Bob Edwards Weekend, March 24-25, 2012
HOUR ONE:
Los Angeles Times columnist Doyle McManus joins Bob to discuss the latest political news.
Clay Johnson says we not only suffer from information overload, but we have lost the ability to filter the average eleven hours of data we ingest every day. He describes the problem and offers some advice in a new book, The Information Diet: a Case for Conscious Consumption.
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Matt Rizzotti. Paramedics and firefighters see people during the worst moments of their lives. The strangers they meet are watching their possessions turn to ash, or sitting by while a loved one dies unexpectedly. Rizzotti is a volunteer firefighter and an emergency medical technician. He says it’s deeply rewarding to help people in such vulnerable circumstances, and that his job has taught him to treasure every moment he shares with loved ones.
HOUR TWO:
Bob talks with Mark Johnson, the founder of Playing for Change and the producer of two albums recorded by the musicians Johnson has met since he started the organization in 2004. The group’s breakout hit was a cover of “Stand by Me” recorded by many different musicians around the world and in their own style. Johnson’s video mixed all the performances together and has more than 40 million views on YouTube. There is also a Playing for Change non-profit organization which helps build music schools in developing countries and aims to connect the world through music.
Bob talks with Clarence Bekker, “Grandpa” Elliott Small and Jason Tamba, just a few of the international musicians affiliated with Playing for Change. Those three will sing a few songs for us in our performance studio. The band’s latest recording is PFC 2: Songs Around the World and group member Clarence Bekker also has a brand new solo CD called Old Soul.
Bob Edwards Weekend is heard on Sirius XM Public Radio (XM 121, Sirius 205) on Saturdays from 8-10 AM EST.
Visit Bob Edwards Weekend on PRI’s website to find local stations that air the program
I just listened to the interview with Clay Johnson, regarding the desirability of a balanced information diet. While I can heartily agree with his characterization of the current state of the news media as a 'for-profit' merchandising operation, I feel he fell foul of his own belief system in one of his examples. In discussing (and dissing) the typical media technique of presenting two diametrically opposed proponents to establish 'balance', he uses the example of debate over climate change. I can assure Clay that 99.9% of scientists do not support the Al Gore interpretation of the available data on climate change. Unfortunately, being labeled a 'flat-earther' by passionate supporters of the anthropogenic interpretation has silenced most of the dissenters: in academia, in particular, espousing a culturally unpopular belief is hazardous to your reputation and continued employment.
More to the point, if we accept the idea that a media debate between proponents of a majority-held belief and the minority opponents will not promote balance, because the beliefs of the minority 'must' be wrong, we exercise de-facto censorship. Free exchange of ideas, which Mr. Johnson considers necessary to a healthy Democracy, is not promoted by providing a soapbox for only the most popular beliefs. Dismissing the proponents of currently unpopular beliefs as deluded is a classic method of quashing dissent, historically used by both Communist and Fascist dictatorships. I'm sure Mr. Johnson does not intend to promote groupthink; his example unfortunately is a classic case of falling into that dangerous error.