Little-Acorn
Gold Member
A lot of people say the mainstream media (newspapers, TV, movies) have a large leftward slant. I'm one of those people. Others say it's unbiased, and a very few like to go around claiming it leans to the right.
How do you know when a show leans to the right? I.E., has a conservative slant?
My idea of a right-leaning show (hypothetical example) would be a movie that starts off showing a number of families in poverty. One guy is a salesman, another is a doctor, another works at a nearby auto plant, another drives a bulldozer, etc. There are some homeless around.
The movie goes into their family lives, generally fairly happy except they can't have roast beef for dinner, can't go on a nice vacation, Junior needs braces but can't get them, etc. The local high school has old computers that keep breaking down, old books, there's a leaky roof. The doctor has four kids in a 3br home, and would buy a larger home if he didn't have to pay $50,000/yr in medical malpractice insurance, despite having a perfect record: no medical accidents, no doctor-induced maladies, no lawsuits.
Then their state elects a conservative majority into the state legislature, along with a conservative governor. Media hands fly up in horror as the papers etc. start predicting that health care will be taken from everyone, the number of homeless will triple, state unemployment will be cut, all the usual screams.
First thing the new legislature does, is cut the state income tax in half, eliminate the state corporate income tax and capital-gains tax, and put in place a requirement that people who get 2 years of unemployment must then get off the unemployment rolls and get a job for at least one year afterward. Finally, they pass tort-reform laws preventing huge punitive awards against people whose acts were without malice or gross negligence. The governor applauds and signs them all into law. The screams intensify, the headlines are filled with the usual heartless-conservative-greedy-capitalist-pig denunciations.
Next scene: In a corporate boardroom somewhere, the big cheeses of some major company are discussing how to make more money, of course. They remark how that's their job, and if they don't make money, the thousands of people whose retirement plans are invested in their stock, will lose lots of benefits; and, of course, the shareholders will vote the big cheeses out and vote in someone else who WILL make money and make the stock price and dividends climb.
One big cheese points out that this state in the middle of the country, just eliminated their corporate income tax and cap-gains tax. They go over the numbers, and realize that if they had a plant or two in that state, they would save the 10% of their budget that normally goes for those taxes. In other words, they could produce their products for 10% less expenditures. This means they could sell the same product for 5% less, and they'd wind up selling more products while making 5% MORE money on each product. They rub their hands in glee, light up big cigars, pop open the champagne, and start making plans.
Back in the families' homes, news comes that a new automobile plant will open at the edge of town. Three new electronics plants will move there, and the railroad is making plans to replace the small building next to the track, with a modern terminal and put in a freight yard near the automobile plant. Other companies start making plans to open branches near the coming freight yard, taking advantage of the low-to-nonexistent taxes and convenient shipping.
A new construction company sets up a branch office nearby and starts advertising for carpenters, heavy equipment operators, etc. Since the town is fairly small, not enough people apply. So the construction company starts offering higher wages to try to attract skilled workers, and the guy who drives the bulldozer tells his boss he may change jobs. His boss doesn't want to lose workers with the expected construction boom coming up, and so matches the other comapny's offer, giving the bulldozer driver a 50% raise if he'll agree to train other new drivers and become the head of a new team. He goes home and opens a champagne bottle with his family, while his boss hires five new people (including two former homeless who are faced with losing their benefits next year), knowing he'll make up the added payroll expenditures with the fat contracts he's starting to sign with the new companies, and old companied who are starting to expand to meet the increasing demands.
The salesman suddenly finds himself swamped with orders as new people begin moving into town, buying appliances, homebuilding supplies, gardening supplies, etc. He hires a couple of young assistants to help cope with the flood. Together they open a champagne bottle to celebrate the new business.
The doctor starts getting more people coming in for routine physicals, car-accident injuries, babies being born, and flu bugs. And he nearly falls off his chair when his medical-malpractice insuance rated drop by half, due to the company no longer having to pay out ridiculous sums for injuries that prudent medical practice could not have reasonably forseen. He starts handing out champagne bottles to all his patients on their birthdays and Christmas, as well as doubling his contributions to charities.
The pattern continues. More and more people are doing more business. People are getting hired, wages are ggoing up, roads and houses and stores are getting built, etc. The movie concludes with people reflecting on their newfound fortunes, and wondering what started the big boom, which seems to just keep on rolling along. They are in higher tax bracckets now, and so even with the lower state income tax rates, they are paying just as much in taxes, including the sales taxes they are paying on all the new stuff they are bbuying that they couldn't before. There's a brief flashback to the scene where the votes from the past election are being counted, and legislature votes cutting taxs are being called. The only downturns are among the newspaper companies, whose copies with lurid headlines decrying the greedy, heartless capitalist pigs lie moldering in their newsstands, unsold, as people walk by, laughing and rolling their eyes.
When we start getting movies like that, then you'll know that the mainstream media is starting to take on a conservative slant.
Seen a movie like that, yet?
