Just Give Me Some Truth
In the '60s, the media pushed the country against the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive bled onto living room TV sets, Walter Cronkite came out against the war, citizens were outraged and convinced.
The same with Watergate: Central and somewhat trusted media outlets pushed and probed and exposed and again, citizens were outraged and convinced.
Now, the lament (in liberal circles) is that, no matter what crimes the Bush administration commits, nothing sticks. Approval ratings plummet but still: no big trials, no major special prosecutors, no impeachment hearings, no outrage, no one convinced.
The problem is that The Information Age is exactly the opposite. There's no longer anything even close to a consensus of where we gather truth. This isn't the information age, it's the blather-ation age. All we have is a trillion sources from which to choose truths we want to believe.
In the national newspaper of record, Maureen Dowd slams away at the Bush administration with what seem like irrefutable facts and irrepressibly funny venom... to no real effect. Even 20 years ago, it would have been outrageous/disrespectful -- impactful -- for a columnist for the New York Times to be so vehement. Now, conservatives slough her off and liberals read her partially for ammunition and partially for entertainment.
And if Maureen isn't entertaining enough, we turn to Bill Maher. He makes a grudging effort to have a dissenting viewpoint on his show and a gallant attempt to maintain civility. Usually he out-debates his conservative guest with a combination of his impeccable logic, his emcee bully-pulpit, his stand-up skills and his home crowd advantage. It should be somewhat satisfying and yet, and the end of every show, he looks more exasperated with the impossibility of having any tangible impact.
Preaching to the choir is a deadening experience.
Then again, preaching to the heathens isn't much better. On the right, a respected conservative columnist like David Brooks in the New York Times sounds more and more desperate in his attempts to gently get liberals to think another way. Ask a Maureen Dowd fan if he or she read David Brooks today and you get this put upon reaction of, "I started reading but by the third paragraph, I just couldn't stand it anymore."
Instead, we spend our lives preparing for an argument we'll never have with a person we'll never meet whose opinions we could never change.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
TRUTH has been declared a 4-letter word by Bush Administration. It's the new term for LIES.
We're fed up with FAKE AS PRESIDENT!!
Enough of "christian" pussies like GWBush who hides behind Jesus so he can GIVE EVERYBODY HELL!
Cowardly pussy-wussy GWBush is a criminal hiding behind his cabal of media-crazy nut-head "advisers".
Bush all but "sucks his thumb" in public. Bush has no respect for anyone ['good job' raising him, nasty-cynical-cruel BARBARA BUSH & POPPY!] and BUSH DESERVES NO RESPECT--NONE.
Bush Family values? NOTHING. ZERO VALUES. No spine. Just rabid opportunism, cruelty, GREED, war profiteering smoke & mirrors & torturing others is "okay". It is not.
We don't need more republican media-preening fools for president.
We don't want ACTORS for President.
We want THE REAL THING.
THE REAL THING is H. Clinton.
H. Clinton HAS GUTS & BRAINS.
That's what matters in a President of USA.
Go for it!--SUPPORT HER and SUPPORT AMERICA before the rabid REPUBLICAN SMEAR MACHINE goes into high gear TO DESTROY AMERICA and replace the American way of life with their insane Fascism-FOR-GREED.
The Truth has been redacted!
In manipulating the thinking-challenged American public, Republicans proved that Truth doesn't work! ONLY LIES WORK. They've won elections by lying, it works, so they continue swiftboating, smearing, cheating, stealing, and being criminals.
It's THE BUSH FAMILY "VALUES"!
The ANSWER on Iraq INVASION has been in front of your face all this time:
The purpose of Iraq INVASION is for Bush-Cheney to spend down all USTaxpayer money out of USTreasury and shovel it into pockets of their ULTRA RICH CORRUPT CORPORATE PROFITEER WELFARE QUEENS privatizing this "war". And capturing oil fields for Big Oil's profits.
It's about THE BOTTOM LINE, stupid.
Always look for the answer to: WHO'S MAKING THE MONEY?
Are you saying that Rice is trying to start a new Cold War with Russia for the same kinds of reasons?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58108
And a fine example of mistruths.
Well, that about sums it up.
