The Noise Media
For me, the very best thing about this year has been turning off the noise media. Sometime late last year I was watching Olbermann and thought 'he really has some issue with Hillary Clinton.' I checked in with others and they felt the same thing. Then he turned on her like a rabid dog. About the same time KOS engineered an anti-Clinton coup. Americablog had a fund drive then - without notice - became all Obama love, all the time. Since the head of Huffington is an intellectual near do well, The Huffington Post was always nonsense to me.
By December the Obama adulation had overtaken all of MSNBC and CNN. When Jack Caferty's sexist puss oozed all over midday news I was long gone. The last echoes from the MSM I bothered to listen to came around March when the stick they were hitting us with was "Why doesn't Clinton drop out?"
My transition away from the noise media has been remarkably easy. It was an addiction of sorts for me. But one of those addictions that is easily remedied with a deep surrender. When I was done, I WAS DONE.
Any true alcoholic who has gotten sober can spot a real alcoholic at 100 paces. As a sober drunk, I've spent a hell of a lot of time coming to understand what alcoholism is and how it works. Self - knowledge never gets a drunk sober. But once he/she is sober self knowledge becomes an essential ingredient in maintaining sobriety.
My trip away from addiction to the noise media is somewhat similar. I asked: How did the addiction work for me? What did I get out of it? How does it affect those around me ( in this case the entire society)?
I've come to a simple and obvious conclusion: The noise media exists to tell us what our opinions should be and to manufacture consent for their agenda -whatever it is at the moment - Attacking Iraq or electing Obama, or...
This weekend I had a remarkable example of the effectiveness of the noise media. From 3 very different people, in wildly disparate locals, I heard the exact same talking points about Sarah Palin. Not close approximations - EXACT RENDITIONS. All three were disengaged, and disinterested types who do not follow politics. And yet, the message got through. This is not a Left/Right problem. After all, how many people still think Iraq was connected to 9/11?
Right now, the pathetic dramedy on the Obama Left is that they have much of the media "on their side." They are not handling it well. Many of the same people who spent the long weekend trashing a pregnant 17 year old were rightfully appalled a few short years ago when Michelle Malkin posted the phone numbers of anti-Bush protesters. The media WANTS Obama elected. 5 years ago the media WANTED an invasion of Iraq. I'll break a rule I break too much and make a prediction: If Obama wins, by this time next year much of the media will be ripping him to shreds about Ayres, Rezko and every other currently unreported scandal. They may not need Ayres and the rest, though. The crappy economy will be Obama's and Pelosi's "fault" soon enough. This is an easy prediction to make. Obama is not who he says he is and Pelosi is an unskilled hack. The only change the former can really bring is his skin color and the latter is already the least popular politician since Nixon in 1974.
So the trash and burn party the Obama Left is having now will end when the media decides it is in their best interest to end it. I'll bet the media will kick KOS, HUFF, Obama, and the rest to the curb either in October or sometime next summer if BHO wins.
Am I "news-less"? No , not at all. I am as well informed as ever. Probably more so. By being highly selective AND picking up information in passing I still get plenty of "news". This weekend, by perusing NoQuarter, RCP and glancing at a headline in a corner newsbox, it was quite easy to know the Palin "experience" feeding frenzy was in overdrive. The Daily Kos then attacking her 17 year old child is as surprising as a sunny day in Los Angeles.
The benefits of avoiding the noise media are numerous. Metal clutter is cut down. Time is opened up. I am generally more serene. And - and this is most important: I am much less defensive. A rule of the media game that no one talks about is the invitation to learned helplessness. See, if you and I won't get with their current program (Invade the bad guys! Obama is amazing!) then choice two is to infuriate with the bias. The result is more bias from them and an entire subset of defensive refuseniks. The goal is to keep you and me on the defensive. If we won't play the game, then we must be victims of the game.
Don't be defensive. Respond - but never from a defensive stance. And I don't mean in the streets protesting or anything like that. Protest if it makes sense or write letters...whatever. I am talking about not being defensive in our heads. Example: If Palin's experince is what the MSM is hammering - find out about her experience - but NOT from CNN - and decide for yourself. The disappearance of the American 4th Estate makes me sad as hell, but my sadness will not become learned helplessness.
I own my vote and my opinion. I saw no legitimate reason to support Obama in December, I see none now. In fact, my reasons to oppose him are much more numerous now. No one at CNN or NBC has presented any facts that refute what digging into his background revealed. Therefore, my opinion stands. All the talking boobs on all the talking boob tubes have yet to rationally explain why 20 years in a black Theology church should NOT offend my deepest liberal sensibilities. Most readers here have tipping points like this with Obama. Ayres's group maimed and killed people. Rezko benefited while people froze in BHO's district...He shafted his constituents on Excelon...and on and on... A real leader looks across the table at the Woods Foundation and says "Mr. Ayres, you may have gone free, but I cannot and will not serve if you are here."
I will not join those who say "these things don't matter." My religion and my politics cannot be stuffed into that cubby hole. Wish they could. I tried. These choices by Obama do matter more to me than his current stances. Personal morality rarely matters to me. Personal ethics always do. I don't care if a candidate has group sex with his wife. I do care if a candidate signs off on vicious sexism directed at a female candidate.
