Tag Archives: social media

‘Fake news’ has become a conspiracy

January 29, 2017 kanelis2012

TIGARD, Ore. — I have just spent a wonderful afternoon catching up with members of my family who came together to celebrate my uncle’s 90th birthday.

We laughed, hugged, expressed our love for each other and shared plenty of memories.

I’ll likely have more to say about that later, but for the moment I want to pass along a comment I heard from one of my cousins.

Jim said he reads this blog “religiously.” He likes my take on the state of the world and the nation. Thanks, Jim, I appreciate it more than you know.

Then he offered this observation. He wants me to keep fighting against what he believes is a “conspiracy” to build up “fake news” that he thinks has become so pervasive that it is dumbing down society so much that we don’t know “real news” when we see it.

“Am I right?” he asked. Well, I don’t know precisely if he is correct. It might be a bit early to determine the pervasiveness of fake news and whether it has overwhelmed our information flow to the extent Jim — and likely others — believe it has.

I do believe this: It is that the presence of fake news has made most — if not all — of us more wary about the items we read on the Internet. Digital sources have proliferated to such an alarming degree it has become next to impossible to discern fiction from fact on many of these “news” items that are bouncing around in cyberspace.

Fake news has put me on my toes. I intend to stay there probably for the rest of my life as a full-time blogger. If it overwhelms me, then I’ll just have to shift the focus of this blog to more “life experience” kinds of topics.

I’m not yet ready to give up the fight to keep filling cyberspace with my own view of the world.

Thanks for the show of support, Jim. As someone once said, “Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”

media news, national news

Chelsea stands tall in defense of Barron

January 24, 2017 kanelis2012

Barron Trump has joined a club that is almost as exclusive as the one his parents have joined.

He becomes one of the kids who will grow up in the White House. Thus, he has become — to the shame of many — an easy target of ridicule.

Barron doesn’t deserve such treatment any more than one of his predecessors did. And she has come to Barron’s defense. Barron? Meet Chelsea Clinton … if you haven’t met her already.

Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky sent out a tweet over the weekend urging the public to let Barron, who’s 10 years of age, to “be a kid.” If only the Internet trolls out there would back off.

His parents, Donald and Melania Trump, have assumed the highest profile possible as president and first lady of the United States. With that responsibility, though, a lot of attention gets riveted on their son.

It’s good to see Chelsea Clinton come to the youngster’s defense. She knows better than most White House kids about the hurtful things that foes of her parents can sling — not just at them, but at her as well.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/chelsea-clinton%e2%80%99s-years-in-the-spotlight-%e2%80%94-from-first-daughter-to-mother-of-two/ar-AAm93OJ?li=BBnbfcL

Indeed, I was privy once to a hideous comment from a local clergyman in Amarillo about Chelsea. I called him on it later in a note I wrote to him. He apologized to me several weeks later.

This social media craze has erupted over the past decade. Barron’s mother has made cyber bullying her main cause as first lady. Barron’s father has used Twitter to insult his opponents and assorted critics during the past year and a half. Clearly there needs to be some serious introspection within the Trump household as it relates to the use of certain social media — and as the first lady starts to ramp up her efforts to end this cyber scourge.

As for the youngster — and I won’t repeat some of the crap I’ve heard said about him — he doesn’t deserve any of the kind of abuse that’s being flung in his direction.

He is a boy, for crying out loud! As for Chelsea, she’s grown into a successful woman — who happens to be a friend of Barron’s half-sister Ivanka, who grew from a child of privilege into a woman who’s carved out her own successful life.

I now will doff my proverbial hat to Chelsea Clinton for speaking out nicely on behalf of a youngster who’s now faced with growing up under the brightest glare imaginable.

media news, national news

Tweeter in chief doesn’t appreciate majesty of his office

January 18, 2017 kanelis2012

In just a couple of days, Donald J. Trump is going to become the 45th president of the United States of America.

He’ll be head of state of the greatest nation on Earth. And, yes, it’s still the greatest nation, Mr. President-elect.

It’s fair to ask, given this fellow’s use of Twitter as his primary mode of communication: Does he truly understand the majesty attached to the office he is about to assume?

Trump has tossed countless conventional norms into the dumper on his way to become president. He has gotten away with countless insults, boorish stunts and profoundly bizarre statements. All of them — or any one of them — would have disqualified him in the eyes of voters.

