Golden Compass

When watching The Golden Compass I thought that it’s only purpose was to entertain. I was brought into a magical wonderland with adventure, daemons, and a pretty sweet polar bear fight. I made no connection to underlying themes of atheism or any attacks on Christianity; I thought I was only being treated to a kick ass movie. Yet there was a controversy over Philip’s book and movie. Some people found that his story did attack Christianity. When interviewed Philip was asked about some people’s claim that his book attacks Christianity. He didn’t exactly deny these claims. He states that “some things done in the name of religion are very bad. That was what I was trying to describe in my story.” Philip was also asked if the main point of the story was to promote atheism. He responded with “it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting [atheism].” In Philip’s mind he was not promoting atheism he was just writing a fantasy story. Although Philip does not care if people believe in the “Authority” what he does care about is “whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded enquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression. Good things have been done in the name of religion, and so have bad things; and both good things and bad things have been done with no religion at all. What I care about is the good, wherever it comes from.” It doesn’t seem that Philip had a hidden agenda he was just writing a story.


Today. 2 Nov. 2007. Msnbc.com. 21 May 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21595083/.

Summer Vaction

Ohhhhhhh Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
This summer is going to be sweet! Not.
Well most of it. The first week I am going to be at the tennis courts all day to practice for my tournament. If my team wins the tournament we get to go to Chatangooga. Which is going to be fun if we make it. Other than that my summer is going to be long boring and listless. I get to go to work everyday at lamar dixon picking up trash. That is going to be really boring. I hate my job but money is money. Also during the summer I get to enjoy Boy State. Which is where a lot of boys (saugage fest) get to come together and make a mock government. I found out that you get hardly any sleep and that it was really boring and it sucked from Jarrett Gautreau. Also my summer is going to be filled with running. Yipee! I have to get into shape for cross country season and beat Dillion Truax next season, and right now it's not looking so well. Oh yeah I totally forgot about my family vacations. My father is taking us on a cruise to Alaska. It is going to be awesome. I want to see the glaciers. The last cruise I went on was really fun so I am looking forward to this one. It is a lot of fun eating free pizza and ice cream. My mother is taking our family to the beach again. I hate the beach I always get rashes in places that are unmentionable. Ouch. They hurt. Well most of my summer is going to be dominated by running and working which pretty much sucks.

Fair and Balanced? or not so much? (10)

Rupert Murdoch is the rich conservative that owns the Fox new network. He has shown his unwavering support for the Republican Party. Fox news has two slogans that they claim to stick to “Fair and balanced” and “We report, you decide.” Murdoch stands behind Fox completely and says “I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel.”(Noah) Robert Greenwald heard Murdoch’s challenge and steps up to the plate and knocks one out of the park with his documentary “Outfoxed.” Outfoxed shows that Fox is extremely biased in numerous of ways, but some spectators say that the umpire is not giving fox a fair chance.

Greenwald’s assertion in Outfoxed is that Fox news is anything but unbiased and balanced, and he is one hundred percent correct. He shows Fox in a new light his film. The documentary shows startling evidence such as the ratio of liberals to conservatives they have on the show to O’Rielly telling the speakers he disagrees with to “Shut up!” It would be hard to believe all this about Fox if Greenwald was the only one saying it, but he’s not. One of the most reputable and prestigious magazines in America, the Wall Street Journal, is behind Greenwald. The Wall Street Journal’s pages read that Fox is “a network sympathetic to the Bush cause and popular with Republicans."(Noah) There are many other sources that say the same thing as well, and with so many backers it is hard to follow suit.

There are still some people that even in the face of this overwhelming evidence still won’t believe that fox is biased. There will always be the Republican people that still watch Fox news. One of these supporters of Fox news is Sherry Link and she says that “I watch Fox because I get both sides of the story. It's the only place the president gets a fair shake.”(Link) There will always be fan base out there when Fox and it’s supporters use the complete denial technique.

After watching Outfoxed it is hard to go against that Fox is an unbiased news network. The documentary makes many great points and makes it’s argument well. Outfoxed’s claim is mirrored in many other news programs and papers. So it’s the bottom of the ninth and Greenwald’s team did everything right and Fox’s comeback is looking doubtful.

Noah, Timothy. “Fox news admits biased” Slate. 31 May 2005. ?>

Link, Sherry. “Fox brings fairness to unbalanced news media” bnet. 26 Nov. 2002.