship between class and various social and economic outcomes over the next several days, starting with the relationship between class and economic output tomorrow. On Wednesday we turn to class and technological innovation; class and entrepreneurship on Thursday; and class and the happiness of various nations on Friday. Along the way, I'll also post on the uneven ways that recessions impact different classes, and relationship between class and unemployment, among other things.

Stay tuned.

“Gourmet” Soup Kitchens

Picture 1
by Patrick Appel

Via Balloon Juice, Julie Gunlock complains that food for the homeless is too fancy.

A recent meal served at the Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) kitchen in Pacoima, Calif., included pumpkin soup seasoned with browned butter and sage, red-wine barbecue beef on handmade puff pastry, artichoke hearts with meatballs marinara, roasted-garlic-and-turnip mashed potatoes, all topped off with fresh blueberries and sour cream. No wonder these places need a bailout.

Gunlock is upset because $150 million of stimulus money was given to homeless shelters. Unfortunately for her, MEND doesn't take government money. Regardless, obesity is concentrated among the poor and the uneducated. More healthful food should be a priority. Gunlock acknowledges that "it is certainly a worthy goal for food kitchens to endeavor to provide a healthy meal to those they serve" but then goes on to critique kitchens for throwing anyway donated donuts because it "betrays an expanding food snobbery." Oy.

(Chart from Adam Drewnowski and SE Specter's 2004 article on poverty and obesity)