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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > February > 22 > Entry
Pitts too pessimistic?
Leonard Pitts has a column about a subject that has been grabbing me lately, too: the apparently increasing impermeability of the human brain against unwanted facts.
He might be a bit too pessimistic. He says, “To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper’s online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people … divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth.”
Thing is, though,
when you’re talking about talk radio and online message boards, you’re probably talking about the same people, a small group in percentage terms.
On the other hand, especially when he adds the talking heads on TV, he’s talking about a group that has significance beyond numbers. These are the people who actually engaging in political discourse — or a lot of them.
To hold that most Americans aren’t so closed minded doesn’t bring much comfort if those people are sitting out political debate, perhaps in part because they’re repelled by it.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Blog entry only, Columns, Martin Gottlieb
Comments
By Leon Harrison
February 22, 2010 9:44 PM | Link to this
Surprise! I don’t give a s**t about Leonard Pitts or similar crap from Manhattan Island.
By Curious
February 23, 2010 6:09 AM | Link to this
Who the f**k is Leon Harrison?
By tommyv
February 23, 2010 8:27 AM | Link to this
Small number of people who listen to talk radio? Martin, you are living in the past. If you add up the number of listeners to talk radio, even allowing for duplication, the numbers approach 100 million per week! Martin, you just don’t get it. The new media, talk radio and the internet, are crushing the newspapers and network news. It’s over guy…get used to it!
By Quin
February 23, 2010 9:05 AM | Link to this
I thought Pitts was fairly right on with his last article. While the proportion of people who participate in venues like talk radio and message boards is small, it is comparative to the number of people who actually care about politics. If these people are so closed-minded, what does it say about the people who don’t follow politics and just vote on one or two issues?
By fortressdayton
February 23, 2010 10:49 AM | Link to this
Politically active people are small in number as evidenced by our voting numbers. Passive sponges are, of course, greater. It is easier for you to sit back and let Obama or Limbaugh tell you how to feel and think. Americans deserve the government they get.
By Raoul
February 23, 2010 12:55 PM | Link to this
Opinions based on facts are presumably what Pitts writes about, and so with you, Martin. It is the same with talk show hosts. I think it is very arrogant and elitist to think that all those listening to talk shows and watching their favorite cable talking heads are not somehow open-minded. You could argue now that there is too much information,too many facts, truths, etc., and that those interested in politics are sorting out their beliefs from a much wider stimulus pool than the tired old, Democratic party shills of the mainstream media. It would seem to me that Pitts and you, Martin, are the ones clinging to old notions and finding it hard to accept new ones. It appears to me that there is a refreshing surge rising against the intellectual types who have become our elitist establishment, because they have not brought much intelligence to the party. Now, it would seem, is the time for common sense instead of east/west coast, Red State elitism. Just look at the progressive capital of the world: California. It’s on the brink of being destroyed by the intellectual, super-smart Progressive’s who thought they should teach the rest of us how to live. But that’s just my opinion.
By Ice Bandit
February 23, 2010 1:56 PM | Link to this
Leonard Pitts? He still has a newspaper gig? The Old Bandito would have thought he was canned for a angry and racist screed some months ago minimizing the crime known as the “Knoxville Horror.” This incident, unlike the Duke Rape fraud, recieved litte mainstream coverage from such sources as the New York Times or the Dayton Daily News? Gottlieb and Pitts are distressed? Cry me a river…..
By daveb
February 24, 2010 8:06 AM | Link to this
I thought Pitts made a going point. I’m a political moderate who doesn’t really care for either party, and the rants on some of these message boards amaze me.
By daveb
February 24, 2010 8:12 AM | Link to this
For example there are many good reasons to not re-elect Strickland, but I see people all the time calling him tax hike Ted or a tax and spend liberal, when the facts show he has steadfastly refused any tax increases.