About 12 years ago, I came to believe that our ruling elite (if you want to call them that) of BOTH parties were content--even preferred--having an American public that is (our favorite phrase in the military) "fat, dumb and happy." Keep gasoline cheap, jack up the internet bandwidth, keep the fatty foods everywhere and affordable, and …
About 12 years ago, I came to believe that our ruling elite (if you want to call them that) of BOTH parties were content--even preferred--having an American public that is (our favorite phrase in the military) "fat, dumb and happy." Keep gasoline cheap, jack up the internet bandwidth, keep the fatty foods everywhere and affordable, and let the "smart people," run the country. And I consider Democrats--with their reliance on virtue & technocracy until ~2016, just as complicit in that. Well, this is just one, logical result of that attitude, courtesy of our perpetual disengagement for want of more satisfying things. Because, as is usually the case, the REAL culprit is We The People. We didn't immediately fall for the next Hitler or Stalin, no. We fell for the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys--but also Rachel Madows--who told us, 24/7 for 2 decades without pause, what and how to think. Meanwhile, while we get our panties in a bunch about boogiemen like the NSA "tapping our phones," we gladly handed over every aspect of our privacy to Google and Facebook (both of whom collect, literally 1000X more personal data than the NSA could if it wanted to)...and now, they influence our lives FAR more than we even realize...and then we shrug our shoulders and don't care anyway. Because they didn't bully us--they appealed to our insatiable lust for comfort, convenience, "stuff." Sure, they kinda LIED to us about how they were doing it, but once the truth came out, we did startlingly little to change it. Because we still don't freaking CARE. And it's all of us. It just so happens that, The Right, being more desperate, got more inventive & outlandish in how they exploited it. This time. But we're still marvelously nonchalant about all of it when it comes to DOING anything. Shrieking does not count as action, despite what people might imagine.
Even now, with all that's happened, we still anticipate the voter turnout (at least for Democrats) will be LESS next year than it was last year. This seems unfathomable, if not criminal. We are the civilian equivalent of the 2021-2 Boston Celtics (it's a Boston/sports thing. Trust me, this isn't a favorable metaphor)--looking to do the minimum possible to make our own lives comfy, surely distracted by emotions and histrionics of the moment, but also still fully prepared to do close-to-nothing about it when it matters, even declare it's hopeless if necessary--just don't make me DO anything. We seem to want to be France in 1939--bent on letting ourselves descend ALL the way into hell before we get serious about it (psychologically, if not also physically--Camus wrote of this, quite eloquently and succinctly). EXACTLY as our leaders want it (well, unless they want an insurrection--then, for sure, they want you). The way out of this is simple: normal people finding the time and priority to freaking VOTE. Vote, dammit--if you don't (I'm not talking about anyone who has unjustly been denied. I'm talking about those who choose not to) vote, I have NO use for you, period. Do that, and I don't care how rigged these GOP fascists make it, they will still lose most of the time--because they can muster 40% of us on their best days. Because we are right (good or bad) because, as Heather noted, MOST OF US DON'T BELIEVE IN THAT CRAP. So, make it right: Vote, vote, VOTE--make it a Top 3 priority in your life...because, yeah, your life MIGHT depend on it--if not now, then surely coming soon. Heather is not exaggerating the stakes.
Robert, your assessment and solution are basically correct with one exception. Your are preaching to the choir. What are you doing to get out the vote? The League of Women Voters perhaps around the country, but certainly in Maine has programs to promote voting and to register voters. One of those programs needs volunteers to go to high schools to speak to students and register them to vote. I joined our local LWV and offered my name as a volunteer to help where they need me. Stacy Abrams is the most well known voter organizer with her hands in a lot of voter registration and get out the vote drives. They need donations and funding. Find them online, send your checks and perhaps volunteer or start your own voter registration and get out the vote organization. Go meet with your local, state and Federal elected representatives in person to register your concerns. If they a re e doing a good job, ask how you can help them advance their work and get reelected. Get some friends together to join you. No doubt waiting until the next election to start working on this is too late. Always has been.
I would like to follow up on my my comment that as a whole, right, left or Independent, Americans are poorly informed about our world. I listened last night to Professor Seth Singleton speak on the topic "Will the West Survive?" on a Zoom program by the Camden Conference, an internationally recognized organization that holds annual conferences in Camden, Maine focused on current topics of significant importance and urgency. This February's conference is "Europe: Challenged at Home and Abroad".