For now, the noise media tells me all this is A Okay. Forget it. If the noise media decides to vet the Democratic nominee in the next 6 weeks, I may tune back in. Until then - they cannot and should not be trusted by me - or anyone else.
By December the Obama adulation had overtaken all of MSNBC and CNN. When Jack Caferty's sexist puss oozed all over midday news I was long gone. The last echoes from the MSM I bothered to listen to came around March when the stick they were hitting us with was "Why doesn't Clinton drop out?"
My transition away from the noise media has been remarkably easy. It was an addiction of sorts for me. But one of those addictions that is easily remedied with a deep surrender. When I was done, I WAS DONE.
Any true alcoholic who has gotten sober can spot a real alcoholic at 100 paces. As a sober drunk, I've spent a hell of a lot of time coming to understand what alcoholism is and how it works. Self - knowledge never gets a drunk sober. But once he/she is sober self knowledge becomes an essential ingredient in maintaining sobriety.
My trip away from addiction to the noise media is somewhat similar. I asked: How did the addiction work for me? What did I get out of it? How does it affect those around me ( in this case the entire society)?
I've come to a simple and obvious conclusion: The noise media exists to tell us what our opinions should be and to manufacture consent for their agenda -whatever it is at the moment - Attacking Iraq or electing Obama, or...
This weekend I had a remarkable example of the effectiveness of the noise media. From 3 very different people, in wildly disparate locals, I heard the exact same talking points about Sarah Palin. Not close approximations - EXACT RENDITIONS. All three were disengaged, and disinterested types who do not follow politics. And yet, the message got through. This is not a Left/Right problem. After all, how many people still think Iraq was connected to 9/11?
Right now, the pathetic dramedy on the Obama Left is that they have much of the media "on their side." They are not handling it well. Many of the same people who spent the long weekend trashing a pregnant 17 year old were rightfully appalled a few short years ago when Michelle Malkin posted the phone numbers of anti-Bush protesters. The media WANTS Obama elected. 5 years ago the media WANTED an invasion of Iraq. I'll break a rule I break too much and make a prediction: If Obama wins, by this time next year much of the media will be ripping him to shreds about Ayres, Rezko and every other currently unreported scandal. They may not need Ayres and the rest, though. The crappy economy will be Obama's and Pelosi's "fault" soon enough. This is an easy prediction to make. Obama is not who he says he is and Pelosi is an unskilled hack. The only change the former can really bring is his skin color and the latter is already the least popular politician since Nixon in 1974.
So the trash and burn party the Obama Left is having now will end when the media decides it is in their best interest to end it. I'll bet the media will kick KOS, HUFF, Obama, and the rest to the curb either in October or sometime next summer if BHO wins.
Am I "news-less"? No , not at all. I am as well informed as ever. Probably more so. By being highly selective AND picking up information in passing I still get plenty of "news". This weekend, by perusing NoQuarter, RCP and glancing at a headline in a corner newsbox, it was quite easy to know the Palin "experience" feeding frenzy was in overdrive. The Daily Kos then attacking her 17 year old child is as surprising as a sunny day in Los Angeles.
The benefits of avoiding the noise media are numerous. Metal clutter is cut down. Time is opened up. I am generally more serene. And - and this is most important: I am much less defensive. A rule of the media game that no one talks about is the invitation to learned helplessness. See, if you and I won't get with their current program (Invade the bad guys! Obama is amazing!) then choice two is to infuriate with the bias. The result is more bias from them and an entire subset of defensive refuseniks. The goal is to keep you and me on the defensive. If we won't play the game, then we must be victims of the game.
Don't be defensive. Respond - but never from a defensive stance. And I don't mean in the streets protesting or anything like that. Protest if it makes sense or write letters...whatever. I am talking about not being defensive in our heads. Example: If Palin's experince is what the MSM is hammering - find out about her experience - but NOT from CNN - and decide for yourself. The disappearance of the American 4th Estate makes me sad as hell, but my sadness will not become learned helplessness.
I own my vote and my opinion. I saw no legitimate reason to support Obama in December, I see none now. In fact, my reasons to oppose him are much more numerous now. No one at CNN or NBC has presented any facts that refute what digging into his background revealed. Therefore, my opinion stands. All the talking boobs on all the talking boob tubes have yet to rationally explain why 20 years in a black Theology church should NOT offend my deepest liberal sensibilities. Most readers here have tipping points like this with Obama. Ayres's group maimed and killed people. Rezko benefited while people froze in BHO's district...He shafted his constituents on Excelon...and on and on... A real leader looks across the table at the Woods Foundation and says "Mr. Ayres, you may have gone free, but I cannot and will not serve if you are here."
I will not join those who say "these things don't matter." My religion and my politics cannot be stuffed into that cubby hole. Wish they could. I tried. These choices by Obama do matter more to me than his current stances. Personal morality rarely matters to me. Personal ethics always do. I don't care if a candidate has group sex with his wife. I do care if a candidate signs off on vicious sexism directed at a female candidate.
For now, the noise media tells me all this is A Okay. Forget it. If the noise media decides to vet the Democratic nominee in the next 6 weeks, I may tune back in. Until then - they cannot and should not be trusted by me - or anyone else.
posted by John: south of Melrose at
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
PERMALINK
