Archive for June, 2009
Let me first, dear reader, apologize for not using this medium in so long a time. I will address my absence from the blogosphere very briefly and then get on to business. I last posted during the Tea Party melee. My concern with posting is that I do not want to become another Sean Hannity in writing. I can decry the Obama Administration as outright Marxist and their actions as illegal usurpations of Federal power, but beating a dead horse won’t make it run. Also, the environmental firm that I work for has been preparing a substantial environmental document for a bridge replacement in Virginia Beach. As we are a small firm, my time has been limited. However, I have been mulling something over that warrants expression.
Double Standards
It is no secret that the majority of media coverage for the new Administration is outright fawning to put it nicely. It seems that the attack dog mentality of news organizations got a dose of tranquilizers or anti-depressants. I defy you to look at a news organization (besides Fox News, who I will address later) that is not operating as more than a mouthpiece for the President.
ABC and NBC have both been the recipients of “unprecedented access”. The only stipulation for the access was to churn out propaganda. NBC perpetuated the myth of the New Camelot. ABC was asked to focus on pushing the Obama Administration’s agenda on health care. The only reason that CBS has not followed suit is because their ratings are bad and their demographic is far older than who Obama needs to pitch to.
During the previous Administration, great strides were taken by most network news and print news to absolutely discredit every decision on foreign and domestic policies. Nightly reports of how the Bush Administration had failed us in Iraq, had invaded the privacy of those who were suspected of general chicanery, had allowed for the collapse of all things economic, and that he was basically an idiot. Well, he may be an idiot, but I don’t think that kind of coverage is bad. However, I do think that news organizations have not been consistent with the new Administration.
The new purpose of the news media is to laud the Obama Administration at every turn and never criticize or scrutinize too harshly because he’s the new guy, or most likely, because he’s their chosen guy. However, when there is good news on any policy that is a carryover from the Bush Administration, our “objective” media tend to not report it. Iraq is being successfully reestablished as a Middle Eastern democracy by American support that has cost the lives of so many troops and it is not being reported anymore. No longer do you see a troop count ticked across your TV screen as the lead story every night at 6:30 pm EST.
The economy is lagging and the stimulus of Presidents Bush (which Obama supported) and Obama have not served to re-invigorate our economy. The simple fact is that America doesn’t produce any goods and is not going to have a basis on the world economic stage for too much longer. Over-regulation and taxation of manufacturing industries makes it much more cost effective for companies to operate overseas and outsource what manufacturing that once was. However, this is still Bush’s and the Neo-Cons’ fault in the eyes of the media.
The national debt is at present $11,397,711,606,020.00. The cost of the Stimulus, Omnibus, proposed Nationalized Health Care, and a forthcoming budget under the Obama Administration is going to literally make the citizens of this country slaves to its propagation. However, it is not reported and if it is, it is passed as a remainder of the mess that President Bush left. We are being bankrupted by detached “leaders” and told to smile and take our medicine. That’s not journalism folks, it is straight propaganda.
Now, some would say that the word propaganda is a little harsh. I think it is exactly what the press has been up to since the emergence of Marxist theory. While it is not expressed these days, or indeed thought to be relevant, most of the “objective journalists” are liberal/progressive/Marxist/ Socialist/Communist sympathizers that have slowly parlayed their positions as trusted journalists to mouthpieces for the indoctrination of free-willed Americans into Socialist minded simpletons who thrive off of pop-culture and believe that someone else should provide everything for you.
I think that the media has had its hand on destroying the American Psyche since before Vietnam. Joseph Stalin once said, “America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” I think the “mainstream media” has been all too willing to oblige Stalin in those goals.
Thin Skin
Following up, a question was asked of President Obama what he thought of media coverage of his Administration. He said, “First of all, I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration,” he added, chuckling.” Its amazing to me that he would call out Fox News like that. Honestly, every network but Fox News spent almost the entirety of the Bush Administration tearing the White House administration end from end.
Now a little scrutiny is rattling the President. Under the First Amendment, the press is free, but just because only one outlet chooses to not be a mouthpiece doesn’t mean the media is biased. The fact that every outlet but Fox News chooses to be a mouthpiece proves the presence of the bias. I cannot see the logic in President Obama decrying one outlet that doesn’t want to be his mouthpiece when he already has ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC/MSNBC, NPR, PBS, and most print media to fill that role.
Toughen it up President Obama, for as Jerry Seinfeld once said, “How do you expect to make it in this town if you can’t take it?” The buck stops with you now, President Bush isn’t in the equation anymore. The blame game comes off as pretty juvenile.
Your predecessor allowed the press the proper and legal carte blanche to criticize, and criticize they did. Now an outlet will not push the Commie rhetoric that you want, and you’ve got some complaints? Deal with it. The simple fact is that the split between Conservatives and Liberals is 40% to 21%. Your goal is for the 35% moderates to be swayed by a non-stop blitz of your propaganda machine, and Fox News is not helping you. Well, maybe you should incorporate the ideals of that 40% more. Just because the majority of moderates swayed left due to a cult of personality, does not mean that the new American/Soviet Republic is what Americans truly want.
The whole affair reeks of a bit of a God Complex by the “Liberal Elites” in politics and journalism. If they are so sure of what is better for us, let them go and live in countries that already adhere to their Utopian view. Oh wait, there are none. Therefore, I ask the question for your comments, is it Double Standards, Thin Skin, or Both?