Warning: I am shamefully pessimistic. What makes us think that we are or would be heard by Congress no matter how many letters and calls we make to The Hill? What makes us think we even have a clue what’s REALLY going on? Media isn’t reporting what they ought to be. All of a sudden most of the Democratic candidates don’t think we can get out of Iraq before 2013? What new, startling data makes them say that? We know bush has planned all along to hit Iran, don’t we? He just keeps getting away with murder. Most of America is against the war, but NONE of us are contacting our representatives so we can make ourselves heard? Sure we are. We just aren’t being paid any attention. We keep reacting with the same responsible, died in the wool, Constitutional values we believe in. But they aren’t successful. All these folks running for president . . . they can’t play nice . . . that isn’t how it all works anymore. And how much are they too trying to pull over our eyes? Integrity just isn’t popular.
We only know what the administration doesn’t pay to keep us from knowing. Can you just imagine what they say to each other each time they are about to unleash yet another incredible, bizarre, or inhuman plan or veto? They probably snicker and say what fools we are. “Let’s hear ‘em squeal about this one. The morons are going to vote for it anyway.”
Do I have a solution? Heck no. I don’t know what the whole problem is - which is my point. Splitting the country? Too late - already done - it’s the administration, its gullible follower’s, and the rest of us.
Congress listens to whoever contributes the most money for their campaigns. Oil, military contracting, and insurance companies contribute the most.
Why should they listen to us? At work, it's the boss who pays you, so you do what he/she says. Unfortunately, it's no different if your job is Congressperson.
There is one man that has been proven time and time again to not be this way.
He will only pander to the will of the people through the constitution.
He is grounded and doesnt lie.
Americans were led into approving the war on Iraq through the Bush administration's deceptions. Check out the weapons of mass destruction lie, the "Let's get Osama" lie, just for starters.
Americans hold patriarchal notions of the office of the President of the United States. Bush seems rather like a father who has done unspeakable wrongs, which the family refuses to acknowledge despite all evidence.
We must remember the "children" Bush values: Carlyle Group, Halli-Burton, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. These are the "valued children" becoming even more wealthy with each passing bomb dropped on Iraq. And who is paying for this? Americans. American families with dead kids, whose real mission in Iraq was to just to put another buck in the coffers of these businesses.
If Americans woke up to the truth, they'd never stop screaming.
Colin Powell has a lot to answer for that speech at the UN.
At one time I was hoping he would run for President.
Not any more.
(Guess 6:45 AM is a bad time to post. Let's try again.)
Theories abound...
Mine is that, on September 11, 2001, this entire nation suffered a near-terminal case of cognitive dissonance... the equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Everything we'd come to believe or assume about ourselves -- our unchallenged power, our invulnerability, our moral high ground -- came tumbling down at the hands of 19 ideologically-driven thugs, with nary a shot fired.
Denial, as they say, ain't just a river in Egypt. What should have been something akin to the knuckles-down reaction of America so effectively documented by Ken Burns in "The War" became, instead, a sophomoric near-tailgate-party of faux patriotism in search of an "enemy".
It was 60-odd years too many since The Big One, and the murky intervention of the never-truly-resolved Vietnam experience didn't help... it had been, in a sense, a mere warmup for the polarization waiting to be exploited by those neocon opportunists who'd openly prescribed the requirement of another "Pearl Harbor" to unleash their pathologies.
The Congress held hands, sang 'God Bless America' on the Capitol steps and promptly ran for cover. The press, having long outgrown its enthusiasm for truth and moved on to advertising profits, donned its referee's uniform and proceeded to market a vapid 'blend' of left-vs.-right diatribe, "fair and balanced". The facts, apparently fully available to a handful of diligent reporters and columnists, both print and online, never really made it through the mainstream noise floor.
In this perfect storm, some of the most unashamed crackpots and wild-eyed ideologues ever to control the Executive branch had a field day. Neither exceptionally brilliant nor particularly subtle, they had their way with a groggy public and a somnolent press.
"We have met the enemy, and it is us." -- Pogo
What I found was that within a day people wanted to resume their lives, to go out shopping, to pretend to some extent nothing bad had happened.
Now, after so many years of hearing of terrorist plots that have been averted, but that something could happen any day now, people have shut down.