I thought not.
Anybody want to describe what other signs there might be, if and when the media starts becoming conservative?
How do you know when a show leans to the right? I.E., has a conservative slant?
My idea of a right-leaning show (hypothetical example) would be a movie that starts off showing a number of families in poverty. One guy is a salesman, another is a doctor, another works at a nearby auto plant, another drives a bulldozer, etc. There are some homeless around.
The movie goes into their family lives, generally fairly happy except they can't have roast beef for dinner, can't go on a nice vacation, Junior needs braces but can't get them, etc. The local high school has old computers that keep breaking down, old books, there's a leaky roof. The doctor has four kids in a 3br home, and would buy a larger home if he didn't have to pay $50,000/yr in medical malpractice insurance, despite having a perfect record: no medical accidents, no doctor-induced maladies, no lawsuits.
Then their state elects a conservative majority into the state legislature, along with a conservative governor. Media hands fly up in horror as the papers etc. start predicting that health care will be taken from everyone, the number of homeless will triple, state unemployment will be cut, all the usual screams.
First thing the new legislature does, is cut the state income tax in half, eliminate the state corporate income tax and capital-gains tax, and put in place a requirement that people who get 2 years of unemployment must then get off the unemployment rolls and get a job for at least one year afterward. Finally, they pass tort-reform laws preventing huge punitive awards against people whose acts were without malice or gross negligence. The governor applauds and signs them all into law. The screams intensify, the headlines are filled with the usual heartless-conservative-greedy-capitalist-pig denunciations.
Next scene: In a corporate boardroom somewhere, the big cheeses of some major company are discussing how to make more money, of course. They remark how that's their job, and if they don't make money, the thousands of people whose retirement plans are invested in their stock, will lose lots of benefits; and, of course, the shareholders will vote the big cheeses out and vote in someone else who WILL make money and make the stock price and dividends climb.
One big cheese points out that this state in the middle of the country, just eliminated their corporate income tax and cap-gains tax. They go over the numbers, and realize that if they had a plant or two in that state, they would save the 10% of their budget that normally goes for those taxes. In other words, they could produce their products for 10% less expenditures. This means they could sell the same product for 5% less, and they'd wind up selling more products while making 5% MORE money on each product. They rub their hands in glee, light up big cigars, pop open the champagne, and start making plans.
Back in the families' homes, news comes that a new automobile plant will open at the edge of town. Three new electronics plants will move there, and the railroad is making plans to replace the small building next to the track, with a modern terminal and put in a freight yard near the automobile plant. Other companies start making plans to open branches near the coming freight yard, taking advantage of the low-to-nonexistent taxes and convenient shipping.
A new construction company sets up a branch office nearby and starts advertising for carpenters, heavy equipment operators, etc. Since the town is fairly small, not enough people apply. So the construction company starts offering higher wages to try to attract skilled workers, and the guy who drives the bulldozer tells his boss he may change jobs. His boss doesn't want to lose workers with the expected construction boom coming up, and so matches the other comapny's offer, giving the bulldozer driver a 50% raise if he'll agree to train other new drivers and become the head of a new team. He goes home and opens a champagne bottle with his family, while his boss hires five new people (including two former homeless who are faced with losing their benefits next year), knowing he'll make up the added payroll expenditures with the fat contracts he's starting to sign with the new companies, and old companied who are starting to expand to meet the increasing demands.
The salesman suddenly finds himself swamped with orders as new people begin moving into town, buying appliances, homebuilding supplies, gardening supplies, etc. He hires a couple of young assistants to help cope with the flood. Together they open a champagne bottle to celebrate the new business.
The doctor starts getting more people coming in for routine physicals, car-accident injuries, babies being born, and flu bugs. And he nearly falls off his chair when his medical-malpractice insuance rated drop by half, due to the company no longer having to pay out ridiculous sums for injuries that prudent medical practice could not have reasonably forseen. He starts handing out champagne bottles to all his patients on their birthdays and Christmas, as well as doubling his contributions to charities.
The pattern continues. More and more people are doing more business. People are getting hired, wages are ggoing up, roads and houses and stores are getting built, etc. The movie concludes with people reflecting on their newfound fortunes, and wondering what started the big boom, which seems to just keep on rolling along. They are in higher tax bracckets now, and so even with the lower state income tax rates, they are paying just as much in taxes, including the sales taxes they are paying on all the new stuff they are bbuying that they couldn't before. There's a brief flashback to the scene where the votes from the past election are being counted, and legislature votes cutting taxs are being called. The only downturns are among the newspaper companies, whose copies with lurid headlines decrying the greedy, heartless capitalist pigs lie moldering in their newsstands, unsold, as people walk by, laughing and rolling their eyes.
When we start getting movies like that, then you'll know that the mainstream media is starting to take on a conservative slant.
Seen a movie like that, yet?
I thought not.
Anybody want to describe what other signs there might be, if and when the media starts becoming conservative?
