Voting Against the Media
I'm a bit stunned, but also curious. I meant to include in my most recent Palin post some level of surprise at how many people have mentioned the media's tone as a potential influence on their vote. Three thoughts come to mind:
1. I freely admit that some media coverage of Palin has been too personal for my taste, and obviously her selection has brought out a lot of partisan rancor. Still, everyone has a radio and a TV, right? I'm still in America, yes? Let me get this straight -- conservatives are upset about biased media. The mainstream's liberal bias might flare up (and by liberal, I mean left-of-center, not Trotskyite), but the bread and circuses in this country still come from the right. Rush Limbaugh is Howard Stern, but dumber, and he influences votes all the time. Where's the outrage about that?
2. If you don't think Obama himself is acting in ways that you find very distasteful, what possible "lesson" could you be teaching the media by staying home or voting for McCain because of their behavior? This makes no sense to me. A line of argument that goes, "Yes, McCain deserves criticism for selecting Palin, and no, I wouldn't be comfortable with her as president, but the press is being very, very mean to her, so I'm voting for McCain" is not technically an argument. I'm honestly not sure what it is.
3. Isn't it distasteful that Palin, you know, doesn't talk to the press? I'm not a fan of the Big Bad Media, and I think they overstep their bounds every day in one way or another, but have we really reached the point where it's more important to be nice -- nice only from the left, of course -- like voting for a singer on "American Idol" just because Simon made them cry? Is all of this serious? Am I awake?
Feel free to discuss.
1. I freely admit that some media coverage of Palin has been too personal for my taste, and obviously her selection has brought out a lot of partisan rancor. Still, everyone has a radio and a TV, right? I'm still in America, yes? Let me get this straight -- conservatives are upset about biased media. The mainstream's liberal bias might flare up (and by liberal, I mean left-of-center, not Trotskyite), but the bread and circuses in this country still come from the right. Rush Limbaugh is Howard Stern, but dumber, and he influences votes all the time. Where's the outrage about that?
2. If you don't think Obama himself is acting in ways that you find very distasteful, what possible "lesson" could you be teaching the media by staying home or voting for McCain because of their behavior? This makes no sense to me. A line of argument that goes, "Yes, McCain deserves criticism for selecting Palin, and no, I wouldn't be comfortable with her as president, but the press is being very, very mean to her, so I'm voting for McCain" is not technically an argument. I'm honestly not sure what it is.
3. Isn't it distasteful that Palin, you know, doesn't talk to the press? I'm not a fan of the Big Bad Media, and I think they overstep their bounds every day in one way or another, but have we really reached the point where it's more important to be nice -- nice only from the left, of course -- like voting for a singer on "American Idol" just because Simon made them cry? Is all of this serious? Am I awake?
Feel free to discuss.
posted by JMW at 11:07 AM
2 Comments:
"Rush Limbaugh is Howard Stern, but dumber." I wonder how many people who villify Limbaugh have actually spent any appreciable time listening him and what he has to say. Or are they going on the often out of context quotes that the mainstream media likes to cherry pick in order to fabricate some leftist outrage? Just wondering.
I, myself (a staunch liberal), have never listened to Limbaugh and don't give two bits about him. The boyfriend, a left-leaning libertarian, has listened to him, though. He finds Rush's arguments pretty idiotic and reduced to the least common denominator, designed to keep his audience pissed off and tuning in. Frankly, Bill Maher on the left isn't any better. Both of them need the partisan rancor to keep their audiences coming back, and neither of them do anything to keep politics in the media civil, or meaningful.
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