Of late, I've been amused by the way the "main stream media" are portrayed by the right-wingers. They usually refer to it as the "MSM" they've seen or heard something that doesn't fit their prescribed beliefs, almost like it was monosodiumglutonate ("MSG"). Never mind that they're swallowing whole a what I've come to see as 'distorted thinking'. Yes, and never mind that what they're attempting to ignore is glaringly obvious, that they're clinging to a failed political ideology of greed..
How could we have let this happen, is what I hear sometimes around the office, or the usual strains of the "Ain't it awful" game, recounting the latest clownish acts of some televised faux pas by some candidate that shouldn't stand an ice cube's chance in Hell of winning anything notable except for contempt. We are the people that let it happen? I've some doubts as to that. We are responsible to each other in some ways that communities in the past defined for us, with social mores and folkways gave us a sort of social infrastructure. But, that is in the past of rural societies, and doesn't apply to the politics of today.
The constraints of the past are no longer suitable for keeping the megalomaniacs of today from running over us with their false utterances and 'big lies'. The so-called "mainstream media" used to be objective in its reporting of the events surrounding our communities, so that we could experience the 'big picture' if we so chose to. Surprisingly, there was "news" that needed reporting accurately, and it was given to broadcasters to perform that task, both on a local and national basis, in their charters. But that too has changed, now that "news" is being sold as entertainment, instead of objective reporting and criticism of the social, political and ethical matters that spring from almost any society.
So, now that "news" is a form of "entertainment", and news broadcasters are more concerned with profits than keeping the viewing public informed with accurate depictions of the world around us, where did we let this get so out of hand? Well, again, that where I have some doubts as to the public's responsibility to these broadcasting corporations. Obviously, they have to make money to stay on-air, and obviously the commercials that used to provide the income to sustain programming. In my own broadcasting experience, there's nothing to prevent the proliferation of 'niche programming' for special interests, such as sporting events. I used to think of bowling and golf as two of the most boring televised events going, then I saw poker games being broadcast recently. I find that to be about as exciting home remodeling and antique 'road shows', and to be honest, the antiques are more interesting, if only because there's a story to be told with each item.
But, this is an 'election year', so we also have what is amusingly referred to as political theater. The so-called 'coverage' is so desperate for something to say, even the second-guessing, or commentary if you prefer to call it that, has devolved into the kind of sensationalism that one usually expects to see on the playground of a public school. My doubts as to how our communities and society are the culprits for this intellectual deterioration come into play here. Not to say that we're blameless for letting all the sordid pandering for attention that commercial television tries to command our lives with. No, we're responsible for turning to other happier pursuits than General Hospital and The Price Is Right. See that button on the side of the box? It said "Power On-Off", and let me attest to the fact that "off" works just as good as ever..
The "brightness" control doesn't appear to help the talking heads on the screen, but that power button controls a lot more than you realize. Just imagine what would happen if we'd all turn the television off what sort of lives we could lead, instead of relying upon the vicarious excitement of some impossible to become role on a series of fictional portrayals of something quite different. Not that I don't enjoy an occasional show or special presentation, but a reading a book or practicing a piece of music, or just working over a set of equations from a journal has more appeal to me. Like watching the television, the roles are pretty well defined from the outset, the plot can be as meaningful and entertaining, and there's always a chance that something unexpected can happen to make it interesting. It's even been said, humorously, that real life lacks a really cool background soundtrack. So now we have that, carrying around MP3 players, cell phones that owe more to Star Trek than anything else imaginable, even by geeky engineers..
And the television? It practically defines our lives for us, just like the social mores and folkways used to.
Look at our 'political theater' of the day. The contestants are a good old boy, a woman and a black. Stir in some criticism of the black candidates wife and preacher, toss in some old baggage of the woman who would be president, and let the good old boy set it out on the sidelines. He's friends, again, with the current good old boy in the White House. Never mind how McCain's service to his country was impugned, along with several more stellar candidates with better credentials, no that's a thing of the past. Just let by-gones be by-gones, they're just a couple of good old boys, you know. They're "compassionate" and embrace their preacher's views too, just like they're "uniters, not dividers"..
