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Hello out there. The world really is listening …
Regardless of who you were rooting for, in the final hour Hillary and Obama both made great speeches with admirable messages. However, if I ever doubted the subjectivity of our news media, this election has taught me how truly offensive our cable talking heads can be. With a very few exceptions, the CNN news “team” (hardly the appropriate word) seemed like a bunch of kids, laughing and stumbling over one another to make themselves heard when what they had to say was insulting, partisan and sophomoric. I switched channels.
In contrast, while recently away – in Entebbe, Africa, of all places – I spent time one evening watching Al Jazeera. A commentator was talking separately with Palestinians and Israelis. The conversation was intelligent, respectful , enlightened, and measured. I was amazed at the objectivity. I learned many things from both sides that made me rethink some of my own conjectures.
As I watched Hillary and Barack last night, I thought of how — while their speeches were directed to the good ‘ol USA – every single word was being parsed and considered by people worldwide. I felt remarkably lucky to be an American and hopeful that the messages being heard would start a more positive dialogue with the billions of people with whom we share this planet.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our cable network commentators – instead of being shrill evangelizers of the spin of the day – could take a tip from (of all people) our politicians and, just … please … act like the best-of-breed top-of-the-profession people that they’re supposed to be.
