PLASTIQUE PROMISES

Here we are, standing on the cliff of '07 poised to hurtle down into '08. Just like any other year except for some upcoming events that the majority of Americans have just begun to think about.

Not that it matters, since they have long allowed the corporate media to do their thinking and deciding for them; a media that has set our entire Primary campaign up as a war to the death. Reporters no longer report, they incite and "control the message".

Although there are serious, hard working participants, many young people are attracted to political campaigns like flies are attracted to horse manure. Those who avow support for the compromise candidate are the loudest and most opposed to compromise. They love the thrill of the campaign and are moved by rhetoric.

It's fun, it gets them college credits, out of humdrum jobs and next to "important people". Sex 101 is nearly mandatory and always traditional on these campaigns. We still hear the stories told by the Howard Dean "Take Back America" crews. They could fuel another "West Wing" TV drama.

Many of the young campaign workers are seldom seen or heard for four years but emerge like Mayflies for Primaries. The media loves them because those campaign workers feed its insatiable appetite from everything from the mundane to spicy photoshopped slanders.

But the really true love of the media always was and still is the polls. They are so in love that many of the networks and cable sponsor their own polls. Media uses polls to persuade, incite and confuse because by their very nature, polls are unreliable and are easily manipulated.

No matter what the batting average of a certain poll over the years, there is nothing sure in their prognostications. When they appear to be successful it is mostly because media misrepresentation influences the vote. Media depends on the old adage, "everyone wants to vote for the winner", and so it tells you who the winner will be.

It is the media's manipulation of the polls that largely determines how areas of the country will vote. Fascism has already come in with the cross wrapped in the flag, but the real downfall of democracy will come because the press has completely abrogated its responsibilities.

Until then, there are a few struggling reporters that investigate and report but most just hand us plastique promises and laugh when they blow up in our faces.

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format," as it allows us to "control the message" -- Cheney media aide Cathie Martin, under oath at the Libby trial, making clear how well Russert fulfills his function.

gapperserve-at-peoplepc.com  
http://gendergappers.blogspot.com

2007-053

Copyright 2008 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com.

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