Wednesday, November 01, 2006

You're on notice, MSM

That's right. It's the John Kerry thing.

I think we can all see what's going on here -- the junior senator from Massachusetts' utterly unapproachable stiffness, which disallowed him from winning the Presidency, has struck again. I'm not going to blame to the Republican Party for jumping cartwheels over this a week before the election. I am going to blame the mainstream media for allowing this to happen.

Bungled as he can't help but be, Senator Kerry was attempting to make a legitimate social criticism: that the less wealthy and less educated make up the bulk of our volunteer forces. Or put more bluntly and generally, it a parallel of the Republican voting coalition. Everyday people put GOP politicians in office who protect the interests of upper class Americans, and everyday people fight and die to protect that way of life. Upper class Americans largely do not. If you're a believer in democracy and egalitarianism, this is a social problem. If you're George Bush, it's not; all you have to do it pour out bullshit rhetoric about supporting the troops, and then nobody will question you, even if you fail in your duty as Commander-In-Chief by putting them needlessly in harm's way.

There is a real, honest-to-God issue there, and it'd be the perfect time for the media to talk seriously about it. But instead they allowed the political spin cycle to create the news for them. This is why I became ideologically disillusioned with the news and ran in the other direction. It is populated by people who believe in the pursuit of truth and democracy and all these jolly good things, but also whole-heartedly in an operating system that forbids it.

Journalists, at heart, are tattle-tales. They don't have any actual power to make change; they dig up facts that are supposed to induce agencies or the public to get mad enough to change things. You tattle to mom and dad, the American people, and mom and dad are mad enough about the violation to punish the violator (or perhaps more often, those in power are sufficiently scared of losing power that they change their ways). But stories like the Kerry thing, which now populate much of political coverage, are like when brother and sister both run to mom and dad, screaming simultaneously and unintelligibly, until the parents stop caring, stop paying attention and scream back on the kids to shut the hell up.

So I, Bachelor of Journalism A.G. Moseman, am putting the mainstream news media on notice: until you redeem yourself, I'm not listening.

Now go to your room and think about what you've done.

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