The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

What news?

Not one single new. Even though MSNBC sent me this urgent update:

msnbc.com: BREAKING NEWS: Poll: 47 percent of Americans support an increase in troops in Afghanistan.

As I shake my head, I feel impelled to blog the following questions:

  1. Who did they poll?
  2. What question or questions did the pollsters ask?
  3. Why did the people they polled answer one way or another?
  4. In what way is a poll that shows less than a plurality in any way newsworthy?
  5. Why did MSNBC feel this important enough to send a news alert?
  6. What do the people responsible for (5) want to happen as a result of this news alert?

Call me crazy, but I think the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is so difficult and complicated that I really don't care what popular opinion has to say about it. I think we all deserve more complete information, as this is a republic; but I also think most people haven't got enough of a clue to have an opinion that matters.

Possibly the major news media in the U.S. would have more relevance if they tried. But a news alert like this? Heavens.

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