Analysis of John King's interview
Analysis of John King's interview. I asked John King of CNN : do you have an opinion on whether we should have gone to war with Iraq ? He said he had no opinions, then later you said he had an opinion, but he only shared Iit with his wife and finally, he said, we would be surprised how few opinions he has because he trains himself not to have opinions.
His first answer contradicts HIS second answer, because if he has no opinions he cannot tell his wife. Secondly, I do not believe he only tells his wife. Does he really expect us to believe that he doesn't discuss his views with his colleagues, or his close friends? It's just not believable. As for being surprised about how few opinions he has, I would hate to have to take him at his word, but if he insists I would. But training yourself not to have an an opinion is like training yourself not to think. Why would anybody want to do this and is it even possible. Anyway, I would put my money on him having plenty of opinions because I don't think you can do this job without having some smarts and opinions based on all his experience. In fact, he strkes me as a smart and friendly man who was nice enough to give us an interview,
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i find these interviews boring
I think you need to change your approach. an analysis of a clip - that wasn't all that great to begin with - isn't that big a coup. it's trite to 'prove' that he said he didn't have an opinion when really he did.
when you expose them it should be something more spectacular and engaging. to get these interviews is great but you should be able to create videos that go viral and move the masses, but you have to be more thoughtful in your approach and look at the questions you are asking.
i had a comment on a previous video of yours:
you have talent in getting the interviews but your questions are uninteresting and do so little given the opportunity.
think about what the person is going to say so even if they are evasive, its a good question.
do this question "do you think its fair that in 2008 the Federal Reserve lent out interest free 16 trillion dollars to the Wallstreet Banks and the failing European Central Banks - when the entire US debt was only 14 Trillion Dollars". Something pointed like that where he either says 'not fair' - in which case you say "don't you think it is the job of CNN to report that atleast once?" or he says "fair" and you go viral on the guy
and you can do that for not just economy but military, support for Israel etc
asking questions is like chess - where you have to anticipate the answers and build your secondary line of questions. you are just playing checkers and it sucks.
kudos on getting the interviews - but your questioning is poor in my opinion.
I do the interviews for the benefit of the viewers
I do the interviews for the benefit of the viewers. I do the interviews to reveal contradictions in the politicians thinking that they and, or the viewers may not be aware of; so that the viewers can think about what is the truth regarding what is the optimal public policy. This is often the beginning of changing a person's mind. First, they must be convinced that they are necessarily mistaken because two contradictory conclusions can not both be true.
If the politician is contradicting himself he is necessarily mistaken. The voter may also have the same contradiction in his mind and he is also necessarily mistaken. Thus, it behooves him to determine which of the two contradictory conclusions is true, if any.
I do not do the interviews to ridicule politicians. Only to investigate the truth. They ridiculed themselves by their irrational behavior and expose their true character to the public. This is quite beneficial to the voters who can then know the true character of the politician they are deciding to vote for or not. They can know the most important thing about the politician - whether he is willing to reason or not.
Whether I convinced the politician or not, is of secondary value. I do however, sometimes get them to admit that they are mistaken and make the right choice.
I wish there were 100 Jan Helfeld's doing interviews, because that is what the country needs. I am doing what I can, so why don't you join me and do some? Good luck.
Jan Helfeld