Category — Blog

Wrapping up my news-reading for the evening, I stumbled upon the following nugget of joy. Apparently, Miss Margaret Molteni thinks your opinion is worthless, and she’d like to tell you about it:

Blogging is getting out of hand. It is understandable if you are doing mission work and telling inspirational accounts of your daily life or do something interesting on a daily basis, but for all of the bloggers out there, I have one question for you: why? I mean, who even reads those things?

I definitely don’t go around searching the Web for people’s pointless thoughts. Only recently have my friends been blogging. I love my friends to death, but their blogs are completely irrelevant to anything and everything.

I consider myself to be a very exciting person, but I’m so busy being interesting that I don’t even have time to blog about it. Maybe there is not so much wrong with blogging as with the fact that all the wrong people are doing it. They are the people that have so little going on in their lives that they get on a computer daily and write about senseless topics and post pictures that only they and their mothers would enjoy.

Now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest I’m going to go live my life — instead of typing about it.

Let me let that simmer with you for just a moment…

A woman. Shares her opinion. About why your opinion. Is worthless.

See the irony?

I guess “blogging” in letter-to-the-editor format is much more acceptable than writing your thoughts, opinions, and musings on your own site. I’m certainly under no impression that my musings shape policy or move people to action. People either read my blog or they don’t. Would I like more readers? Sure.

Veiled in her ignorant and exceedingly ironic newspaper blog entry is an important point: who cares?

But people do care. Not just about my site or other sites like it, but about a wide range of topics, from interesting cooking recipes to things that people of caucasian descent enjoy – to … whatever you could think of.

I did a little investigating myself and discovered Miss Molteni’s Facebook page. (Oh, it’s not as creepy as it sounds. A simple Google search will net the results you need…) In addition to her ironic blogpost-to-the-editor, Miss Molteni often takes part in updating her Facebook status:

Margaret Molteni this weekend is going to be amazing! Sarah is on her way!
Fri at 14:47

Margaret Molteni it was sooo wonderful seeing some people from group three today!
07 Februry at 22:04

Margaret Molteni WHIP IT. best movie of the year.
31 January at 22:09

While not a blogpost in the traditional sense, Miss Molteni does update her friends on the “pointless thoughts” that she has randomly. I mean, who cares about her opinion of WHIP IT?

I guess in Miss Molteni’s defense, she is still in high school. Perhaps she doesn’t understand the free exchange of ideas through blogging and other mediums. I read blogs to get a sense of what other people are thinking. I read people who agree with my position, and I read people with whom I do not agree. I read blogs about local governments; I read blogs about state governments; and I read blogs about the federal government, as well as other issues.

So, Miss Molteni, while you deride blogging as some “pointless” effort, I would suggest you take a moment to read what’s going on in your community. Nashville is a big pond for you, and there are many people with many diverse opinions. And while you may not agree with all of them, most of them are certainly interesting to read. And as for your zinger at the end:

Now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest I’m going to go live my life — instead of typing about it.

We’ll just let it speak for itself.

This is the first installment of what I am going to call “Free For All Friday.” The following questions were posed on Twitter: Can Journalism really sway people to action? Whether it be to hurt or help someone? Can news move people to committ crime?

The question likely stems from an act of vandalism perpetuated against a Somali mosque in Nashville following a WTVF NewsChannel5 report on a possible Islamic terrorist training camp in Dover, Tennessee, a small town just about 85 miles northwest of Nashville. From NewsChannel5’s account:

There was not much to see.

“It’s kind of like going into any trailer park out in the country,” says Sheriff Vinson.

There are single and double-wide trailers along with a few houses for the 40 or so people who live there. There is also a mosque in the middle of the compound for daily prayer.

We did not go inside every building, but we did drive to every corner of the compound – which covers several acres. We saw no evidence of a terrorist training facility, any anti-American slogans, or flag desecration.

Sheriff Vinson says there have been no reports from neighbors of gunshots or explosions at the compound.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are aware of the allegation made in the video Homegrown Jihad, but have no plans to issue any news alerts or bulletins.

NewsChannel5 used information from a video called “Homegrown Jihad,” which asserts that Muslim terrorists are being trained in small towns and villages across the country. To contextualize the event, the sign for an Islamic center in Murfreesboro was vandalized in mid-January.

Nick Beres, the NewsChannel5 reporter who covered the story, concludes, “We saw no evidence of a terrorist training facility, any anti-American slogans, or flag desecration.” The report was advertised on Sunday and the report aired during sweeps week. NewsChannel5 continues to be one of the highest rated news affiliates in Nashville.

Nashville’s liberal bloggers quickly condemned NewsChannel5 and blamed them for the vandalism at the Nashville mosque.

Southern Beale asked, “I wonder if WTVF feels a teensy weensy bit responsible,” and concluded that “If they don’t, [then] they should.”

Aunt B. over at Tiny Cat Pants opined:

The day after Channel 5 finished running their disgusting “Is this small Muslim community actually a TERRORIST TRAINING CAMP?!?!?!?!” stories (turns out, nope, they weren’t, but Channel 5 kept that little tidbit for last, after two days of stories about how they might be), the small Somali mosque on Nolensville road was vandalized.

