The Media and Common Sense

[Alicia Leonard]

And therein lies the crux of the matter. Journalists reporting the news are responsible to report who, what, when, why and how. When it becomes more than that, it is opinion unless backed with hard, indisputable facts. Columnists are immediately biased on one side or the other. Pick your poison but please don't tell me how "right" they are.
I do agree that politics and common sense will probably never meet. However, that does not mean it isn't there and recognizable by educated, intelligent and researching citizens.
BTW, I, too, used the Wikipedia Encyclopedia source that you used. Just because Wikipedia says it, doesn't make it gospel. Common sense is recognized by most informed citizen. In my opinion, most recognize it when they see it and it doesn't and shouldn't conform to any specific party lines. Its somewhat like Pornography. It may be kind of hard to define but one recognizes it when they see it.

I agree with the highlighted above.

I sourced it by more than Wiki. I don't trust it as a stand-alone source, ever. It's just usually one of the first links to pop up when searched.

I also agree with another poster. There is a difference between the news and news shows. I don't watch TV. All the blah, blah, blah on both sides give me a headache.

Do you consider people that do not share your views and opinions, lacking in "common sense?" I find I share ideals for both sides on different subjects.

 

[Andy A]

Do you consider people that do not share your views and opinions, lacking in "common sense?" I find I share ideals for both sides on different subjects.

That is a difficult question. It depends on the subject and the presentation of it. To be candid, many times on this board I find a lack of common sense in what is posted. On the other hand, I find many posts to be thoughtful, useful and well presented. I guess that would probably be true of any discussion forum. I, admittedly, share few ideals of the left. That doesn't mean I don't understand or don't share some of the points and facts made by presentations on the left as having validity.

 

[LuciferSam]

Common sense is not something that is expressed by a journalist's opinion. It is a consensus by the majority of people that something being done is for the good of all, legal and being done in good conscience. It is teaching your children what to do in public, right from wrong and the consequences of their actions should they be wrong. It is the fabric of our daily actions and our lives. It is doing what we know is right even if we dislike doing it.
Somewhere along the way, our media has lost its ability to present us with a common sense perspective of our daily happenings and the problems confronting us. They harangue us from both the left and right with opinion couched in their beliefs and having little to do with the facts of whatever the subject may be. It is almost always a long, long way from being an approach based on what we have been taught is common sense.
Of course, there are exceptions to this aberration in the media. One, for instance, is Ron Kelley, who until recently, was editor of the Beach Breeze and Herald. His editorials, which of course are opinions, are brimming with common sense. I do not find this prevalent with many other journalists. I realize this portion is my opinion. The definition of common sense as I describe it, is not.
More importantly, I am interested in what your take and attitude is regarding the media and its use of common sense. As you have probably gathered, mine is they usually don't utilize common sense, only diatribe.-

Your definition of common sense sounds like tribalism. Consensus majority?? No our constitution realizes the possibility of a tyrannical majority.

 

[Bob]

it's not so simple. the purpose of the media is to garner an audience first in order to sell advertising. the reporter must past muster with his employer/editor more than worry about objectivity. such is capitalism, to put the dollar above the truth.

 

[Geo]

Common sense is not something that is expressed by a journalist's opinion. It is a consensus by the majority of people that something being done is for the good of all, legal and being done in good conscience. It is teaching your children what to do in public, right from wrong and the consequences of their actions should they be wrong. It is the fabric of our daily actions and our lives. It is doing what we know is right even if we dislike doing it.
Somewhere along the way, our media has lost its ability to present us with a common sense perspective of our daily happenings and the problems confronting us. They harangue us from both the left and right with opinion couched in their beliefs and having little to do with the facts of whatever the subject may be. It is almost always a long, long way from being an approach based on what we have been taught is common sense.
Of course, there are exceptions to this aberration in the media. One, for instance, is Ron Kelley, who until recently, was editor of the Beach Breeze and Herald. His editorials, which of course are opinions, are brimming with common sense. I do not find this prevalent with many other journalists. I realize this portion is my opinion. The definition of common sense as I describe it, is not.
More importantly, I am interested in what your take and attitude is regarding the media and its use of common sense. As you have probably gathered, mine is they usually don't utilize common sense, only diatribe.-

I agree with much of what you said with the exception of "legal"...

 

[GoodWitch58]

Common Sense defined
 
Use common sense in a Sentence
?noun
sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.
Origin:
1525?35; trans. of L sēnsus commūnis, itself trans. of Gk koin a?sthēsis

Related forms:
common-sense, com⋅mon⋅sense, adjective
com⋅mon⋅sen⋅si⋅cal, com⋅mon⋅sen⋅si⋅ble, adjective
com⋅mon⋅sen⋅si⋅cal⋅ly, com⋅mon⋅sen⋅si⋅bly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, ? Random House, Inc. 2009.
|
Link To common sense
Explore the Visual Thesaurus ?
Related Words for : common sense
good sense, gumption, horse sense, mother wit, sense

I find this thread illustrative of two of the things I find most interesting and entertaining about Sowal. I often am puzzled by some posts--and then I (sometimes) realize that the poster is using a context or a definition that is different from what I thought;
and,
I have learned quite a lot from seeing things from a different perspective.

I most often use the above definition for Common Sense. Now, I realize that Andy has been using a completely different context, so I think idontno I understand more of what he has been posting, given the definition he is using

 

[Andy A]

I agree with much of what you said with the exception of "legal"...

I can forego the legal.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Andy, this one's for you:

Commentary: What this country needs is a huge outburst of common sense: Commentary | McClatchy



(written by the only news guys who did not buy into Bush/Cheney's WMD story...they got it right then, so IMO they have some creds on the present situation--but that's just my opinion!)

 

[happy2Bme]

if political though generated sound, it'd be the most earth-shaking fart known to man......