I stumbled on a video post by sports journalist Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman where he goes on a rant against message boards. You must view this video where he shows his arrogance. It is not that often that I come across someone this blatantly afraid of free speech. The context of this video is in reference to a hoax story that came out this past week about Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. The story is reportedly about some Nebraska fan that used the story template from NewsOK.com to post a deliberate false story that Sam Bradford had been caught doing cocaine. This story supposedly happened somewhere in Texas and was picked up by some local radio stations and played as though they are facts.

Berry Tramel is trying to convince those that watch that if you go to message boards, you are contributing to the problem. He says that message boards have the redeeming quality of a porn site among other things. It is interesting how the media works. This is one of the reasons that I have such a terrible view of the media as a whole. They proclaim their elitist selves to be the sole source for educating America. They are the only ones that are qualified to tell the story because other sources are just misinformation. They are use to having a monopoly on information and the control of it. They are the gatekeepers of all knowledge in their eyes. The truth is they fear message boards and blogs though they use them also. Mr. Berry Tramel has his own blog right here. Maybe I am being unfair to claim that all journalists are that way similarly it is unfair to say that all that frequent message boards are bad.

There is no difference between a message board and a blog other than the format and he uses a blog in the same way as a message board where he can post his opinions and others can post comments about them. The good thing about a blog is that it gives ordinary citizens their own voice to speak out about things they find important.. Mr. Tramel shows his arrogance by saying that merely going to a message board and not even participating is part of the problem. He says if you are on a message board to get off because you are part of the problem. Berry lives in world where you silence those you disagree with. He has a problem with ordinary citizens having a voice that he cannot control. If there are concerns about truth and lies on message boards, then people can do research on the Internet to prove it wrong.

Part of being free is that you can learn the truth and refute these false claims. Though I find this video disappointing, it is not a surprise. The mainstream media cannot stand to have an alternative outlet for people to get their information. The mainstream media such as NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN spend hours bashing FoxNews yet they continue to be number one. They label FoxNews as a conservative tool for right wing Republicans. If you have ever listened to Fox, they are not conservative by any means. They are less liberal than the other news outlets but still liberal. If your political view is left of center, then you will see them as conservative. If your views are right of center, you will see them as less liberal while viewing NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN as off the charts left wing. Discussing politics is not the point of this post. The purpose is to show how the media does not like it when the viewers have alternatives that are not under their control. That is the beauty of message boards and blogs. You can hear either side and believe them or not. If not, you can post opposing views for everyone to read.

Berry Tramel has shown himself to be a typical journalist in that he wants to be the gatekeeper of knowledge and keep people from being able to get their information from other sources. He will blame it on renegade posters using this as a disguise for his real motives of eliminating free speech. He thinks that free speech cannot regulate itself, and that ordinary people cannot refute misinformation. My characterization of Berry Tramel may be a little off and unfair but so is his characterization of message boards as a whole. It is my opinion that message boards and blogs are one of the greatest inventions and Mr. Tramel feels threatened by their ability for ordinary people to get the word out.
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