Reading a chapter from a book by Communication theorist Fairclough. Liked this quote:

The media generally purport to deal in fact, truth, and matters of knowledge. They systematically transform into ‘facts’ what can often be no more than interpreations of complex and confusing sets of events.

This is related to the concept of “modality” in communication. This is simply that we frequently express levels of commitment towards what we are saying.  We use modifiers that assert the strength of our conviction towards what is being said.  The simplest examples of these is “I think” or “Maybe” or “It is possible” and so on.  The media often runs into trouble because it presents everything without a modifying sense of modality, often taking statements that possess qualifiers like “I think” or “I suppose” and presenting them as solid assertions. I am sure you could spend a few minutes watching the news and find a dozen instances of this occuring.

A brief look at Technorati today reveals that the most talked about story is a Daily Dish article revealing that a radical anti-abortionist killed an alleged late-term abortionist.  The accusor? Bill O’Reilly.

Now, almost everyone agrees that late-term abortion is no good. In fact, I do believe it is against the law. So why didn’t the law handle this one? What kind of society are we that we run around killing each other because some media pundit claims he has inside sources?

I know abortion is a hefty issue with a lot of complicated and intricate and personal and emotional stuff all tied up into one package–but shouldn’t we show some more respect? What are you trying to accomplish?   Remember, take a lesson from PETA. This stuff doesn’t do anything but make you look like a nut. And get people killed.

And then every time something like this happens the whole political media just explodes. You got leftists pointing fingers over here and who knows what the people who watch O’Reilly are thinking. I suppose many of them are thinking, “well he had what was coming to him.”

Come on, people, some civility?  Do we have to tear apart every person the media targets?

Here’s the video of O’Reilly:

But seriously, it is difficult to buy O’Reilly here. “Death-mill”? Why use terms like that?  He wasn’t churning our dead babies using heavy industrial equiptment.  If he did perform the abortions, then yes it’s wrong and he should be punished. But if he was cleared by the state due to some silly technicality does that mean we should take the law into our own hands?  Some guilty people get off, that’s how our justice system works. It sucks but it can’t be perfect.   If that is the case, fight the system, assemble evidence, form a political movement not a violent, rhetorically extreme one that insights people to murder.

Curses, O’Reilly, look what you’ve made me do. Now I look like one of those crazy leftists.

Just last week I returned from my first trip out of the country, spending a week in France for school. On my way home, I was really looking forward to being back in America, realizing the immense power of the familiar sights, the warm temperature, and the decidedly muggy air of South Carolina. It was nice to be back where everyone around is speaking English and I don’t feel so out of place, even if I did enjoy the experience. But then I am sitting in the gate writing and I hear a clip of a talk radio show as some lady rants on about how Obama is going to undermine our capitalist society and how we’re not going to be able to…and I stop listening. Welcome back to America, home of the rhetorical nightmare.