Posted by
Icarus on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 3:02:22 PM
I attend a weekly business networking coffee in Seattle. Today I met a seemingly personable gentleman who was surprised to see the
demise of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Seattle had two newspapers, the Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times. When I gently inquired, in the spirit of conversation, if the P-I was center-left while the Times was center-right. I had come that idea, from where I know not, and simply wanted to see if the idea was correct from a long time resident of Seattle.
The gentleman responded that he rejected the liberal/conservative divide and broke things down more by local-regional/corporate. He was surprised the P-I was failing in that, in his opinion better represented his "local-regional" ideas.
I then asked if the papers were owned by the same organization, since I did not know this fact. Mr. Local-Regional responded that the papers operated under a Joint Ownership Agreement and shared some resources, internet for example. They were owned, however by separate groups. He described the Times' owners, referring to a specific individual, whose name escapes me, as representing the "corporate" worldview.
So who is shutting down the P-I? Its owner, The
Hearst Corporation, of course.
What I took from this conversation is that liberals hate corporations, unless it is a corporation mouthing liberal bromides.
I also mentioned to Mr. Local-Regional that I used to be in construction, but was laid off some time ago. My liberal-left conversant stated quite matter-of-factly that that is an industry that will not come back. Period. He then went further stating that, in his opinion, it should not come back to the levels it was once at. I then asked, "And what are all those tradesmen who've lost their jobs supposed to do?"
In typical Liberal-Left, we-really-don't-give-a-damn-about-the-little-guy fashion, my new friend shot off with, "Well, they'll just have to do something else."
"What?", I asked.
"I don't know," said Mr. Local-Regional.
Mr. Liberal-Left Local-Regional was well-heeled, he didn't have to worry about his next paycheck or feeding his family or making his mortgage. Why should he care whether or not a carpenter or plumber or electrician has work.
I then noted that he was in error about laying blame for current economic conditions solely at the feet of banks and corporations. I mentioned the Community Reinvestment Act and then it was as if he was watching a tennis, his head going back and forth. Nope, he was telling me, government had nothing to do with this. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did nothing wrong. The CRA was "a pimple"; it meant nothing.
And these are the morons in charge in Olympia, Sacramento, Detroit, New York, San Francisco and, worst of all, Washington D.C.
I smiled at Mr. Liberal-Left Local Regional, picked up my tea, gave him my business card (he wants to send my propoganda explaining why I'm wrong - at least he was honest calling it propaganda) and left. So much for that networking effort.