The coverage of OJ, Britany, and others in and out
of rehab, have become the only reality. There is no war, no impending war, the President is keeping the nation safe.
This is about the best, most succinct summation I have read anywhere. For more information on the press I suggest Bill Moyers’ “Buying the War”.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html
-still amused-
Of all the bloggers, professional reporters and comments to be found on HuffPo, your analysis of the current situation is one of the best I've read yet. Good work!
ok maybe tv news is clueless, not everyone cares about brittany or paris,or oj but, they don't cover the things that matter. send george to iraq. find a candidate for president that will stand up for the people after elected. impeach every member of the senate or congress who votes the way the lobbyist pay them to and most of all find one person we can vote for who don't lie,cheat,steal,or has ties to big oil, or health insurance companys,or big drug companys, looks like another vote for MICKEY MOUSE
WE need alternative news organizations and alternative broadcasters. The MSM gets its advertizing dollars from the groups it ought to be investigating, and the networks who give them airtime are owned by conglomerates who make their money on the war. The news, the networks, are the foxes overseeing the hen house. I think the lobbiests should be revealed to the American people. They are ghost writing American policy and law. The MSM is just another lobby.
The most straight forward answer as to why Bush is getting away with all his crimes: Nixon Admin. veterans Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld. Bush has also had Kissinger as an unofficial advisor for years now. They learned the lessons of what brought The Nixon Admin. down and have used every tool in their arsenal to avoid his fate. So far, they have been successful. Of course having a whole tv network like Fox News behind you helps - Nixon might have beat the rap had Fox News existed then.
Another theory is that we are united in our addiction to oil and that debating the war on terror, government spying, one child left behind, etc, won't matter a hoot unless we collectively unhinge ourselves from the black goo.
Alternatively, there are already too many people in the world. How many more can we sqeeze in before things get really uncomfortable? Do you think, libs and repubs could agree on population control?
We have the "Liberal media", "Right wing media" and "traditional media". The right wing media either justifies Bush's actions in some twisted shape or form or just keeps quiet. Traditional media is too scared to be bashed for liberal bias and pretty much shut-up after 9/11, lest they are called "unpatriotic"
That leaves the Liberal media which ofcourse is trying to keep issues alive as long and as much as possible
Vietnam is not an accurate analogy anymore. The Nation as a whole was affected. With Iraq, just 5% of our total population has been affected directly!
Consumerism, celebrities and relationship issues take up more time on TV and in the lives of ordinary Americans than the real issues!
There is an outcry but rather limited ...
Only HONEST and COMMITTED efforts ever stick.
When you try and control things with a different agands in mind (IRAN) then things are bound to fall a part.
RIGHT, KING GEORGE?
I think the most convincing argument to be found
on this subject is located at:
http://www.impeachbush.org
Pete, until and unless a fair number, like a
majority of the american public starts
contacting Congress and instructing them
to start seeking impeachment on their behalf,
it won't happen. Bush will keep pushing war
spending bills in front of that body, and
they'll keep rubber-stamping them, just like
hey have for the last 5 years. Money talks
pretty loudly, and to counter that, it's kind of
a situation like in an old Dr. Seuss
story, "Horton The Who". Well, welcome to Who-
ville... and check that website out today/pass it on...
Why go around shouting "Impeach" when Pelosi is saying in her timid little mousy voice "off the table?" She keeps saying she does't have the power to do this and that, yet the decision to impeach or not impeach seems to belong solely to her! I don't get it.
She doesn't have the power - NEW WORLD ORDER.
Unfortunately.
As a Maureen Dowd fan, I think she is correct is portraying Bush as a Shakespearean tragedy where the dimwitted son of the King distorts into the false persona of a leader to prove himself to the family, and yet corrupts himself through the shortcuts afforded by his family’s power.
That aside, the underlying need is for a sense of justice that Maureen, other pundits, and the Bloggers cannot achieve. The world wants to believe in justice as foundational, but there is a growing sense of darkness if the tools and procedures of Justice cannot reach GW Bush and cohorts. There is a serious loss of faith approaching as Bush and Company escape without consequences and without justice..
"Instead, we spend our lives preparing for an argument we'll never have with a person we'll never meet whose opinions we could never change."
That's the most succinct argument for splitting the country in two that I've ever read.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
