Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. I think it was Frank Zappa that said, nah, it's not religion, but
sports that is the opiate of the masses.
I look at stuff like the Net Neutrality Tally and I wonder, why don't the media cover this like sports scores? Like the NFL draft? Why aren't people checking this stuff like box scores? Why couldn't some blogger reformat this data into such a look-and-feel?
Can someone come up with a glitzy web interface like ESPN's to make this easy to follow, or even entertaining?
In Europe, people are as passionate about their politics as they are about sport. Here, it seems like sports hogs all the glory for itself-- and shares it perhaps with the stock market. Why? Might have something to do with all the marketing work that goes into making sports (and finance) easy to follow by the folks at home.
But does it have to be that way? Why can't someone create a website where votes in Congress (and in the state legislatures) are treated like sports scores (an idea Zappa first published in his autobiography 18 years ago), or stock quotes? Sure there's Roll Call, and all the official Congressional Record stuff, but that is dull. I'm thinking something shiny, flashy, like ESPN or USA Today... attractive to lure away some of the sports junkies. Those guys (and they're mostly guys) aren't stupid; some of them are veritable encyclopedias of information (especially baseball fans) whose heads are filled with every detail about something which--- at the end of the day means nothing, but they love it anyway. Many fans are way wonkier about sports than, say, Josh Marshall is about politics. What if we could channel all that intelligence away from the sports arena and into the public, civic arena?
I'd love to see it, and I think there are sufficient numbers of political junkies out there (Jeebus, are there! Look at the traffic statistics on political blogs these days!) to make it potentially a lucrative venture, with plenty of room to grow by pulling audiences away from sports or other interests.
Anyone want to approach Olbermann about funding and/or endorsing such a venture?