Good analysis, Peter! I think you have hit on the essential problem regarding television talk shows and the media in general. They have an agenda to "entertain", rather than enlighten or inform... and to deal with sensationalism and focus on personalities, rather than dealing with larger and more important issues in a complex, detailed, factual manner. America's wars, for instance, are always focused on a personality...whether it be Castro, Quadaffi, Noriega, Saddam, Milosevic, or whoever. This is a dumb way to handle great global and social issues, but they do it that way simply because they think it will WORK...to motivate a not very well informed public to support a not very honest national policy. In other words, it's a propaganda technique...a primitive one...but, by golly, it works! The same propaganda technique is used by others too, of course, not just by the USA.

I didn't see the whole show, just a piece of it. That I even saw that was sort of accidental, because I don't own a television, but it was fortuitous that I heard it on someone else's set.

I'm intrigued by what you've said, and will read the transcript later...I'm too busy just now.

- LH