64 thoughts on “Press bias”

1. Somewhat off the the already off-tipic point about American culture: Per capita, while Rome had a great influence, it would be hard to disagree with Razib’s contention here that the Greeks out-rock them. In absolute numbers too, I would agree. For instance, no Roman philosopher is the equal of the great Greek tradition; Roman sculpture was based on Greek models (so much so that one is hard pressed to find much originality therein). And Roman drama certainly cannot compare in quality and depth to the splendors of Greek tragedy. Heck, even with historiography the Greeks hold their own.

   On a different note (returning to American culture) the time period is important: i.e. if we were looking at the first half of the last millenium, barring Chaucer could most people name a single great writer from the British Isles? Or from the Italian peninsula for (I’ll go out on a limb here) for a thousand years prior to Petrarch? Or Greece for what must be one hell of a long time? America is young yet, and over the last 150 years matches (for instance) Britain quite well (perhaps overmatches it, but that might just be my preference), and more than matches Iberia and Italy put together…

2. UM, you make a good point about chronocentrism. when the greeks of southern italy started to encounter the latins they wondered if they were congenital morons. 2,000 years later the city-states of northern italy gaves us the renaissance. frederick the great refused to hear german in his court, for it was not a civilized language like french. then came goethe.

   i have faith in our republic. though our think this is the last century of technological homo sapiens.

3. and more than matches Iberia

   Heres where “Canons” are very subjective constructs. I adore Lorca and Cernuda and think they outmatch Stevens and Eliot; I realize this is highly personal.

   Many of the authors we esteem or are putatively esteemed will vanish. Others we know little about today cos nobody reads them will find resonance. Other authors resurface miraculously, finding resonance in a particular period (like Lucretius). Other rock stars vanish (look how Longfellow and perhaps Pound have faded).

   The one in a millions–Shakespeare, Michelangelo– we tend to agree on. Or not?

4. Many of the authors we esteem or are putatively esteemed will vanish. Others we know little about today cos nobody reads them will find resonance. Other authors resurface miraculously, finding resonance in a particular period (like Lucretius). Other rock stars vanish (look how Longfellow and perhaps Pound have faded).

   That’s certainly right too, I wasn’t suggesting anything to the contrary; and I would add that sometimes reputation is cyclical (Wordsworth was “dead” earlier this century, but has enjoyed a reversal over the last thirty years or so). Longfellow is a great example of the faded rockstar…my god, he’s unreadable as far as I’m concerned…

5. in evolutionary biology, a topic a know about, england probably still barely matches the USA in absolute terms (or around there). in per capita terms it blows us (rome) out of the water. integrated since 1860 (at which time england and the USA had around the same population from what i recall, or perhaps the USA was higher) there is no comparison, the british have produced many more great evolutionary biologists as late as the 1980s. only with the death of maynard smith and william hamilton in the past few years does the balance start to slip.

   obviously things differ in other areas, but my personal opinions is that athens are rome and still alive in some ways today. and hey, american idol is an import from britain 🙂

6. As Hayek and his disciples have pointed out, capitalism is the most democratic and virtuous of social systems: dollars are not black, white or red. And a society that accords social and cultural respect to those who succeed in the economic sphere is, by definition, more inclusive than one based on any other set of criteria.

   AMEN to that !!! My sentiments exactly (for a long time). Almighty dollar is the best equalizer. Even in India those groups who were earlier marginalized, have managed to gain prominence after they got wealthy. Since Indians come from a inherently capitalistic culture, when they arrive where the government supports capitalism, they thrive.

   And they contribute to American society at every level: philanthropic, cultural and social — because of the respect they are accorded for their economic success. One generation: from immigrant to university donor and honoree.

   They are talking about the story of Dr. Patel, who gave the biggest donation ever to University of South Florida

   The headline of the story

   An $18.5-million donation and a state match, totaling $34.5-million, will allow USF to build the Patel Center.

7. I think I should have put this section of the story in quotes

   The university will use the money from Dr. Kiran Patel and his wife, Dr. Pallavi Patel, to build the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions on USF’s Tampa campus.

8. This is a related story. A lot of desis live in Edison NJ.

   From the home news tribune a local newspaper. http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051110/NEWS/511100442/1001 The Edison mayoral election was closely contested election.
   The winner Jun Choi (D) won by slim margin The loser the loser William Stephens (former D now Independent) party is challenging the result, Perfectly legit thing to do when your margin was 1% but is throwing race into the issue in is silly.

   William Stephens, who lost his bid for the mayor’s seat to Korean American Jun Choi, said residents voting along ethnic lines determined Tuesday’s election. “The township was pushed further apart,” Stephens said. “He played the Asian card.”

   It gets better when you ask the general population to comment

   <

   blockquote> This is a related story.

   A lot of desis live in Edison. From the home news tribune a local newspaper. http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051110/NEWS/511100442/1001

   The Edison mayoral election was closely contested election.
   The winner Jun Choi (D)won by slim margin The loser the loser William Stephens (former D now Independent) party is challenging the result, Perfectly legit thing to do when your margin was 1% but is throwing race into the issue in is silly.

   William Stephens, who lost his bid for the mayor’s seat to Korean American Jun Choi, said residents voting along ethnic lines determined Tuesday’s election. “The township was pushed further apart,” Stephens said. “He played the Asian card.”

   It gets better when you ask the general population to comment

   Cecelia Hoffman, who lives in the township’s Clara Barton section, which backed Stephens, said she voted for Stephens “because he speaks English.” “Maybe, since 9/11, a lot of Asians have moved into this area and they could’ve added more votes. They don’t want to learn to speak the language. It’s not right. If you’re making your money here, learn the language. They’d feel the same if it was their country,” Hoffman, 62, said.

