I believe in Red Sox. . .Democracy? Not so much.
I've been doing some thinking about this blog and I think that I am going to have to expand the topic a little bit. Frankly, Eastie just hasn't been that exciting lately. So, this blog will now record all of the fun and fabulous goings on in and around the fair city of East Boston and anything else that strikes my fancy.
Accordingly, I will now try to comment on the recent presidential election. I made the mistake with the Kerry campaign that all Red Sox fans know means death. And that is, to let yourself believe that your team will win. Now I know that the Red Sox won the World Series, so you might ask yourself why I would make that comparison. Well, as much as Sox fans believe in their team, I'm almost certain that there was nary a one that was not braced for disaster--just so they would not be devastated in the event that it happened. Well, I was not braced for Kerry to lose. I've had arguments with people about the people in the "red states" and the "midwest." I didn't believe that they could ignore all of the mistakes that George W. Bush has made. "Even if you are a Republican," I'd say. "Even if you believed that fighting a war in Iraq is the right thing to do, you couldn't possibly think that W is doing a good job." I mean, I could list about 101 reasons off the top of my head not to vote for W. Turning a surplus into a multi-billion dollar deficit; military families having to hold bake sales to raise money to buy soldiers in Iraq body armor; allienating most of our allies in the world; lying almost patholigically; not firing anyone, let alone Rumsfeld, after Abu Gharib; and on and on it goes. I guess that yesterday's election proved how much I know. Here I am living in my insulated Northeastern cocoon believing that the majority of Americans are way smarter than this corrupt administration gives them credit for. Thinking that the majority of Americans are capable of rational thought. Actually believing that Americans might be insulted by an administration that will lie about something for months and then when they are called on the lie, claim that they never said it. Could I be that wrong? Maybe.
I still think that when it comes down to it that most Americans are much smarter than politicians give them credit for. I think the problem is that they are not given enough information to be able to make a rational decision. Think about it. The mainstream media has become completely incompetent. They are so afraid of the possibility of offending anyone that they refuse to say anything. It's not enough for reporters to just "report." They need to report the truth. Or at least try to get at the truth. To just repeat what the politicians say--on either side--devoid of any analysis is not journalism, it's just parroting. Why even have the press as an intermediary? Why not just have politicians speak directly to the people? Want to say something to America? Just get in front of a C-span camera and spout. Why is it that organizations like factcheck.org will debunk something said by a politician, but that same politician will feel free to repeat the lie over and over again, without any fear that the media will actually call him/her on it? It's no wonder that the blogosphere has become so influential. It seems to me that only the bloggers are doing any kind of thoughtful analysis of what the politicians say.
I don't know how to solve this problem. But I do know that we will now have another 4 long years with George W. Bush for president. When he was "elected" the first time in 2000, I was disappointed, but I thought to myself, it's only 4 years, how much damage can he do? Well, needless to say, I now know how much damage one president can do in 4 years With a so called mandate, no re-election worries, a VP who will probably never run for president, a republican congress, and the possibility of appointing more than one Supreme Court judge, I shudder to think where this country will find itself at the end of 4 years. Perhaps ignorance truly is bliss.
Accordingly, I will now try to comment on the recent presidential election. I made the mistake with the Kerry campaign that all Red Sox fans know means death. And that is, to let yourself believe that your team will win. Now I know that the Red Sox won the World Series, so you might ask yourself why I would make that comparison. Well, as much as Sox fans believe in their team, I'm almost certain that there was nary a one that was not braced for disaster--just so they would not be devastated in the event that it happened. Well, I was not braced for Kerry to lose. I've had arguments with people about the people in the "red states" and the "midwest." I didn't believe that they could ignore all of the mistakes that George W. Bush has made. "Even if you are a Republican," I'd say. "Even if you believed that fighting a war in Iraq is the right thing to do, you couldn't possibly think that W is doing a good job." I mean, I could list about 101 reasons off the top of my head not to vote for W. Turning a surplus into a multi-billion dollar deficit; military families having to hold bake sales to raise money to buy soldiers in Iraq body armor; allienating most of our allies in the world; lying almost patholigically; not firing anyone, let alone Rumsfeld, after Abu Gharib; and on and on it goes. I guess that yesterday's election proved how much I know. Here I am living in my insulated Northeastern cocoon believing that the majority of Americans are way smarter than this corrupt administration gives them credit for. Thinking that the majority of Americans are capable of rational thought. Actually believing that Americans might be insulted by an administration that will lie about something for months and then when they are called on the lie, claim that they never said it. Could I be that wrong? Maybe.
I still think that when it comes down to it that most Americans are much smarter than politicians give them credit for. I think the problem is that they are not given enough information to be able to make a rational decision. Think about it. The mainstream media has become completely incompetent. They are so afraid of the possibility of offending anyone that they refuse to say anything. It's not enough for reporters to just "report." They need to report the truth. Or at least try to get at the truth. To just repeat what the politicians say--on either side--devoid of any analysis is not journalism, it's just parroting. Why even have the press as an intermediary? Why not just have politicians speak directly to the people? Want to say something to America? Just get in front of a C-span camera and spout. Why is it that organizations like factcheck.org will debunk something said by a politician, but that same politician will feel free to repeat the lie over and over again, without any fear that the media will actually call him/her on it? It's no wonder that the blogosphere has become so influential. It seems to me that only the bloggers are doing any kind of thoughtful analysis of what the politicians say.
I don't know how to solve this problem. But I do know that we will now have another 4 long years with George W. Bush for president. When he was "elected" the first time in 2000, I was disappointed, but I thought to myself, it's only 4 years, how much damage can he do? Well, needless to say, I now know how much damage one president can do in 4 years With a so called mandate, no re-election worries, a VP who will probably never run for president, a republican congress, and the possibility of appointing more than one Supreme Court judge, I shudder to think where this country will find itself at the end of 4 years. Perhaps ignorance truly is bliss.
posted by Marilora @ 10:29 PM
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