The news media have constantly been guilty of gumming up the works of public discourse, the worst of the bunch being Fox "News".Their favorite trick is to frame an issue with two aspects that are part of a distortion of that issue in place of a frame of two logically opposing aspects of that issue.
Then they talk about "compromise" in terms of the two distortions, leaving out the substance of an enlightened debate of that issue.
What they are really urging is "capitulation", thus, we never enter the realm of "compromise", which is a form of fair dealing.
The problem can be addressed by allowing unbiased academics or unbiased watchdog groups to frame the issue, thereby losing the media pundits and politicians who tend not to be able to see the real aspects of an issue.
For example, environmental issues are typically framed as jobs vs. a clean environment.
In other words, if you want a job you have to pollute the environment.
If that issue was framed as doom of civilzation vs. clean environment, which is more accurate by orders of magnitude, the issue would play out differently.
No sane folk want civilization to go down because it has damaged the environment to that degree, instead the sense of the people is to have a clean environment which produces a lasting civilization.
The job of the media portion of MOMCOM is to deceive the public into supporting the oil baron ground zero of pollution portion of MOMCOM, as well as the imperialistic robber baron military portion of MOMCOM.
That is why the media use (what people who understand logic call) "a false frame with a straw man" to deliver a false front, a distorted presentation of the issue being discussed or debated.
A debate about jobs vs. environment cannot set up a scenario to intelligently discuss the catastrophic implications of global climate change induced by global warming.
Nor can it deliver a "compromise", because the real word is "capitulation".
When people are scared with the fear of losing their job as the only option to a clean environment, that is not compromise, it is capitulation.
Thus, the mystery is solved by realizing this congress will be THE BRIGHT vs. THE RIGHT.
Watch out for what MOMCOM habitually calls "compromise" over the next two years, it will actually be "capitulation".
Capitulation really does sum it up. The right's been demanding it since Obama took office, and the roadkill dems have been more than eager to comply. Not hard to figure out how the next two years are gonna go, is it?
ReplyDeleteI was amused listening to various pundits and pols take on what the election "meant" yesterday, as if anyone is privy to what was going on in the minds of every single voter out there. From what I've heard, the Tea Partiers are at least as pissed at the GOP as they are the spineless dems, so construing some sort of "mandate" out of that would seem to be problematic.
As far as dem support - or lack thereof - goes, that's not hard to figure out at all. Young people and true left leaning liberals like myself saw all they needed to see from Obama and the dems in the last two years, and, in my case at least, their support is now gone for good. Until the dems make wholesale, deep, and meaningful changes, I will never vote for or give money to one of them ever again. And that is change you can actually believe in!
On Dylan Ratigan (MSNBC) yesterday Cenk Uygur (Young Turks) and Glen Greenwald (Salon.com) said they would declare war on the White House if Obama agrees to allow the Bush II tax cuts to the 2% wealthy continue.
ReplyDeleteThey presumably would try to get a third candidate to run against Obama in 2012 ... they did not have enough time to fully develop the thought.
Imagine, a possible 4 way primary election race in 2012! I wonder if Carl Rove has figured out a strategy for that one yet? Hard left, moderate right, extreme right, and Tea Party loon hard right. I can't wait to watch that one go down.
ReplyDeleteMy only thought about it is that an actual true left liberal would never stand a chance in such an election. Only true liberals are honestly addressing the issues that need to be addressed, and the word liberal has become so tainted by the last 30 years of Republican electioneering (as well as Obama's pitifully coward performance) that they 1.) wouldn't be able to attract any money, and 2.) would be absolutely skewered in the resulting add wars, especially since the courts have basically declared open season for the big corporate money to enter the fray and influence outcomes. I fear that an overtly fascist corporate police state is virtually guaranteed now and right around the corner at that.
Cenk and Glen, Obama got it ... no capitulation. Link To Weekly Address.
ReplyDeleteGood speech. Now let's see how it plays out...
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