Linus Torvalds interview on CNN

[Paul King]

On Sat, 2006-05-20 at 00:18 -0400, Rick Tomaschuk wrote:
> Way back in college I took a course called 'Visions of the Media' or
> something like that and the focus was the lies advertisers, and the
> general mass media tell us. The point is that while we like to switch on
> the TV and believe we are being told the truth there exist other forces
> at work which dictate the 'slant' of the truth we are receiving. Whether
> infowars.com, Micheal Moore etc. is true or not is largely irrelevant.
> If you take enough half truths and mix them up eventually you'll get
> something which resembles the whole truth. Free speech is a major
> component of infowars.com, the truth is secondary. CNN exists first and
> foremost to make lots of money for the owners. If CNN told me to run
> north to safety I'd run in any other direction except north.

If you re-read what I said below, I was clear about not dumping
everything Alex Jones says into the ocean. I respect the fact that he
excercises his right to speak freely, and thank God he does. I am just
saying that if *I* am looking for an information source that is halfway
reliable, I wouldn't look to infowars.com when there are more reliable
sources that are more level-headed. If Alex wants to say that the United
States secretly supported the Bolshevik overthrow of the Czar of Russia
(which he did in a documentary he made, without offering evidence to
support this theory), I still can rely on my discernment to guide my
judgement of that information. But of course, in a Free country, Alex
ought to be free to spew any nutty idea that pops into his head without
fear of getting arrested. I am OK with that.

Things like this idea that the States secretly supported the rise of
communism in Russia undermines his credibility and the credibility of
anyone else with similar but more sober views (such as Micheal Moore)
that want to get their message out.

Paul

>  
> On Fri, 2006-05-19 at 21:26 -0400, Paul King wrote:
> > This takes things a bit further off-topic, but I don't have a lot of respect for 
> > infowars.com. I know Alex Jones has been interviewed with a straight face on CNN, 
> > so that gives him and infowars respectability; and also his take on the 9-11 
> > events haven't been *too* inconsistent with what I have seen elsewhere; but his 
> > views on historical and political events can sometimes be utterly batty, which 
> > undermines his whole effort.
> > 
> > You don't need to go to infowars to prove that CNN cowtows to advertisers at 
> > times; you can check out less whacko sites such as www.fair.org, who have been 
> > keeping track of the news media for years.
> > 
> > As for the interview, I found it a light read. I like to hear Torvalds express 
> > his attitude toward M$ and see that it is not an aggressive or negative attitude. 
> > While I am not a fan of M$, and could say all manner of negative things about it, 
> > I see him as trying to take the high road, and to raise the profile of Linux as a 
> > good OS in its own right, which would remain true whether M$ existed or not. 
> > 
> > I disagree that the interviewer was necessarily clueless. To me, he was 
> > respecting the fact that a typical CNN audience are not made up of uber-geeks and 
> > ninja programmers; but mostly of average people who want to learn more about the 
> > world around them. Coming from a point of view of Linux cluelessness and general 
> > curiosity about Linux was a deliberate interview tactic to get basic information 
> > across to the public. While it may reflect *actual* cluelessness is a different 
> > matter, but IMO, that didn't come across.
> > 
> > Paul King
> > 
> > On 19 May 2006 at 18:26, Rick Tomaschuk spaketh these wourdes:
> > 
> > > I think CNN not only reports the news but also like newspapers can
> > > appear to manipulate the news to their own (advertisers) benefits.
> > > See http://www.infowars.com
> > > 
> > > On Fri, 2006-05-19 at 14:09 -0500, Sy Ali wrote:
> > > > On 5/19/06, Jason Shein <jason-xgs8i/e9EeWTtA8H5PvdGCwD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > > > > Good to see more exposure in the mainstream media.
> > > > >
> > > > > http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/18/global.office.linustorvalds/
> > > > 
> > > > It was a comfortable and relaxed read.  I'm glad it didn't get too
> > > > silly/political.  Some of the questions were.. uninformed (purposely
> > > > or otherwise, they were odd).  Linus definitely has nice calm attitude
> > > > to it all.
> > > > 
> > > > Of course, with that forum I wouldn't have expected questions like "do
> > > > you regret using a macrokernel design?"
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