   Choi speaks perfect English. I have heard him talk so I am not sure towards whom this was directed towardsÂ… But throwing the 9-11 issue sure makes this woman sounds like Sherril.. But she was not an elected official. As the campaign was going on the anti immigrant feelings were coming out as the article also mention about the jersey guys antics earlier in April.

   In April, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi of New Jersey 101.5 FM’s “The Jersey Guys” propelled Choi’s name to newspapers across the state and into the Philadelphia and New York City media markets. During the show, Carton ridiculed Asian-Americans. “No specific minority group or foreign group should ever dictate the outcome of an American election. I don’t care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an American election, Americans should,” said Carton, according to a transcript of the show. The radio-show hosts and the station apologized, but because of that broadcast a New York City-based Asian voting-rights group called on the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the primary polls. The Justice Department outlined its observations in a letter sent to the Middlesex County Board of Elections. Some of the findings were: poll workers telling federal observers voters should learn English in order to vote; and a poll worker stating when a Gujarati or Hindi-speaking voter appeared she would “send them to the nearest gas station.” These observations led to federal monitors overseeing polls during Tuesday’s vote.

   Well thank you Asian American voting rights group. I hadnÂ’t heard about the observers result till I read this story. Mutineers please ask your contacts in SAJA to pick up on this and dig into observers finding.

9. Ignore 58 sloppy cut and paste job This is a related story. A lot of desis live in Edison NJ.

   From the home news tribune a local newspaper. http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051110/NEWS/511100442/1001 The Edison mayoral election was closely contested election. The winner Jun Choi (D) won by slim margin The loser the loser William Stephens (former D now Independent) party is challenging the result, Perfectly legit thing to do when your margin was 1% but is throwing race into the issue in is silly.

   William Stephens, who lost his bid for the mayor's seat to Korean American Jun Choi, said residents voting along ethnic lines determined Tuesday's election.
   

   “The township was pushed further apart,” Stephens said. “He played the Asian card.”

   It gets better when you ask the general population to comment

   Cecelia Hoffman, who lives in the township’s Clara Barton section, which backed Stephens, said she voted for Stephens “because he speaks English.” “Maybe, since 9/11, a lot of Asians have moved into this area and they could’ve added more votes. They don’t want to learn to speak the language. It’s not right. If you’re making your money here, learn the language. They’d feel the same if it was their country,” Hoffman, 62, said.

   Choi speaks perfect English. I have heard him talk so I am not sure towards whom this was directed towardsÂ… But throwing the 9-11 issue sure makes this woman sounds like Sherril.. But she was not an elected official. As the campaign was going on the anti immigrant feelings were coming out as the article also mention about the jersey guys antics earlier in April.

   In April, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi of New Jersey 101.5 FM’s “The Jersey Guys” propelled Choi’s name to newspapers across the state and into the Philadelphia and New York City media markets. During the show, Carton ridiculed Asian-Americans. “No specific minority group or foreign group should ever dictate the outcome of an American election. I don’t care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an American election, Americans should,” said Carton, according to a transcript of the show. The radio-show hosts and the station apologized, but because of that broadcast a New York City-based Asian voting-rights group called on the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the primary polls. The Justice Department outlined its observations in a letter sent to the Middlesex County Board of Elections. Some of the findings were: poll workers telling federal observers voters should learn English in order to vote; and a poll worker stating when a Gujarati or Hindi-speaking voter appeared she would “send them to the nearest gas station.” These observations led to federal monitors overseeing polls during Tuesday’s vote.

   Well thank you Asian American voting rights group. I hadnÂ’t heard about the observers result till I read this story. Mutineers please ask your contacts in SAJA to pick up on this and dig into observers finding.

10. Some of the findings were: poll workers telling federal observers voters should learn English in order to vote; and a poll worker stating when a Gujarati or Hindi-speaking voter appeared she would “send them to the nearest gas station.”

    o man.. not the thing I wanted to read before turning in… i’m travelling to the us tomorrow – and stuff like this always sends chills – i dont know how i’d react – the worst experience i had was when i was talking with my mum in hindi in a hotel lobby – and a couple of guys actually stopped and glared at me, as if willing me to stop … i glared right back – dont come between a desi guy and his mum, ok! – but… just left a sour flavor – and i dont know how it would have gone if they’d crossed the line and said something
    anyway… all part of work – hey ho – off to ny we go.

11. Punjabi tonal??? As a native punjabi speaker, that’s news to me. I know a handful of consonants that are pronounced with more emphasis. But to declare the entire Punjabi language as tonal because of few stressed consonants seems odd. Moreover Swedish, Lithuanian and Bengali sound more tonal than Punjabi yet they’re not classified as tonal languages.

12. America has produced no Shakespeares, Mozart or Michelangelo.

    Perhaps America is too young to produce a Shakespeare, Mozart or Michelangelo.

13. The Orlando “Slantinel” has always been known for its anti-brown people stance. They regularly feature editorials/opinion pieces which encourage racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims. 9/11 has just given some people the platform to be openly racist.

14. I feel it’s absurd and anachronistic to ask why America has not produced creators of grandeur to match Shakespeare, Mozart, or Michelangelo. Grandeur has been deemed decadent, and fashion is moving away from the ornate and the gilded to the sleek, the chic, and the wry. There was a time when America was subconsciously embarassed by our lack of history and our humorous attempts to recreate all govt buildings in classical Greek style was the result. We don’t have the cultural engine to drive American-originated Renaissance works, just as we don’t have it to drive our Victorian ones. What we do have is an amazing postmodernist engine, and we also (cleverly?) siphoned a lot of our idle talent away from individual artistic expression and into rendering farms, capable of synthesizing orchestral music, computer artwork, and acting into films such as Lord of the Rings.