Steele: Keep the Sewer Flowing but Lower the Fecal Count

screen-shot-2015-01-06-at-9-30-47-amColumnist Tom Friedman of the New York Times once opined, “The Internet is an open sewer of untreated, unfiltered information, left, right, center, up, down, and requires that kind of filtering by anyone.”

And that is its beauty.

In what may be the last days of untreated flow before the FCC puts its filters on, allow me to opine on the ways that the sewer might flow a little bit better.

The advantage that a blog like KC Confidential has over, say, a New York Times is that it creates a community of interested parties all of whom are capable of adding information to the debate.

The advantage that the traditional media have is that they pay their reporters, give them time to develop their stories, and then charge the consumers for that information.

As such, traditional media should have higher standards. They don’t always, but they certainly create higher expectations among their audience. That audience, however, has almost no way to influence the content.

Commenters on a blog like this have a genuine opportunity to be heard in ways that they do not have with, say, the Times or Kansas City Star. They also have the chance to contribute genuine news.

A great way not to be heard, however, is to begin the comment with “You, idiot” or some equally charming salutation.

Another way to not be heard is to tell the author of the post that his opinions are mere “right wing drivel.” He likely knows what wing he favors, and your pointing it out merely marks your dissent as ideological.

comments-sectionBesides, insults waste everyone’s time.

The commenter has the opportunity, even the obligation, to say specifically how the posted information should be amended.

My own strategy when I dissent on other sites is to post or quote from sources with which the author usually agrees. I have found this a much more useful way to share information than to dismiss the author as a “left wing asshole” and tell him why I think so.

I also say nothing to the author that I would not say in his or her presence.

That’s just basic manners, but you never know when you might run into the author in real life and find out that he’s a left wing asshole with a bad temper and a black belt.

Although we have the right to screen comments on this site, I don’t. I believe we as a free people are more capable of regulating our shite than the FCC is.

That much said, in the last days of open flow, the words of 18th century Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke make more sense then ever, “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without.”

Rich Steele is a citizen journalist and head of the NSAAS (Non-Smokers Against Anti-Smoking).

http://www.mb-kc.com/
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9 Responses to Steele: Keep the Sewer Flowing but Lower the Fecal Count

  1. hahhararley says:

    yea right steele. When I use facts based on real information….real
    true to life experiences…..proven data…the roaches who appear
    on kcc or tonys blogs head for cover because they’ve been
    uncovered for their b.s.
    you’re the worst roach of all. I’ll write a dissenting opinion and
    you’ll never reposnd with any facts or data to prove me wrong.
    Same for Wilson who has no facts. Or even hearne who after
    reading my opinion has only to write some stupid comeback
    instead of taking me on and presenting his data and information
    to prove me wrong.
    As much as southy spews his right wing speeches…he at least
    has the mature brains to include some but very few facts to
    further prove his position.

    lets stick to facts sir…not personal attacks.

    • admin says:

      Hardly, you’re the king of personal attacks…

      And you use them in the most cowardly manner of all; under an assumed named.

      This column appears custom tailored to you.

      I will say that you often can be funny and/or informative.

      But every once and so often – like this past weekend – you go off the rails and spew forth a dozen or more diatribe comments.

      How about you try this; count to 10 the next time your body begins to shake, your face turns beet red and your heart starts to race.

      Try and collect yourself a bit.

      Go make a cup of tea, do some deep breathing and give some thought to the points you would like to make.

      Then sit back down at your computer and thoughtfully give your opinions and information.

      Then afterwards, take another short breather, then come back and carefully go over what you’ve written (before you post it),

      Try and eliminate some of the more obvious typos. Pretend the people who read it are going to know who you really are, so exercise a bit of restraint so you don’t embarrass yourself or get your but kicked by someone like Craig or the Cowboy.

      Try and edit for length too, wild man.

      Shorter is usually sweeter – and more to the point, obviously.

      Give it a shot, wild man…do us all proud.

      Oh and as my dad used to say, you’ll catch more flies with sugar than you will with salt (or something like that).

      Rich has responded to Stomper, for example.

      But I seriously doubt he’s going to come knocking much on your comment door given the approach you’ve been taking with him.

      • Libertarian says:

        I was told to read it out loud 10 times before hitting the ‘enter’ key.

      • the dude says:

        “I will say that you often can be funny and/or informative”

        Alright hearne, put down the pile of drugs you are on with your hands up- this is an intervention.

      • hahhararley says:

        I just give the facts….
        and I can prove it.
        Problem is that those who attack me (and I’ve been
        attacked/stalked/you gave out my IP address which
        was purely an attempt to create problems for me on a
        personal basis and now
        we’ve uncovered more info)
        I am holding back…not afraid of anything…
        I’m the guy who defends the people who are right and
        takes on those whoare wrong.
        And many of these people are wrong.
        I’ll dfent glaze…hen i’ll take him on because of his
        baseball picks…
        I’ll question what few facts Wilson gives (almost none)
        evenvwhen heenters a conversation that he has written
        nothing about.
        You love Harley…he makes this place jump.
        I am “the most interesting man in the city”…could have
        said world but I ‘m kc born and bred.
        good luck…don’t need advice from you about journalism…
        or ethics…you proved many times you know nothing about
        journalism (except the gossip trap) and your ethics in
        ruining the good names of many people in this town
        is quite sadly lacking.

  2. Stomper says:

    Well, Rich, I knew you could do better. You followed up your worst piece (imho) with your best piece (although the bar was set pretty low). Initially I thought maybe you went through the KCC archives. Much of your post here reads remarkably similar to “Rule # 3” in the Stomper’s initial offering at KCC 9 months ago today, but I’ll pass on the plagiarism pursuit.

    For one that has tossed around gasoline and lit matches pretty freely up to this point, you did good here.

  3. Bill G says:

    Is Rich Steele a nom de plume?

  4. CFPCowboy says:

    It is not everyone who is given a course in identifying propaganda in high school, but some of us were lucky. The internet, like television, and radio and telephone are nothing more than the tools of communication that government wants to regulate. In terms of radio and television, there is some censorship, in that there used to be a series of words you couldn’t say, body parts you couldn’t show, and things that if you did say would send the public into the hills to avoid the Martian invasion. Then came cable, where the only censors were the cable operation’s bottom line. No viewers meat no revenue. We do not censor the telephone, but we do regulate it, like keeping people we do not know from destroying our dinner, or just outright saying we can’t call someone who does not want to be called about business. It is called a “Do Not Call List”, and it applies to everyone except politicians. The question is how do you regulate the internet? Do you charge to use it? Perhaps the Supreme Court ruling that money to candidates is free speech might have a problem if government tells us what we can and can’t say. Will there be an underground internet? Yes, the internet is a sewer, but it is ours. We know the bias of the author, and we take it with a grain of salt, balancing one with another. More than once, I have had to present my “American Standard Two Toilet Award” for bi-assed reporting and journalism. We’ll wait and see.

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