Today’s Rant: Politics and the Media First, full disclosure. I have a degree in Political Science and I am a registered Independent voter. Why? Because I do not believe that the Democrats or Republicans have all the right answers. In fact, I believe that the 2 party system we have is horribly flawed. Second, this is not meant to be a rant in support of nor condemnation of Mr. Obama, just an education on how the American people are led like sheep to the voting booth every 2 years and told which boxes to check by the mainstream media. I have been witness to the predictable dance of politics and the media since the rein of President Nixon. I have friends who sit on both sides of the political aisle, many who are quite fervent and vocal about their opinions. And, I make it a point to vote in every election because it is my civic duty to keep democracy alive. But, to vote responsibly requires education. Unfortunately, the mainstream education Americans receive on the 6pm news is not meant for your benefit. It is meant to create sensationalism and sell commercials. Pure and simple. 6 years ago, we were told by the media at election time that Mr. Bush’s administration was responsible for an economic depression and therefore, by extension, the Republican party was at fault. So the media very carefully promoted the idea that a junior senator was the symbol of change. He would be the first African-American president, the first real non-partisan, the first this and the first that. Oh, and there was an epic battle to get him in office. Lot’s of controversy surrounding his color, his heritage, his father, his lack of experience, etc. The media loves this controversy because it sells advertising, but that’s another rant completely. The American people were actually, and not very subtly, told that if you spoke out against Mr. Obama’s campaign, you were, in fact, a racist. The media, having created this perception, has been very careful not to speak out against the image they created, until now. Fast forward to 2014. After 6 years with Mr. Obama having a supportive majority in Congress, not much real progress has been made. I say that only to suggest that we are not really financially better off than we were under Mr. Bush. Unemployment is still high, taxes are still high, the affordable health care act hasn’t saved us any money. To top it off, in true Presidential style, all original campaign promises have been forgotten. Nothing new there. Our troops have not returned home, we have certainly not brought Congress together in bi-partisan agreement, etc. Again, I am not condemning Mr. Obama here, just illustrating that his presidency hasn’t been any different from any other. This autumn’s election saw some typical political games being played, and there are more to come. Did anyone notice that fuel prices started dropping suddenly just before the elections? Did anyone notice that the announcement of sending more troops to the Middle East came just after the elections? These are all last-minute games played by the President (every President) to help those in their party save their seats in a mid-term election. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, it was all too little, too late. The American voters are notoriously reactionary. They realize that there has been no significant change from 6 years ago and have decided that we need more change. So, now we have a Republican majority with a Democratic President. Is this helpful? Never has been. It just creates more controversy. The media is ecstatic and in the back rooms, they are drooling over the arguments that will create good sound bites on camera. This is the point where we enter what is known as the ‘lame duck’ period of a President’s career. There are no more elections, lots of opposition in Congress, and we will probably see some of the President’s earlier legislation repealed. The President will get nothing accomplished in his next 2 years because Congress will have the power to fight him every step. It will be very interesting to see what happens to healthcare now. How will the media react? They are going to love this, but you will have to watch for the subtleties to really appreciate what is going on and how the general population is being duped into watching commercials on the 6pm and 11pm news. In the first 4 years, Mr. Obama had the support of the media because they created him and wanted him to survive 2 terms. He also had the support of Congress, so in that time, they could say nothing bad about him or it would actually reflect poorly on the media. The American people would have cried out “Hey, stop picking on him and let him do his job.” Think about Mr. Bush’s last term. Every day we got the update on how many of our troops were killed and how much the war cost us. Have you heard any of that in the past 6 years? (The war is still going on, btw.) This is because the media will report on what the media wants you to see, and what they want you to see is only that which creates controversy and sells commercials. Repeat that last sentence over and over until you fully understand the ramifications. Now, because the media’s ‘Golden Boy’ is a lame duck, you are beginning to see a shift. Mr. Obama no longer has any real power, he has done his 2 terms, and has no more value to the media as a symbol of change and hope. So, how do you sell commercials now? You tear down the man, pull him from the pedestal that you built, and revel in watching him fall. All the bad news against Mr. Obama that the media has tucked away and conveniently overlooked in the past 6 years will slowly leak out and the knight’s shining armor will suddenly become tarnished. Don’t worry, it’s all in the name of good reporting, the public’s right to know, doing our duty to keep the public informed, and so on. The media is so noble in it’s pursuit of the truth and full disclosure. After all, they tell you every day that you can trust them for accurate and up-to-the-minute breaking news, live from location, with hard-working, hard-hitting reporters who want you to know the real story. The real story, folks, is that the media is selling you what they want to sell you as news and then they tell you it’s the truth. Question reality. Question everything. One of my favorite sayings from a TV series comes from Battlestar Galactica, “All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again.” Such is the dance between politics and the media. Who will be the media’s next Golden Boy? Watch very carefully who the media decides to give airtime to in the next 2 years. The media claims to be impartial, but they carefully give more airtime to certain candidates at certain times, often to keep the playing field even. A landslide or slaughter is not exciting to watch, but a tight race is. So, they will give positive and negative spins where appropriate to maintain a close game. It is a game, folks, and you are the prize. The more they keep you hanging on the edge of your seat watching commercials while you wait for the next chunk of bad news, the more the media wins. Enjoy the dance.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 12:59:31 +0000