Singleton, has worked a lifetime abroad with agencies all over the world involved in international relations and related education. Singleton gave us a PowerPoint presentation of the course of American, European, Eastern European, Russia/Soviet and China relations from WWII to the present. He pointed out how US management of these relations, particularly with our strong European alliance, have created and preserved security and prosperity for the US and the West compared to human and previous American history where nations were more nationalistic or worked in smaller alliances designed for military aggression. The goals, strategies and personalities of world leaders to preserve peace and improve prosperity were explained in detail that made the importance of informed, internationally curious and capable leaders and diplomats more apparent than anything we hear from our basic education and news media in the US.
Americans need this level of education and information to better understand why our vote, democracy and quality of leadership is so importance.
Singleton described how we have moved from securing our place in the world for the benefit of everyone to giving that place up under Trump, and losing our grip and influence, putting Europe of a track of going their own way without us. And giving China and Russia an open door to fill our vacuum.
He advised that until we resolve our internal authoritarian trend, and form a new international perspective and ideology of human rights, worldwide health and prosperity, and protection of the planet, we will fall back into a weak, isolationist, authoritarian direction that threatens ourselves and the world.
Education for ALL of us is key. Maria Ressa's speech to the Nobel Prize committee is critical to getting factual education out to the citizens who will make the decisions is critical.
It is true that Americans' level of general knowledge is appallingly low, not just because isolationism and authoritarianism, but because science education has been undermined by the more-extreme evangelical Christians, and because the mass media are America-centric and include very little news or information from the world beyond its borders.
To educate our citizens education needs to be more available. Education needs to be free for those who cannot afford it and teachers should be well paid. I remember a smug comment by wealthy businessman it’s probably many of you know. He said something to the effect of “Those who can do, those who can’t, teach”
That comment has been around since I was in college in the 60s. There are many who can do, but can’t teach at all. My first career was as a systems programmer. I was lucky enough to stay home for 12 years with my young children. By the time I was ready to go back to work, several generations of computers had come and gone. I went to grad school to get a teaching license and was a teacher librarian for 22 years. I loved it.
We need to pay teachers better and also show them a lot more respect. When I was in public school in the 50s and 60s, we had high quality teachers, in part because few other careers were open to women. As the career options have opened up to women, the low pay and lack of respect are pushing a lot of women into other career choices.
Correct. Put YOUR effort (and $) behind those working for what you want. LWV is non-partisan and doing a great education and voter registration effort.
Mostly word of mouth. I'm a writer and slowly building my community involvement (it's hard; complicated and I reside overseas) from afar. I donate money to Vote.org, Rock the Vote, Ballot Ready, and BLM. I'm also a member of Writers for Democracy and am involved with non-political organizations that encourage community involvement, adult education and general activism.
While I would expect this forum to have a notably higher-than-average voter turnout, I would never presume it to be "a choir." I'm met a surprising number of individuals (mostly young, but not all) over the past few years who are intelligent, known issues, are concerned as hell...and for some reason also decide "my vote doesn't matter," or "what's the point?" Really--I had such a discussion just three days ago with someone I consider incredibly conscientious and bright.
My 42yo son votes but doesn't think it makes a difference. He's ready to let the country fall apart so that it can be rebuilt. We've had many discussions.....
Does your son understand that his strategy is the very definition of Anarchism? I've been to a couple of lectures by Noam Chomsky at MIT over the years, and the simplest way to understand Anarchism is to tear the government down or let it collapse, but only to the last point where it was working effectively for the people, and then immediately rebuild (with any luck, more intelligently) from that point forward. There's a fine interview online he did with Michael Wilson back in 2013 that you and your son might find interesting: https://chomsky.info/20130528/
I'm not willing to have democracy shredded just now, with so much rampant craziness manifesting all over the place. If everything is allowed to fall apart, who does your son think will take steps to control everything?
When I was living in the US, I stopped voting after the election of Jimmy Carter because I realised that the Electoral College would always make a mockery of the popular vote.
It chafes when a writer claims the all pervasive "we". I take firm exception to lumping all Americans into any collective "we". Down through the decades there has been a whole subset in this Country who did not buy into the oligarch driven lobotomizing of America. We didn't fall down the rabbit hole of consumerism, mindless media and fast food. Some of us were called hippies. Some of us were called college professors. And some of us were called radicals. An awful lot of us have been simply going about our lives in quiet opposition to what has been happening concerning the subversive and corrosive damage to mind, soul and body in the USA promoted by an awful lot of politicians and religious leaders. We have been working for holding the line on our Democracy, voting rights and a just plain nation wide sanity. How do we know this to be true? The fact that there is still a Democratic Party, voting rights and a significant victory in the 2020 taking of the White House, Senate and House; not to mention Georgia, in the middle of a raging pandemic with mail in ballots being threatened at every turn so we stood at the polls in the covid fog. All this sure tells me there is a viable contingent of serious Americans in this Country.
