Quesalupa Cheesy Breaking News

Convenience Foods

People are about convenience foods, and now it seems that fat cats who own the news marketplace are about serving up news that is just as cheesy. They also don’t want to have to do the research to know what is fact or fiction on the internet. Actually companies have cookie which track content you look at and spin everything into your ear that falls within the confine of your tastes, all to drive traffic.  News no longer is about truth.  The Kardashians (Sociological reasons) are news, Sarah Palin is news.  Prince William is news.

Fat Cat Press

Blogs

The quality of news is degraded by the blogosphere, many say. That’s because we can cut and snip out portions of news articles from reputable news sources, but the reputable is corrupted by the capitalism of the internet.  Yes, the advertising is what is paying the bills, and the fat cats who make money need the dollars to stay fat.  So really what is news on the web is only what fat cats think will draw money into their coffers. The chart below show the difference between what the public wants to hear about and what the news agencies place as content.

Oh, those two percent-ers. They could care less what is in the news, and they don’t see their owning newspapers, radio and TV stations and internet news sources as related to public service.  No, they see it from the penthouse view of looking down on their bludgeoning financial statements.  [Did I mention fat cats???]  Did the company make quarterly sales figures, and what we are left with is a Quesalupa new diet?  Cheesy and full of links to girls showing off their skin, what the hell has that to do with news?

Outrageous Carp mixed with News

Even news references are often paid spaces from those advertising, or those selling something, as I’m sure you are aware of half the links are pay-by-click sites driving money into someone’s pocket, and not yours or mine.  Having food, sex, fashion and popular culture, the popular menu items just waters down organization ability to generate decent news coverage.

Write it and they won’t come; Unless you link to popular culture! Then write consistently or your relevance fades fast.

As a blogger, I’m always microblogging and linking to content or cultural aspects of what I’m writing so that I can draw more points from the digital bots, (Google mainly) that reflect the relevance of my pieces. I’m at least up front about it.

[Notice that the first three years I was a super blogger, and now I’ve rejoined the rank ranks]

Do you really think my writing is good enough to put my blog up in front of a quarter million viewers, as it has over the past few years.  I’m writing this thing infrequently, and so I’ve found that to have a voice, I have to build a complex system of other people boxes to get up high enough to broadcast in the world of news and social commentary.  Maybe you are like me and lose interest if no one is reading your posts.  Sites like Yahoo and MSN are full of content they did not create, but snagged from other sources like the Huffington Post, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, and a load of sponsored site.   Companies like Taboola are helping drive information regardless of its character, authenticity and accuracy.  The ethic is making money now providing reliable news.

 

My social experience is that you need Darth Vader, Clockwork Orange, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Prince and Michael Jackson type focus to get any real traction on the slippery slopes of blogging. Without them, your content is just zeros and ones floating into a blackhole of the unseen.  Digital conversations with the ether.  The tags are the communication that connects us, not the content.  People are not caring or even wanting your insights and commentary blog world.  They want you porn, your gossip, your pictures of the famous or notorious.  If I could place Osama bin Laden ‘s corpse up, I’d have something that many might like to see especially if it had a video, regardless if the picture was real or not.  Heck didn’t they make an Osama movie focusing on that death scene????  You need some violent psychopathic tendencies to illicit the type of traffic in this “dog eat dog” world.

Advice Point:

When placing popular cultural items in you blog, who cares if they make any sense, they will drive people to your site.

Internet News and Regular News is Corrupt

This graphic depicts the real world of how news doesn’t meet the public’s interest in content. The lines are out of whack.  This is the same reasoning that keeps the cheesy fattening goodness of the Taco Bell Quesalupa on the menu.  Everyone knows this meal is more like a cholesterol and sodium through the roof.   As CEO Creg Greedy, oh I mean Yum Brands Greg Creedy has stated, “Easy trumps better!”  As Yum does care about nutrition and quality, neither does the news agencies we read each day.  So enjoy your cheese, and also don’t worry about indigestion.  The fat cats want your money and they don’t care if you grow stupid by reading the poor quality news and information they  control.  What are you going to get cancer – if it were so they would own medicine?  Oh know, perhaps they do?

