Turning away from religion

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has released a follow-up report on the current trend of religious disaffiliation among the younger generation. In the report, the Forum cites that:




"Young Americans are dropping out of religion at an alarming rate of 5-6 times the historic rate (30-40 percent have no religion today versus 5-10 percent a generation ago)."





It goes on to say that this disaffiliation is due primarily to the intersection of religion and politics in modern society. This in and of itself, however, does not get to the crux of the issue. Politics and religion will always be bed fellows in some way, shape or form. Why is it that today's generation is leaving at 6 times the historic rate?

How the New York Times is becoming more like Fox News

The New York Times has long been touted as the news source for the liberal elite. While this may have been true 10 years ago, recent shifts in coverage are certainly moving the Times more to the right. A 2007 Rasmussen survey showed that 11 per cent of the public agreed the Times had a conservative slant, and I would venture to guess that this number has grown steadily over the past few years. Sure, the Times did all it could to work against Bush Administration policies, but now it has turned its sights on other targets.




Take, for instance, the newspaper's all out fight for attention as it sought to bring scandalous charges against Governor David Paterson. The past month has seen three different occasions where the Times promised explosive revelations, all but the last worthy of a gossip column at best. Even in this week's story, about Paterson's abuse of his personal State police detail, there is very little in the way of objective journalism. It reads more like a 'jump to conclusions' piece, where the reader can determine their take on the issue. One would assume this is to portray a sense of impartiality on the side of the Times.



What to make of this all?



Perhaps it is time for the readership to take a more proactive stance when it comes to information, and misinformation. The left enjoys mocking those who follow Fox News as being blind sheep, but is taking the Times at face value any better? This is critical in a day and age where print media is slowly dying out, and will do anything to attract attention. Investigative journalism be damned. All hail the revival of the yellow journalist.

How PR blunders can make you popular: the example of Ray Kelly

The New York City Police Department has suffered major PR blows this past month. Earlier this week, 3 New York City police officers were acquitted of sodomy charges against a Bronx man. This, even though a conviction seemed nailed down based on the available evidence. Recent statistics on the NYPD’s “random” searches of large bags in the subway system shows evidence of racial profiling. A Bronx police officer has had to be reassigned in the past week, most likely due to his whistle blowing on the corrupt falsification of summonses. In addition, a survey of retired police officers in the system shows that more than half of them knew of crime statistic deception.


Even with all of this working against the police department, police Commissioner Ray Kelly continues to have a favorable approval rating of nearly 70 per cent, according to a Quinnipiac survey. This cuts across racial lines, and is far higher than approval ratings for the Mayor.

It seems implausible that his ratings could be so high at a time of evident corruption in his department. Perhaps this is because the era of Giuliani-style corruption is gone. Trampling of civil rights was common place in his efforts to clean up the City. Now that New York resembles less Juarez and more Disneyland, Kelly can be seen as the savior of the common man. Or, at least, the lesser of two evils.

Saving ourselves from extinction

The Andaman Tribe, which has inhabited islands off the coast of India for 65,000 years, became extinct yesterday with the passing of its oldest member. This tribe, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, also lost its language and traditions with the passing.




What responsibility does the global community have to save these ancient traditions and societies from extinction?

Dictators in the U.S.?

Recent reports have surfaced indicating that numerous war lords, arms dealers and families of despot leaders are residing in the US, with the knowledge of the Government. In addition, these residents are flouting US laws, funneling in large sums of cash and running corrupt governments from our shores.




How should the Government address this issue, especially given the sensitive nature of intergovernmental relations? Should these residents be extradited back to their home territories, or are they serving a purpose here?

Facebook's social responsibility

The bodies of a San Bernardino, California man and his 9 month old son were found last week in an apparent murder-suicide. Yesterday, a tribute video and possible suicide note were uploaded to the man’s Facebook page by a third party. The page had several notes alluding to the tragic events, posted by the father weeks ago.




What responsibility does Facebook have in preventing these sort of tragedies from occurring? Should the site monitor its member’s content more closely, or is it up to the social community one operates within to do the monitoring of their supposed friends?

The children of Haiti

10 Americans from a church in the Midwest are being held after trying to transport Haitian children across the border with the Dominican Republic. These children had no exit visas or passports, and the group claimed they are orphans. Many of the children, however, insist that they are not.


The group claims no ill intent in the matter. What are your thoughts?

And the winner is...

In an effort to beef up viewership, this year’s Grammy Awards featured the use of social and virtual media. In the lead up to the show, websites like Twitter and Facebook encouraged younger viewers to fan the broadcast. At the show itself, viewers were told to vote for their favorite artist or song throughout the program.



The question remains, did this all help? Did the use of social media encourage you to watch the Grammys this year, or was it some other form of publicity?