Georgia Magazine - April 2010 - (Page 7)

greatness, not enough is said or written about how much bad information gets circulated and regurgitated as gospel. As a veteran of more than 32 years in broadcast media I note how everything Wood wrote also applies to talk shows on radio and television. In fact, much of the “research” cited by talk show hosts is often taken directly from the Internet. The media does not hire experts to do talk shows, they hire good talkers and great entertainers, people skilled in the art of argument and verbal combat. But just because someone has a camera or a microphone does not make them any more of an expert than any of us on politics, economics, defense matters and foreign policy, no more than having a blog or Web page does. “I heard it on the radio,” “So and so said on his show today …” I hear this all the time. I even hear people say this of a well-known national talker who before being given a show was doing house painting and home construction work. No offense to anyone in those fields, but would you ask the person pressure-washing your house who to vote for or what position to take on pending legislation in Congress? I hope not. But that’s what millions are doing when they absorb the “expertise” of the infotainment crowd and incorporate these views as facts. We are all entitled to our opinions, but nobody is entitled to their own facts; and facts are stubborn things. Jeffersonian democracy requires a well-educated and well-informed public. It requires the voters do the heavy lifting of judging based on facts. Neither blindly following Internet garbage nor talking trash is worthy of a great country. —Kirk Melhuish, Kennesaw We welcome your letters. See page 6 for submission information. April 2010 Welcome to “Picture this?” a monthly contest where we print a reader’s photo showing a Georgia place—and you get a chance to guess where the picture was taken! We will reward the reader whose photo is published—as well as the person who correctly guesses where it was taken—with $25 each. (If more than one person guesses correctly, we’ll draw from among all correct answers to determine the winner.) Winners’ names and where the photo was taken will appear in a future issue. Guess where this is and you could win $25! Ready to guess? Send your guess by April 23, 2010, to GEORGIA Magazine, Attn: “Picture this,” P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA 30085, or e-mail to picturethis@geor giaemc.com. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. Have a photo? Send your original photos of locations that are easy to identify, but not too prominent (i.e., the Big Chicken in Marietta or Stone Mountain) to the address listed above, or you can e-mail 300-dpi photos to us at picturethis@georgiaemc.com. The deadline for entries in the June 2010 issue is April 23, 2010. Please send photos and guesses in separate envelopes. Our winners from the February 2010 issue are Kelly Trapnell of Warner Robins, who took the photo, and Carla Phillips of Byron, who guessed that the subject was the bell in front of First United Methodist Church in Perry. Phillips comments on the bell’s history, saying it was given to the church by a family in England before the Civil War. In order to protect the bell from being confiscated during the war for its metal, it was given a “burial” in a coffin in the church cemetery, to be safely resurrected about four years later. FEBRUARY www.georgiamagazine.org 7 http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2010

Georgia Magazine - April 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
Major League Fun at the "Minors"
Remarkable Rivers
Southern Graces
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - April 2010