Why Weather?

Everybody loves to talk about the weather.  I personally have been a weather enthusiast since the 4th grade when I was assigned to be the weather reporter for my class.  When people have nothing to talk about, they talk about the weather.  It's too hot, too cold, too snowy, too dry, too wet, too windy, not windy enough, etc.

But why do we talk about the weather so much?  We talk about the weather so much for a few reasons.  The first is that in this era of technology, heat, air conditioning and the modern luxuries of the 21st century, we still like to be reminded that there is still a natural environment; something that cannot be controlled.  When elements are beyond our control it is easier to watch and admire, precisely for the reason that we have no control over it and more importantly, we usually have no stake in it.

Mets fans, myself included, get depressed when the Mets miss out on the playoffs year after year.  When watching the awe of a hurricane from afar, a blizzard from indoors or a tornado on TV, there is no lingering disappointment if the blizzard falls apart, the tornado fails to touch down or if the hurricane goes out to see.

In this chaotic world of terrorism, financial crisis, genocide and political turmoil, the inherently neutral phenomenon of weather is a welcome reprieve from the inundation of negative stories that flood our day.  Even though weather causes thousands, if not millions of deaths worldwide each year, studying this last untamed natural frontier is awe-inspiring.

The way in which the Gulf Stream affects the weather in Greenland and the Pacific Ocean temperatures affect the drought in Africa is amazing.  I am not a religious man, but the small part of me which clings on to some bastion of spirituality sustains itself from the existence of the intricate and well oiled machines of weather and life.  The interconnection between the weather and life cannot be overstated.  We need the rain, we need the sun and we get both.  If it was too windy, like it is on other planets, we would be blown off the surface of the earth, but with no wind there would be no rain.

The crash of the financial markets inspired me to write this article.  I cannot click on CNN or any other news websites without feeling a pit in my stomach, reading about the billions of dollars ordinary Americans lost today.  When I click on ESPN.com, I see that Reyes is injured again.  Where do I go for news that will neither upset me or elate me?

The weather channel.  I pop it on and watch the meteorologist talk about the tornadoes in Kansas.  Try it.  Even better, when there is a thunderstorm approaching, walk outside and watch it come in.  See the dark clouds move in, the wind pick up, the thunder increase and the lightning crackle.  There is nothing man-made that can rival the power and the tranquility of an approaching storm.

This is why people talk about the weather.

Let's hear what your favorite weather event is, comment or take the poll on the right.

Fair and Balanced?

I have tried to keep this blog relatively "fair and balanced", declining to take sides on certain issues.  I clearly lean left, however, I am by no means a liberal.  With that in mind, I need to dedicate a short post to the joke that is Fox News.

Fox News is a joke.  They rose from obscurity in the late 1990's and only gained "legitimacy" in the mid-2000's.  They supposedly usurped CNN as the most watched news channel, however, I believe there are other factors leading to that calculation.  Fox News is the only radical right wing television station, while there are several centrist/left leaning stations, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc.  Therefore, to claim that you are the most watched name in news is a joke, if you are the only producer of right wing material.  For example, if 33% of the population is liberal, 33% conservative, and 33% moderate (intelligent), and everyone who is conservative watches FoxNews, then FoxNews gets 33% of the viewers.  The other 66% may have three or more options to watch balanced and centrist minded broadcasting, therefore, if there are three other channels, each gets 22% and Fox News wins with 33%.

Now they may be correct that more people watch them than any other news channel, however, it would be more accurate to claim that they are the most watched news channel because their marketing brand was created to attract the aforementioned 33%.  To imply you are the most watched name in news, implies that your opinions are valid, your editorials on point and that your perspective reflects that of the average American.  This too is a joke.

The average American knows that Fox News is a joke.  Fox News and their hardcore (moronic) following are the only people who fail to realize this.  When your headline icon is Glenn Beck, who failed to graduate college, which is not a bad thing in and of itself, but when you are claiming to be all knowledgeable on history, economics, foreign policy and social welfare, a college degree can be useful, you are a joke.

The real reason Fox News is a joke is because their slogan is "Fair and Balanced".  This is what inspired me to write this post.  Immediately after Obama signed the debt deal and every other website on earth had a picture of Obama signing the bill, Fox News had the FAA strike (what?) as the lead story.  So for the 3 weeks before the bill was signed, and the 3 days since the bill was signed, Obama has been portrayed in the Fox News Headline as the problem, the divider, the failure, the tax increaser, the cause of our economic failure, etc. Yet when he actually signs the bill (a positive act), the headline is the FAA strike!  What a joke.  How obvious can a news organization get that it is radically right, yet still have the motto, "Fair and Balanced".

That is like the Nazi Party using its official name, the "National Socialist German Worker's Party", or China using its official name, the "People's Republic of China", or North Korea using its name, the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."  What does Fox News have in common with these dictatorships?  They are trying to brand themselves as being the opposite of what they really are.  Which is radical right wing, unfair, unbalanced, bigoted, hateful, ignorant, hypocritical (their worst quality) and more.  I could write a well supported thesis on why Fox News is a joke, but I have a job and you, the readers, have lives.

Fox News revealed itself as the biggest joke of all when it forgot to comment on the News of the World story in England.  Imagine a liberal paper was accused of hacking into phone records of dead children, soldiers and 9/11 victims.  Fox News would go nuts.  What happened when it was a right wing, co-owned newspaper, nothing, Fox News failed to report the story.  That's right, they censored...themselves.  Much like the North Korean government controls all television seen by North Koreans, Fox News actually decides what is and is not news.  Why not let the people decide what is and what isn't news?

Why not?  Because Fox News is a joke.