But, that's what they've done. They've divided us with these prejudicial terms and roles in this theater of the absurd. Now, you're either "right" or "left", for us or against us, and having built those empires, these are the kind of players that we cannot expect to abide by our own values. No, our own personal values have no meaning to them. The values that we used to inculcate in our communities and churches are but window dressing to these creatures of politics. And because of the televised 'religious' invocations meddling with our political theater, the plot can twist very quickly to their advantage. Yes, they can tell us some pretty amazing things that aren't quite as true as one could hope. That has led to almost an entire campaign of "gotcha's" instead of deliberately discussed issues, campaign plans and programs being proposed as would meet the needs of "We, the People, of the United States"..
It's almost as if we've become "We, the sheople, of the united stares", sitting in front of media instruments designed entirely to discourage independent thought or objective and critical thinking. And we'll be back in a moment (after 3.5 minutes of commercials) to find out what else he said she said and who's preacher got "got'cha'd" by some other radio or television personality (which they have anything but!) today..
This is where the whole thing more nearly resembles a schoolyard playground than a reasoned debate of ideas and opinions. The worst part of it is how the "got'cha's" detract from the apparent dishonesty of the accusers who make up all sorts of confabulated exaggerations about their opponents, which they themselves are guilty of. Yes, how odd that the right-wing pundits shake their heads and make self-righteous remarks about the moral of others, when their own lives reflect how poorly they abide by the social mores and folkways of years ago. Not that they aren't appropriate, it's hypocritical to throw stones in their own glass houses, so to speak.
But, that's taken care of by screening calls, judicially choosing who will be on the set, carefully managed scripts of what can or cannot be said on the public airwaves If you're wearing even so much as the wrong clothing or t-shirt, you could find yourself speaking to some very irate security people. That's been happening to airline patrons, so don't believe for a moment that it can't happen to yourself. Never mind that a male homosexual prostitute was throwing out some easy questions for W. Bush to answer at a press conference. Yes, never mind that solicitation in a public restroom, it's all about misdirection of attention now. Just like a stage magician, the political creature will set up his opponents with various accusations that can not be proven or disproved. The woman and black candidates will battle it out to the last, and I suspect that the right-wing, supposedly "conservative", political pundits have hopes that it will exhaust the money that supports these kinds of 'polkitical theater' as I've referred to it here..
But, I don't think that's going to happen. No matter how these morally destitute neoconservatives try to pander to the not-so-enlightened "self interest" of their supporters, Americans are ready for a change, and change for the better could not come at a more opportune moment, in my humble estimations. We've been taken for fools by a bunch of self-centered, greedy and intellectually oppressive buffoons, and their actions were pretty transparent from the very beginning. Sadly, they have taken much from us, just as any war has in the past. This time around, they will resort to some of the most childish and self-defeating tirades and rhetoric ever seen and heard. And already, the American voters, incensed by the way voters rights have been abused the last two election cycles, have turned out in record numbers.
That isn't to say that we could again loose interest, and let apathy once again let these criminals run roughshod over our personal liberties, as they have done in the past seven years, but the groundswell has them panicked. And having a politician afraid of what his constituents think of his/her actions is what we can all think of as a "good thing". regardless of the political affiliations. That bodes well, so far..
But, thats the way it stands at the moment. A good old boy, a woman and a black running for office,
the highest office in the land,as it's referred to by some. I can't pretend to know how to vote for anyone
else, nor do I feel that I should have to take sides for some prefabricated role in some sit-com. If anything, I have the sort of life that precludes the usual sort of labels, which I'll discuss at length some time soon.
--However, if this were a horse race, I'd be betting on the dark horse right about now..
