I can't help it, every day when I watch the "news" and the string of BAs and PAs (that's Bloviating Asshats and Pontificating Asshats for those not living in my house) who continually read crap off of teleprompters, I feel like I'm at the drivethru. And in a weird way, it seems like the traditional media has had the same thing happen to them that happened to fast food.
When they first started asking if I wanted fries, my response was "sure." Hey, fries, I didn't think I wanted them, but now that you mention it, that would be great. A short while later, it was "no, thank you", and a little bit after that "did I say I wanted fries? No--and I don't want a damn pie either. Just give me my order!" That was before I quit patronizing fast food completely. Haven't eaten it in years, and I haven't missed it.
And so it goes for the traditional media. I almost feel bad for them. Its been so easy for so long, just twist the wording, shift the meme, put a frame on it and presto! You control the national discourse! Rake in an obscene salary for spouting the propaganda of whichever of the 5 corporations you happen to work for. Must be hard for them to see that disappearing..I mean, its not as if they're journalists. If they can't read someone else's talking points for a paycheck, how are they going to survive?
I suspected the whole Fox News/24 Hour News Networks dominion over the national discourse had reached its tipping point a few years back. The story is irrelevant, and I forget the reporter, who was questioning some "expert" on the company payroll, but the quote was brought to me by my touchstone of political sanity, The Daily Show.
"Would you care to speculate on the assumptions we've heard so far?"
Somehow, I knew that was it. The fear and hate in this nation that fed the ever-growing beast of network news, spawned from the womb of corporate greed, was at its zenith. It had nowhere else to go, no new souls to warp, no new citizens to push into dark corners, no more hate to monger. From that moment on, it would only lose people and arguments. Slowly, at first, and then a bit faster over time. With supposed professionals spouting sentences like the one above in an endless loop, even the most close-minded would be unable to find substance.
I don't mean to imply that the media has lost all its power. Clearly, it hasn't, and we have a long way to go. But it just as clearly doesn't have the power it once did. The people I know, from the cashier at the local convenience store to my doctor, are all, to a person, making jokes about the idiocy on the news. No one quotes Billo as a serious news commentator--or Lou Dobbs, for that matter (is it me, or has that guy gone right over the edge into the abyss in the past year?). It's a joke, a game to quote them and laugh about what they're trying to make us believe.
Oh, I know there are still those (I call them the twenty-percenters) who watch Fox, think Obama's a muslim and that the surge is working. I know there are large swatches of this nation who still get the bulk of their information from CNN and take what's on TV as truth. But its not as large as it was a year ago. It may be that the lousy economy has woken up people who would otherwise be asleep, but I'll take them however I can get them.
The only real question is: are there enough of us yet? Every day more people turn off the TV "news". Every day more people come to realize they've been brainwashed into voting against their own interests. Every day more people sign on here and at other progressive sites and look for information. Every day.
I see the people of this nation waking up and getting involved and it's like watching the tide come in. One wave surges up, then falls back. Then another, a little higher than the last. The traditional media spouts the designated talking point (or, as I like to think of it, the Frame of the Day), and then the newly energized and hopeful citizens of this nation drown it under the steady weight of logic and reason. So they need a different frame. Watching the media deal with this primary has been like watching Bush justify Iraq. Every time their talking points don't work, they try new ones.
And poor media pundits...the poll numbers aren't changing. Oh, there's a 3 point move here and there, but no wide swings. Where oh where is the power of the frame? Where has it gone? Is it the wording? Quick, get a focus group! No matter how often they push that "Dream Ticket" crap, it doesn't seem to be catching on. Polls would suggest few if any believe the surge is working. Worse yet, no one seems to give a rat's ass that Obama isn't wearing a flag pin in spite of the fact that they told us it was important and that millions of us cared about it.
Much to the chagrin of our celebrity news anchors and the corporations that own them, the American people seem to be more interested in healthcare, the economy, education and Iraq than whether or not Obama knows an English professor who did something bad once.
But now there's Pennsylvania and Clinton's huge victory. Double digits, in case you didn't hear. Once again, a new frame for the comeback kid, the delusion that she can win this, and, even better, that a large percentage of those who originally voted for her in early primaries aren't now suffering buyers remorse. This scorched-earth, republican-lite campaign of hers isn't exciting, its embittering.
So, why, exactly, would the powers that be want this? Ratings for the TM? I don't think so. How many of those newly energized voters will just stay home on election day, or simply vote and not bother to pay attention once its over because they no longer care? I'd say a big 'ol percentage. And what better for the TM? After all, the President chooses the head of the FCC, does he not?
Now, imagine the fear and horror of not only the talking heads, but the corporations holding their leashes. The public might pay attention, the President might put someone in charge who will destroy this 5-corporation strangle-hold on information. That means they lose their power to control the discourse, and their ability to hide their crimes. Just think of it--there could be real news on CNN. Fox could disappear entirely.
These days, my political awareness is informed by The Countdown, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, this blog and several other on line news sites. I just can't stand the pundits and political hacks explaining to me how I should feel, why I should feel it and just exactly what [fill in political name here] was really saying.
This primary season isn't a fight between Obama and Clinton, between rich and poor, between black and white or between men and women. This primary fight is between the informed and hopeful electorate and the soul-crushing corporate propaganda machines.
Would you like a frame with that? Hell, no. Give me the facts and STFU.