Your point about the average attention span is well-taken. I personally am more concerned about santimony and hypocrisy in candidates than I am in their past substance abuse, but I can see that one might prefer to avoid electing psychotics, and if I thought that drug abuse was an inherently evil thing I would want to know if someone had participated in it. So I think it is a legitimate area of inquiry, if not the first one that I would take myself. I would be more inclined to look at dishonesty and self-dealing.
I do not know how to improve the level of public discourse when most people get their news from television. I cannot think of a medium more bound to inhibit critical thinking. And naturally since television is concerned wih ratings, they will latch onto the sensational when it is there, and tend to overlook the substantive. Position papers do not make good sound bytes. Dana S. Isaac Dealey writes: > Unfortunately most voters in the states get their primary information about > elections from TV (or so I've heard), which is an insufficient medium for political > discourse in the first place... and then when you start asking questions of the > candidates like "have you ever used drugs in your misbegotten youth", the whole > thing snowballs downhill. On paper (I'm not sure about the internet -- maybe -- > maybe not) you can get reasonable points across to anyone who actually reads the > whole thing (this is why I'm not so sure about the internet, because I have this > feeling that most people only skim the first few paragraphs of any given news > article on screen, not to mention that articles intended for the web specifically > tend to be of significantly shorter length -- not that paper news articles shouldn't > be longer either), but TV just has this "short attention-span theater" syndrome > where the audience really only gets little sound-bytes removed from context. People > on this list may be exceptions in some way, but the medium is really insufficient > anyway, so... I dunno... I have very mixed emotions about politics and the media... > > > I think it's relevant, its just not the *only* thing > > that's relevant. > > > Dana > > >> > >> > People have a past, lets keep it there. > >> > >> Or acknowledge that the past is just that and allow > >> people to change. :) > >> > >> Incidentally I don't think it's a relevant question > >> either. > >> > >> s. isaac dealey 972-490-6624 > >> > >> new epoch http://www.turnkey.to > >> > >> lead architect, tapestry cms http://products.turnkey.to > >> > >> tapestry api is opensource http://www.turnkey.to/tapi > >> > >> team macromedia volunteer > >> http://www.macromedia.com/go/team > >> > >> certified advanced coldfusion 5 developer > >> http://www.macromedia.com/v1/handlers/index.cfm?ID=21816 > >> > >> > >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > ~~~~~~~~~~~| > > Archives: > > http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 > > Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index. > > cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 > > > Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up > > with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. > > http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm > > > Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/uns > > ubscribe.cfm?user=633.558.5 > > > > > s. isaac dealey 972-490-6624 > > new epoch http://www.turnkey.to > > lead architect, tapestry cms http://products.turnkey.to > > tapestry api is opensource http://www.turnkey.to/tapi > > team macromedia volunteer http://www.macromedia.com/go/team > > certified advanced coldfusion 5 developer > http://www.macromedia.com/v1/handlers/index.cfm?ID=21816 > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
