I stopped watching television media several years ago, just as an attempt to control my blood pressure. I realized that the 24-hour news cycle had no choice but to bring people on to tell people what to think of the news rather than just report the news. So, much like my avoidance of all commercials, I avoid all television media. More to the point, I get 99% of my news from the internet.
The other 1% has come from NPR. I have grown a bit leery of it recently, but I have been trying to give it a chance.
Today, that ends. Let me tell you why.
I was listening to All Things Considered as I was driving home today.
Listen to it here
Not surprisingly, the first subject was about Senator Obama's speech on race. The liberal pundit went first, and I was struck about how unimpressive his points were concerning the point and power of the speech.
This was nothing, though, compared to what the conservative pundit said. He said the following about what the speech was:
...[An]Eloquent articulation of the liberal position of race relations in America.
I was shocked. I suppose that it was naive for me to be so, but I couldn't believe it. The absolute gall of anyone to describe that speech as merely how liberals see the serious issues of race in this controversy is outrageous. Even worse, he completely distorted Senator Obama's words and said that his message to white people was essentially that, yeah, I know you are angry and resentful, but you are just going to have to put up with it.
This man actually said that the speech was nothing but an explanation of his liberal policy for how white people are just going to have to put up with affirmative action and busing. This made me sick; literally sick to my stomach.
Then it got worse.
A few minutes later, the host asked the conservative pundit his opinion on Senator McCain's terrible Iran gaffe this week. The conservative pundit actually said that it was not a gaffe at all, that there were ties between Iran and Al-Qaeda.
This scares the heck out of me. It would appear that the conservatives are trying to tie Iran to the extremist group as they did more than five years ago with Saddam Hussein.
The worst part of this is that the liberal pundit was allowed no rebuttal. None. Nada. He wasn't even given the opportunity to speak at all. So no one contradicted these lies, not even the host.
The level of evil that the GOP and its pundits have risen to is truly frightening, and the incredible reach that they have is breathtaking.
I will never listen to NPR again.
What makes it so terrible, though, is that I have no idea how to combat this. It feels like what has happened throughout the last 8 years is happening all over again. How do you combat the corporate media, with all its might against you? When those who speak the truth are constantly pushed aside for those who lie, what can you do? When even NPR has become the voice of the GOP, I feel like everything is hopeless.
Now, let me say that I know that there will be those who say that I am a worry troll, but this is not my intention. I just feel so betrayed by NPR. I can't get this feeling out of my head and my heart.
I know there are going to be those that say I can fight back by donating to the DNC and to Senator Obama's campaign or Senator Clinton's campaign. I know there are those who will say that I can work hard by getting people to vote in the primary for whichever candidate I support. That I can volunteer as much time as possible to help out.
I have done all of this and will continue to do so. But, this does not help the pain in my heart right now. The worst part is that I know that most of these conservative pundits do not actually mean this. They are just trying to rile up their base because they know it is easier to do this than to have to deal with the issues. It is easier to do this than to have to admit they were and are wrong.
I think this is also why the liberal pundits are often not as powerful as the conservative pundits. The conservative pundits, for the most part, have a very serious agenda. They want to rile up their base, so, they craft very specific talking points to accomplish this. These talking points are destructive bullets that overpower the loftier liberal discussions and goals of trying to move this country forward.
The reason why the Democratic Party has such a hard time is that they are constantly on the defense, trying to fight back against these talking points. Unfortunately, it takes time to fight back against them, and by then it is too late.
I am at my wits end.
Update: Thanks to all of you that have generously given links to sites like Democracy Now. I have always been hesitant to go to too many opinionated sites. In the past, I have always stuck with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to make me feel better. Unfortunately, I am finding that they just aren't enough. I will try the sites you folks have generously suggested.