Article References

http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/taco-bells-quesalupa-what-exactly-is-it-w163753

Schnell writes: While many lament the seeming lack of quality, in-depth journalism today, a Gawker article argues that the inescapable problem is that you need a paying (in some form) audience (of a large enough size) to do it. There are plenty of free “news” sources to be found online, especially blogs simply regurgitating and putting a spin on wire news reports. But as the article notes, “The audience for quality prestige content is small. Even smaller than the actual output of quality prestige content, which itself is smaller than most media outlets like to imagine.” Even highly respected news sources like the New York Times are resorting to wine clubs, and the Washington Post is giving free subscriptions to Amazon Prime members to drive more corporate synergy and revenue. Rich parent companies are giving up on boutique, high-quality, niche journalism projects like ESPN’s Grantland and Al Jazeera America because there simply aren’t enough TV viewers/online ad clickers to pay the bills. So how do we reconcile our collectively-stated desire for high quality journalism with our (seeming) collective unwillingness to pay for it?

3 stylized facts: i) particular quality news markets are dominated by merely a few providers, ii) demand for quality news appears stable, but provision of news has become specialized; mainstream news is decoupled from quality news, and iii) the dominant business model of internet news mirrors that of radio, television, and newspapers in that costs of news production are recouped via advertising.

6 companies own the America news media are swimming in the money:

American Universities are unAmerican

Free Speech except at Universities

I have heard from students at different universities that their free speech and expression is limited by faculty who can or will give them poor grades for views that are not analogous to faculty points of view.  Though I support free speech, I usually tell students to avoid talking about political, religious or other controversial issues with faculty, as I know from firsthand experience that those who are against you will “d” grade you whenever they can.   I’ve been told by many that they have to agree with faculty in their writing and that they cannot argue against faculty philosophical ideas in order to maintain their GPA.   This infuriates many.  Have you had this experience?  In academia, faculty should be able to discuss about viewpoints or ideas that are not popular or are politically incorrect.  Faculty just shouldn’t be docking students for their viewpoint, offensive or contrary as they may be.  I’m not sure what one can do about being docked either, unless they can present their case effectively to their college Dean or chair.

 Another issue of freedom of speech is the types of subjects and ideas studied in the classroom.  Faculty should be able to present works from controversial people that are not popular, but stimulate thought and feeling alike.   Being that we are in academia, we should also be able to entertain in our studies content that is problematic, offensive, racists, sexists or worse.  But, it appears that on many campuses that some students actually support abuses of the first amendment.  If one does not agree with the guy preaching , or the woman who is a vegan, or the person who shares alternative political views,  that does not mean we have the right to stop them from free expression.  

Faculty members too have a similar issue when their expression in the classroom that can be jeopardized by administrative policies.  Faculty should be able to state what their opinions are without being afraid of being fired.    Another place where first amendment rights are in jeopardy is with the faculty being able to say what they want without having their administration punitively? For more on academic freedom for faculty.

 The reason these issues are important is that once you lose your right to free speech, you start living in a totalitarian state.  There are extremes such as harassment and vulgarity that may be agreed upon, but denying someone the ability to express themselves in academia is just wrong.  We should have the most open discussion of topics.  All points of view should have their place.  Everyone should be free to think as they wish and to express their thoughts.  Somewhere there is a line which is crossed into the realm of hatred, violence, and other negative expressions that are harmful to others – that is called a hate crime.  We have laws for battery as well.  Pornography is kept from children.  Here in the world of knowledge and ideals, we should be able to discuss those issues and to express our opinions and to change our minds as we are adults.  We shouldn’t be run out on a rail because we disagree with you.

Further reading:

Fire is an organization that zealously support free.  Their third annual report on campus speech codes… “The State of Free Speech on Our Nation’s Campuses” found that American colleges and universities continue to systematically violate students’ and faculty members’ right to freedom of expression. About 75 percent of colleges surveyed continue to support policies that restrict speech protected by the First Amendment.  They post the following link that presents a letter to a college about free speech problems:

In the Higher Ed web site, stated that  nearly 70% of campuses are in violation of the federal bill of rights.

Another Article titled Colleges provide chilly climate for free speech since attacks.

From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education: Debate Ove Freedom of Speech on college Campuses