I encourage voters to listen to each of the three remaining presidential candidates. Listen to speeches on candidate’s websites, listen to interviews, listen to debates. Find out as much as you possibly can by interpreting words that come out of the candidate’s mouths.
Don’t use the mainstream media.
I’ve been following the campaigns this year pretty actively, mostly because I’m somewhat of a news junkie. I’ve listened to speeches from Clinton and Obama, but not as much from McCain since he more or less secured the Republican nomination. I tend to avoid radical news sources such as the huffington post, crooks and liars and FOX News. I’ve found one common thread shared between each of my media sources, and unfortunately for Americans, it is not truth, honesty or journalistic integrity. It’s spin.
It’s human nature to try to influence other people to believe in the same things that you do. Give a person a time slot on a 24-hour news network to let them talk about the news, and eventually you’ll get a propaganda machine. We don’t watch the news anymore, we watch people interpreting news and, using very carefully considered language, trying to convince us that their views are correct.
Unfortunately, human nature also dictates that we tend to look favoribly at ideas that mesh with our own. We don’t like to be challanged. Turns out the media juggernaut doesn’t have much work to do, really; they tell us exactly what we want to hear. With the advent of the internet, our culture has become so saturated with media that we can find a source that agrees exactly with our own ideals.
It doesn’t end there. News networks have to pay for their airtime, buildings and staff, correct? How does a 24-hour news network turn a profit? Commercials. The only way companies will pay for commercials on a network is if the ratings of that network are high enough so that the advertisements will reach the maximum number of people possible. How does a news network distinguish itself, in order to boost ratings?
It tells it’s viewers what they want to hear.
We’re a media-crazy, attention-deficit-disorder, entertainment driven nation. Would American’s rather watch a thirty minute special on genocide in Africa (sort of a downer) or hear about the most popular celebrity gossip? Better yet – why not spin the news into something that falls in line with the way people think? It’s best not to challange their opinion’s too much, because they won’t want to get frustrated – they’ll just change the channel.
With all this in mind, a singular question comes to my mind with regard to this year’s democratic primary: Why is the media portraying Barack Obama in such a negative way? Some of the important issues that have been raised when talking about Obama include:
- His lack of a flag pin lapel makes him unpatriotic
- His good looks make it too hard to relate to him
- He’s an elitist
- His relationship with his former pastor makes him unpatriotic
Ok, great. What about Hillary? Her political past is tainted all the way back to when she was an intern dealing with the watergate scandal. She was born into more money and is currently more wealthy than Barack Obama. She doesn’t wear a flag pin either!
It’s pretty clear that the mainstream media doesn’t want Barack Obama to win the Democratic party’s nomination. Since Clinton won Pennsylvania, I’ve seen reports on the news that she’s now winning the race. How can anyone possibly say that? As of today, April 28th, Obama has 1,725 delegates and Clinton has 1,588 delegates. Both totals include superdelegates.
Since when is 1,588 > 1,725?
Obama has his work cut out for him if he’s going to be able to beat the machine that’s dead set against him.
But he’s got my vote.
Hey, J.D.
It’s good to see the younger voter’s perspective on this. Wouldn’t expect it to be the same as mine, of course, but we’re always looking for signs that youth is engaged. You see, the Walter Cronkites (and Keith Obermans) of the world will always try to tell you what you think – that’s not new. They’re more effective with the apathetic than with the uninformed I think, so us oldtimers are always looking to see signs of independent thought, even if we don’t agree with it.
I gotta question for you, though (and a bit of a challenge) – You wrote about Obama “But he’s got my vote.” Can you say why?
(- above and beyond “the war vote”, that he didn’t make in Congress ’cause it was before he was elected, that is…)
juncle o