Blogs, mom and the MSM.

I had an interesting talk with my mother a few weeks ago . We were talking about blogs and blogging. Her first question of course was 'what is a blog'? After a brief description of blogs and bloggers her next question was simple, why blog? My answer was people don't trust the MSM the way they did 30 years ago, they know there is more to any given story than the edited version on the evening news. She asked if anyone reads my blog. I answered that I do get traffic and people comment on some of my posts, so I guess they do.

My mother is in her early sixties, she has her own web based company, a digital camera and a computer, so she is pretty hip. I am trying to get her more involved in the news she consumes. When the MSM puts out a story on a subject that interests me, I start up the search engine to get more information on the subject. The story may be factual but missing the other side of the story. More commonly the source they quote for the opposing side is not directly related to, or well informed about the subject matter. When the facts don't support the view of the reporter, the most important facts are buried in the last two paragraphs.

Mom and my stepfather Paul watch the Fox News Channel and read the local paper. I am glad that they watch FNC in north Idaho because the local news coverage stops at the Montana border. As I have stated in past posts, FNC does have a slant to the right in some of their reporting and opinion pieces, but taken as a whole they give the most balanced coverage in the MSM. My stepfather Paul is a great guy and has helped me move my mom from the darkside, to the fence, and now in this past election cycle she came over to the right side. I can now see where the misguided ideas of compassion in my youth came from. My mother is a very kind and warm person. Like myself, her list of enemies is very short and usually unoccupied. We want to help people. It is very easy to watch the news and listen to left and their MSM chums talk about slashing this program for the poor, or drastic cuts in that program and come to conclusion that republicans are mean and terrible people. It was only in my late twenties that I started to smell what the MSM was shoveling at me.
Why do I blog? To paraphrase Dick Morris' book, because I can.