Posted by
flagwaver on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:59:42 PM
We in this country
are saddled with the most myopic media in the history of mankind. These people
are some of the biggest navel-gazers that have ever come down the pike, and
they are absolutely convinced that they speak for “the people” on all types of issues.
We see it in both the “mainstream” news media, and in the sports pages; people
that never take the time to really talk to the people they claim to represent.
Take the coverage
of the Iraq War and all of its related stories and issues in the major media.
It is all the same, all the time, no matter what paper or network you watch for
your news and information. From the beginning of the war, the media have taken
the view that the war was contrived, a political ploy, or some grand conspiracy
to seize oil from the Middle East. And every major media outlet has reported it
the same way, in the same vein, and using nearly identical words. There is
hardly ever any deviation from the accepted party line on the failures of the administration
or of the belief that we are not fighting the broader war against Islamic
aggression by being in Iraq. And the media is always right there to tell us
that they are reflecting what “the people” think of the issue.
In sports we see
it in the way that the home run chase of Barry Bonds has been covered. When
Bonds hit #756, ESPN---the self proclaimed “World Wide Leader in Sports”---made sure that the
first person they interviewed about it was one of the authors of “Game of
Shadows” who immediately threw cold water on the moment. And they did it as a
reflection of the negative views they assured us that most people held of Barry
Bonds and his historic accomplishment.
The thing about
both of these situations is that they are really only reflective of what the media thinks of the situations! Most of
the news media are anti-war, and most of the sports media are anti-Bonds; they
simply think that since they are the media that most people must see things the same way they do.
But more likely, they are listening not to “the people”, but to their media buddies,
and that is where they form their opinions.
Take the war for
instance; most people, regardless of their views on President Bush, are
supportive of the idea of us prosecuting this war to a positive outcome. In
other words, while the media agitates for us to pull troops out and absorb a
defeat, the people want to win! And in the case of Barry Bonds, there are
plenty of people that are supportive of the new home run king, while the
media---many for strictly personal reasons---have nothing at all to say positively
about him.
The media in this
country is very insular, and they are much more concerned with how their peers
think than what the people think. They write their article to impress their
media pals, and to earn accolades from them---not to adequately inform us,
their readers.
So the next time
they claim to speak for us, think about this: How many of this insular bunch
has ever taken time out to talk to the people they claim to speak for? I know
most in the media do not speak for me…how about you?