To ask whether the mainstream media has a conservative or liberal bias is like asking whether al-Qaida uses too much oil in their hummus. It's - I think they might use too much oil in their hummus - but it's the wrong question.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates that some questions may be fundamentally misguided or irrelevant.
Al Franken suggests that questioning the bias of mainstream media in simplistic terms, such as conservative or liberal, misses the larger point about the media's role and behavior. He likens this to an absurd question about al-Qaida's hummus, emphasizing that the inquiry itself is misguided, prompting listeners to think more deeply about how to analyze media influence and bias.
In practice
During a discussion about media influence, one could emphasize the importance of deeper analysis rather than surface-level judgments.
Veterans report that service dogs help break their isolation. People will often avert their eyes when they see a wounded veteran. But when the veteran has a dog, the same people will come up and say, 'Hi' to pet the dog and then strike up a conversation.
The institutions that we've built up over the years to protect our individual privacy rights from the government don't apply to the private sector. The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to corporations. The Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to Silicon Valley. And you can't impeach Google if it breaks its 'Don't be evil' campaign pledge.
In our political system, money is power. And that means a few can have a lot more power than the rest. That's bad news for everyone else - and for our democracy itself.
I’ve never understood why we would want to deny all the joys - and the challenges - of marriage to anyone. Which is why I think any loving, committed couple — gay or straight — should be able to get married.
Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse.
For a long time it has been known that the first systems of representations with which men have pictured to themselves the world and themselves were of religious origin. There is no religion that is not a cosmology at the same time that it is a speculation upon divine things. If philosophy and the sciences were born of religion, it is because religion began by taking the place of the sciences and philosophy.
People think about who they are in the stillest hour of the night. I carry this thought, the child's mystery and terror of this thought, I feel this immensity in my soul every second of my life.
Throughout history, every mystery ever solved has turned out to be NOT magic.
You all know," said the Guide, "that security is mortals' greatest enemy.
A traveller must have the back of an ass to bear all, a tongue like the tail of a dog to flatter all, the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before him, the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing.
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