The Graph and I
I tried to watch the vice presidential debate tonight but it wasn't easy. This was because I was forced to watch it on CNN. I happen to be an MSNBC junkie -- but the TV set was already tuned to CNN so that was pretty much that.
This was the first time I've watched a debate on CNN, and it turns out to have this graph running along the bottom of the screen, a graph that allegedly represents the moment-by-moment feelings of a group of supposedly independent voters in Columbus, Ohio, who sit, with some sort of electronic devices, and register their warmth or cool as the debate goes on.
Well, this is no way to watch a debate. It reminded me of this thing that's happened in New York City, which is that all restaurants with more than fourteen locations have to put on the menu the calorie count of each food item. This is an appalling development. It's hard enough to figure out what you want to order without someone explicitly telling you that you're going to drop dead if you eat it. But more important, I don't believe those calorie counts. Who knows how many calories there are in a grilled cheese sandwich? No one, that's who. But there it is, on the menu, in a grim black and white parenthetical, and it affects you, you can't help it, and as a result you end up not ordering the thing you wanted and instead ordering some stupid bowl of soup that barely gets you through till three in the afternoon.
Well this graph on CNN affected me, it affected me so much that I could barely focus on the debate, I was so busy watching the graph. I knew it was completely unreliable and irrelevant, and yet my heart sank and rose according to it. I sort of heard what the candidates were saying, but mostly I watched the orange (for women) and green (for men) lines rise and fall as each phrase was uttered. When Sarah Palin spoke and the lines went up, I felt irritable. When Joe Biden spoke and the lines went up, I felt happy. Don't get me started on Gwen Ifill.
Every so often Sarah Palin would say things like "darn right" and "bless their hearts" and "you betcha" and I noticed that the people in Columbus were unmoved by Palin's folksy expressions, at least according to the graph; this gave me faith in America. But then I reminded myself that the graph was probably as unreliable as the calorie count that caused me not to order what I really wanted to eat for lunch.
When the debate was over, we were all sad to realize that it had not been the exciting blood bath we were hoping for (I mean, let's admit it) but thrilled to hear that Biden was the winner. So I came home and celebrated: I had a grilled cheese sandwich (530 calories) (not really).
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I know. First I watched in on MSNBC without a graph. Then on CNN with the graph, and i found myself watching the graph most of the debate like a mindless graph zombie.
I listened to the debate and the about 1/2 hour post-debate comment period on PBS. No graphs, no gimmicks, no simplistic post debates commentary before noisy live crowds trying to outdue each other discussing it. Then I checked the top of my local news then I went to bed.
I watched the debate on CSPAN initially, then watched CNN's replay with the feedback meters and found it to be very interesting.
I'd like to know a bit more about the instructions to the participants, and if the graph line is a simple average, etc. I'd like to see CNN go a bit further with this, maybe divide the info between registered Dems, Reps and independents.
If they added the same data from the group of pundits they're always bragging about it would be very interesting to see how 'normal' they are. It would help put their comments in a better perspective.
I'd also like to see CNN do it simultaneously in different parts of the country.
I'm not sure how scientific you could consider it with more strenuous controls on the subject's environments, but I found it very interesting that women seemed to respond a bit quicker than men and in a lot of cases a bit stronger than men.
Despite those differences, it was obvious neither gender liked the snide comments of Palin or when either candidate started talking about their opponent.
When they talked about policy and position information, the line when positive and stayed there. That was the sharpest distinction between the response to Biden and Palin and made it obvious why the group thought Biden 'won'.
"... but the TV set was already tuned to CNN so that was pretty much that." Really? Is there a rule in your house that once a debate starts, there's no 'flipping'? What, if God forbid, the channel was accidentally set to Fox News and you had to sit through Karl Rove's post-game commentary? The horror.
If Palin can pick and choose which debate rules apply to her, so can you Nora.
I am from northeast ohio ( a pretty conservative area)
I have talked to alot people at work and when I canvass for the for the Democratic party and Palin is wearing thin on voters.
ugh....Starbucks did that
They put how many calories where in my guilty pleasure (a venti Caramel Macchiato)(my signature drink)It is heaven in a glass.
I avert my eyes to this little reminder and enjoy my drink once in a blue moon.
You should enjoy your little treat as often as possible, since none of us will be able to afford one if layoffs continue at this rate. After all, you did not vote for McCain/Palin. (I am obviously projecting into the future).
Thank you, Nora! I was so distracted by that ridiculous running graph, that I got online to try and find a way to send a comment about it to CNN. What a stupid idea! It would be one thing if the graph was, well, hooked up to John McCain and Barack Obama's heart rate monitors, THAT would be interesting, but that group of phony "undecided voters," (gimme a break--if you are still undecided then you are not paying attention, and probably don't know what day the election is held on anyway), from Ohio were not even interesting enough to merit a pre-game/post-game interview. Pity poor Soledad O'Brien, Team Player Extraordinaire, trying so hard to act like even she gave a sh*p what these people thought. But to make their fluctuating opinions the centerpiece of the whole debate was beyond annoying; it was journalistic malpractice.
While the running graph can be interesting in those parts of a debate that get rerun in the analysis that takes place after; I refuse to be subjected to those unknown persons' touchy-feely in my own digestion of what I am witnessing in the first person in real time. CNN has so many horrors, I can only watch in short bursts during MSNBC's commercial breaks. The Conventions were better on C-span anyway.
Apparently, Nora likes to stay ignorant and blissful. Not knowing the calorie count of a cheese sandwich makes you feel ok about ordering it? Just vote for Sarah already, You already suffer from Palin-logic. What you don't know won't kill you!
You mean "the Graph and Me" maybe?
No, she's using the correct grammar.
If it turns out you were joking, here's a preemptive "my bad."
Yep that is the correct way to articulate the Queen's language
I watched the debate on MSNBC but then re-watched the debate (exceptionally good comedy btw)
on CNN. I couldn't figure out if the graph was reading at the far left or the far right, def a distraction.
The Graph is a distracting irrelevance, obviously.
What is it with all of these graphics at the botton of the screen?
When watching a movie, (some channels) have a car driving across,
people popping up, and so on... annoying at best. How about those
insanely LOUD commercials?
C-SPAN, no charts, no graphs, no visible panty lines. Just the facts: Joe Biden knows foreign policy and understands economics, Sarah Palin has nice streaks in her hair.
Unfortunately many cable and satellite networks are eliminating C-SPAN. I do have to hand it to Sarah on her highlights--or at least to her colorist!
Wish I could say I feel your pain but we don't have cable tv. On regular broadcast tv (i.e. free), we were spared the offending graph.
The debate was painful enough to watch!
If you don't have the strength to say yes to an item when the calorie counts are on the menu you've got no business ordering when they're not on the menu. There are people in the world who exercise and have an understanding relationship with food and would simply like an estimation to know how much they're daily intake is.
Do you think it's acceptable to walk into a restaurant and eat a 'healthy' salmon plate only to find out it had 75% of your daily intake for calories. Restaurants get away with this like bloody murder, they don't mind loading up the sauce or allow your food to soak up the fats even though it may have a deceiving appearance of being healthy. What if you eat there regularly, and you order the plate regularly. You will end up with a severe calorie imbalance, and you'll end up like the rest of america.
Suck it up, order something you like, (maybe without sauce?), and accept the fact that you're not living healthily if you don't exercise.
Thinness does not equate to healthiness.
Thanks for the unsolicited lecture.
Now, get the hell off my lawn!
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