Instead, his supporters stiffened their spines. They stood behind him. They cheered him on for “telling it like it is.” Good grief!

They also are cheering on his Twitter taunts and tirades. They, like their man, are giving raspberries to the very office that Trump is about to inherit.

He uses Twitter, in the words of some pundits, to “punch down” at critics. Presidents of the United States are supposed to be better than that; they’re supposed to hold themselves above the petty bickering that erupts all around them.

Twitter is supposed to be a tool reserved for schmucks — like, oh, yours truly — to fire off barbs or share others’ barbs.

Not so with the president-elect of the United States of America.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that he doesn’t appreciate the grandeur of the office he sought — and won! He has had zero dealings with any of its previous occupants.

He acknowledged meeting President Obama for the first time after the election. And this comes after he spent years questioning out loud whether Barack Obama was qualified to hold the office. You know … the birther baloney.

You know, there at least is the remote possibility that after he takes the oath, bids good bye to the Obama family and then settles in behind the Oval Office desk he might appreciate the immense power and tradition of the presidency.

He might …

I am not holding my breath.

local news, media news, national news, political news

Criticism should keep us all humble … not make us angry

January 15, 2017 kanelis2012

This is going to sound presumptuous and for that I apologize up front.

Donald J. Trump’s knee-jerk reaction to criticism via Twitter got me thinking about how most folks who say or write provocative statements react to comments from those who disagree with them.

I want to count myself in that category. I write this blog and it draws its share of negative reaction. I take all of it seriously. I choose not to respond to all of it directly.

If only the president-elect would show just a little more reticence when someone delivers a barb. I mean, c’mon! You’re about to become president of the United States of America, dude!

I pulled a blog post I wrote nearly seven years ago, back when I was working for a living at the Amarillo Globe-News. Here it is:

https://highplainsblogger.com/2010/01/damnation-to-the-max/

I used to keep a “Praise and Damnation” file full of notes that, um, praised and damned me. I regret that I have destroyed that file. I did so when I got into a file-cleaning frenzy about a year or so ago. My thought was, “What’s the point?” The bulging folder was taking up room in my filing cabinet and I rarely, if ever, looked at the submissions in it.

I recall what I said in 2010 about that folder and about a particular letter that caught my attention back then. Now, as it was then, I believe criticism keeps me humble. It kept me grounded while I was writing opinion pieces for newspapers and it does so today now that I am writing strictly for myself.

I was unaware of Twitter seven years ago, if memory serves. Heck, I don’t know if it even existed then.

The world is full of know-it-all smart alecks like me who think they know better than those in the public eye. However, we smart alecks have something in common with celebrities such as, oh, the president-elect: We get our share of criticism in return for our comments.

The difference, though, lies in our reaction to that criticism. Grown-ups just let it ride and not fire back angrily. The more childish response is to do what Donald J. Trump has been doing.

In the words of Vice President Biden: “Grow up, Donald. Grow up.”

media news, national news, political news

Now, about the new first lady …

January 10, 2017 kanelis2012

With all this chatter and clatter about Russian hackers, conflicts of interest, White House nepotism and controversial Cabinet picks, I want to look briefly at an individual who stands near all this commotion.

Melania Trump, I’m waiting to hear more from you.

The incoming first lady put forward an interesting and provocative goal for her first ladyship: cyber bullying.

She made her statement, drawing some rather mixed responses across the land.

Why not start with your husband, Mrs. Trump, who campaigned as a primo cyber bully through his use of Twitter as an insult machine? Many of us thought and said as much in reaction to Melania’s initiative.

But there’s another reality to consider. She’s actually picked a legitimate and noble issue to pursue as first lady.

Young people are victimized by Internet bullies, she said. It must stop. We must educate our young people about how destructive such conduct can become and the consequences of bullying.

To that extent, I stand 100 percent in support of what Melania Trump wants to accomplish.

She’ll assume her place on the national stage on Jan. 20, when her husband takes the oath office to become the 45th president. It will be time for the new first lady to turn up the volume on her worthwhile effort on behalf of young people — around the world!

But … first things first. Tell your husband, Mrs. Trump, to knock off his ridiculous and potentially dangerous Twitter tirades.

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