Jeff Woods, of the Nashville Scene’s Pith in the Wind, wrote:

Vandals spray-painted insults on a mosque overnight and left a hate-filled letter to Nashville’s Muslims. Islamic leaders blame Channel 5’s sensationalized two-night report about a crackpot organization’s unfounded accusations of terrorist ties against a Middle Tennessee Muslim community.

Yes, the left was quick to point fingers.

One commenter to PITW’s account - Eric - commented on NC5’s coverage:

After watching the second night’s video (and please do watch both before leaving comments), I believe Channel 5 was not irresponsible in its reporting, but in the decision to stretch such a possibly volatile story over two nights and in its sensationalized sweeps-driven advertising of the story (I mean, come on, they advertised it during the Super Bowl and made it the top story when the game was over).

While the promotion of the story was definitely sensationalistic, the story itself was seemed pretty decently balanced to me. But because it was aired over two nights, it seemed very much less so.

Ultimately, despite journalistic integrity or lack thereof, News Channel 5 can not and should not be held responsible for the hateful act of vandals, any more than the Nashville Scene should be if someone were to respond to one of its stories in such a way.

Another commenter wrote “Correlation is not causation,” implying that simply because the act took place after NC5’s report, it does not necessarily mean that the report caused the vandalism to occur. Said commenter illustrates the left’s use of a fallacy in this instance: cum hoc ergo propter hoc, or “with this, therefore because of this.”

I am hesitant to accept the premise that a news agency should be held responsible for the actions of others. Was the story sensationalized? I believe so. But the questions were posed: Can Journalism really sway people to action? Whether it be to hurt or help someone? Can news move people to committ crime?

Ultimately, I believe that we are all responsible for our own actions. This is a striking contrast between those on the left and those on the right. For instance, if a woman gets pregnant by having consensual sex with a man it is ultimately the responsibility of the two involved. This is one factor which has helped me form my generally pro-life stance.

Likewise, if someone runs out and kills another person, it is not the fault of violent video games or television programs.

Some would rather continuously find a scapegoat on which they can lay blame when certain tragedies occur, instead of forcing people to take responsibility for their own actions.

I had the opportunity to spend a week in Nevada (pronounced /n??væd?/) with the Leadership Institute’s Grassroots department, training conservative activists in Reno, Winnemucca, and Fallon. This was my first venture into the Mountain West, and I had a great time. For three days, I lectured with Paul Jackson and Jim Pfaff, both of whom have been involved in politics in that region of the country for some time.

Rather than bore you with those details (read: expose the VRWC’s plan to take over the country – haha), I figure I would just post some pictures and brief commentary. Here, for your visual pleasure, is my trip in iPhone snapshots:

Above is the obligatory snapshot of the welcome lights in downtown Reno. If you take a look below, the same view (sort of, from my hotel room window) isn’t nearly as exciting.

You can see the sign in the center of the picture. This is from the 17th floor of the Harrah’s Casino, West Tower. While we’re checking out shots from my hotel room, how about this one:

So, there are mountains everywhere. Like, real mountains. Not, I-just-drove-through-East-Tennessee mountains. These things were huge! (I know, that’s what she said. I made the joke for you.) And so about these mountains, they also look like this:

And this:

Somewhere along my travels, I wound up here:

That’s somewhere in Northern Nevada. It’s all mountain.

The greatest part of the sight-seeing aspect of the trip was the drive to Lake Tahoe, which is indescribable in its beauty. Check these out:

I had a really great time meeting activists in Nevada and exploring the Mountain West. Everyone is fired up about local elections and a certain highly contested federal election in that state.

Good luck, guys!

Bishop E. W. Jackson, a prominent black conservative and frequent guest of the Fox News Channel, received a bit of hate mail today in his inbox. I have decided to republish that in its entirety for you here:

From: M Mellinore [mailto:novar19@live.com]
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 11:05 AM
To: xxxx@standamerica.us
Subject: Hello there !!!! Good WORK !!!! God Bless !!!

Always shocks me when I see a black man like ”Bishop” E. W. Jackson,Sr.  spread hate and discrimination against a minority.

First, arent black people supposed to be more sensitive to discrimination and hate in lieu of their history?

Secondly, is this black man , “Bishop” Jackson aware that the bible also says he should be my slave?

YES….Mr Jackson, the bible says you…a black man…should be my very subserviant SLAVE !!!!

Now, I am surely NOT a racist…..HOWEVER…Perhaps we should be literal with? the bible in the references to SLAVERY as he is with the gay verses???????..and he can come and do my laundry and clean my house.  

yes HOMOsexxxuals (as you like to pronounce it) are now recieving protection within the law !

What? does this mean? It means all you bigoted Christian Fundys ….and especially people like YOU MR so called “Bishop” Jackson ….need to be careful and stop spreading the hate against HOMOsexxxuals as you have been doing for hundreds of years.

STOP THE HATE or youll have the law after your asses….and youll have to spew your filthy hatred and your bible thumping bigoted interpretation of 6 verses in a 5×5 CELL in a FEDERAL PRISON !!!

thank you JESUS !!! !!

God Bless

Have a great weekend, and as this e-mail suggests, “thank you JESUS !!! !!”