TJ was way ahead of his time!

[johnnymk]

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd President (1801-1809). He was the author of the Declaration of Independence. Let us hear what he has to say about the NEWSPAPERS in his day:

"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle...I really look with commiseration [pity] over the great body of my fellow citizens, who,reading newspapers, live and die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time...General facts may indeed be collected from them, such as that Europe is now at war...etc.; but no details may be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks at a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing [from newspapers] will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false." (Thomas Jefferson, 1807)

He wrote the above words while he was president!

[ThanatoGratus]

a link to your source please?
I don't doubt he said that, rather that's a nice quote I can use for my history class.

[johnnymk]

Sorry, I don't have a link. It was E-mailed to me. But I have no doubt that he would say something like that.

[mojo]

i don't doubt that he would have said it either. however, i doubt he would have been the first to make such a claim. it sounds like something someone would say just about when newspapers first came into being.

[jase71]

No great shock there. The nature of media hasn't changed that dramatically since Jefferson's time...

If the media is controlled by private enterprise, it's subject to reporting the bias of the owner, or subject to reporting what will prove most profitable for the owner. As media conglomerates get larger, we seem to be moving away from the first, and toward the second.

If the media is controlled by the government, it's obviously subject to reporting what will portray the publishers (the gov't) in the most positive light.

So what alternative do we have? Non-profit media? Who would bother?

It's a "name your poison" kind of situation. Inaccurate reporting due to greed or personal agenda, or inaccurate reporting due to state-slanted coverage.

About all you can do is get your news from as many sources as possible, on both sides of the political spectrum, and check out a few sources from outside the US as well. Relying on only one news source is worse than just guessing who's right.

[Markel]

Originally posted by ThanatoGratus
a link to your source please?
I don't doubt he said that, rather that's a nice quote I can use for my history class.
When are you people ever going to learn to google? :rolleyes: ;)
http://www.jefferson-hemings.org/thepress.htm

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by Markel

When are you people ever going to learn to google? :rolleyes: ;)
http://www.jefferson-hemings.org/thepress.htm

GAM! i vote we change markel's rank to "High Master of Googling."

and newspapers were actually much WORSE back then. if you read articles from the time, they are incredibly sensationalized... it really makes you appreciate how balanced and relatively opinion-free today's articles are.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by cpugeek04

and ThanatoGratus's to "Bottom Dredger"

what, an avg of 92 posts a day bothers you? :heh:

i read through his last 25 posts, it's not like they dint make sense or were just a blatant single word or smiley... it could be worse...

or was there some obnoxious behavior that i missed over the weekend?

[ArkiStan]

Yeah what's up with everybody raggin on the newbie (ThanatoGratus) these days?? According to the wisdom I learned in Kindergarten, picking on somebody all the time only suggests sexual interest. (Yeah that's what the teacher said to me).

[Nija]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Yeah what's up with everybody raggin on the newbie (ThanatoGratus) these days?? According to the wisdom I learned in Kindergarten, picking on somebody all the time only suggests sexual interest. (Yeah that's what the teacher said to me).

hey.... shut up, stoopid

:P

[ArkiStan]

:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:

[mojo]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
Yeah what's up with everybody raggin on the newbie (ThanatoGratus) these days?? According to the wisdom I learned in Kindergarten, picking on somebody all the time only suggests sexual interest. (Yeah that's what the teacher said to me). said to you, huh? sounds like you were being picked on.

[ArkiStan]

Originally posted by mojo
said to you, huh? sounds like you were being picked on.

It was soooo scary!! :bawl:

[eSDee]

Originally posted by ArkiStan
:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:
++:)++