My understanding from his post is that he is calling on the "do not rock the boat" mentality, to which so many democrats signed up to. In many ways our 401K plans and retirement portfolios feed into this system, making it "too big to fail".
With respect. I have a hard time with such statements as "to which so many democrats signed up to..." Also. Subscribing to a retirement plan does not negate an interest in Democracy. That is a false equivalence in my mind. I wonder how many of those Democrats with a decent retirement are now able to donate to Democratic Candidates?
Thanks, Barbara. By "so many democrats.." I am referring to the Democratic Party establishment primarily. Indeed, private retirements plans are not anti-democratic, however the way in which they have been set up and structured is the deal breaker. A majority of main stream retirement plans don't give visibility to the companies one in investing, because they are bundled by portfolios towards a style of investment (conservative to aggressive returns). Through our 401K investments we could well be supporting Koch industries in one of our portfolios; or an oil company that could care less about the environment; or a company who gets into a country's politics to its own advantage, etc, etc. While being an investor does not negate Democracy, unintentionally we can be undermining it by financially supporting companies that act against Democracy.
As I recall, an uncomfortable number of people, during the last campaign, answered the question of who they were voting for with: “As long as my stocks are fat and happy, I’m happy.”
Thank you for your response. For me I try not to get stuck in the minutia. Each person has the opportunity to form the best ethical and compassionate life for themselves that they can put together. I just can't label people who shop Walmart as supporting the Walton family, or the people who buy a particular product as contributing to the burning of the Amazon forest. And on and on.
I focus on the big picture. Voting, registering people to vote, getting people to the polls etc.
Besides if someone is concerned about the ethical nature of their portfolio then why not support the campaigns of Stacy Abrams or Beto O'Rourke?
I have always used "we" since I became the member of a professional firm as a college graduate where I wrote letters representing the firm. My boss explained that even if we have differences of opinion or do our job somewhat differently, when we represent the firm, "we" are all working together, not individually. Ever since, I have recognized that wherever I am, I am part of a greater whole, such as "we the people".
As I developed my own firm, I always used "we" in my letters and communications. As I mentored our staff, it frustrated me that younger staff had a hard time getting out of the habit of using "I" in their communications with clients and consultants, and with our staff. Maybe this is old school. And maybe it isn't clear in stating who is most responsible, but I have found that people and businesses who use "I" are less effective in working with others in sharing responsibilities and credit.
The use of we in the context you state is fine. That is part of a rather dry, professional environment uniting for a common business objective. Mr. McTague was lumping everyone in the same despicable pot. I don't believe the use of the collective we works in that case.
I, for one, appreciate Rachel Maddow's show. She is intelligent, articulate, and has the letters behind her name from some pretty powerful institutions to back up her positions. I recognize that it is the opposite of what is churned out on Faux Noise; it is also not even in the same ballpark as what is being done by Carlson and Hannity. TRMS is not news, nor does it claim to be. It is opinion, and there is a metric s-ton of research that goes into the spots she delivers, and she will self-correct when she has misstated something, or gotten the facts wrong.
I Trust her on the level of Walter C., she has the chops to do it right. Makes me boil when people compare her (also Hayes and ODonnell) to Rupert’s crew of evil.
Yes, I was taken aback by the reference to Maddow. I also appreciate her for all the reasons you have mentioned. There are times when we can't watch because she is so on point about all that is being discussed in this commentary and also during the death star donny years. It's overwhelming.
For several years, I couldn't watch Rachel, because of her delivery. I'd feel my blood pressure rising as she dramatically spelled out her point and finally revealed it. However, I have come around to watching her program every night, as her point is always valuable. Like Heather, she pulls the threads to reveal motivation and intent, and I've never found her logic or information to be faulty.
Rachel's narrative style puts off some people because it's the opposite of how news is typically delivered. Her approach is to tell a story, a story that takes you somewhere, an information-rich journey with a distinct destination. Along the way, she interprets what's happening and why, provides a wealth of context, and looks ahead to what may be next.
Because of Rachel's distinctive style and the amount of time she devotes to her top story, I come away feeling I better understand the news, including what I've already read about or heard earlier in the day.
I feel the same way, but after the 2016 "election," I was in such a swivvet, I didn't want to be led down a path, unless it was one that ended with TFG's execution. Rachel's style is unique in the industry, and it took some time before I could appreciate her approach. I now love the story in her narrative, and her interpretation is always spot-on.
Can’t just preach to the choir here (though I disagree with your assessments). Gotta get off your backside, fat, happy, dumb or otherwise, and work to get out the vote. So I’ll call the question. What are YOU doing to get out the vote? Me? Volunteering with my state representative’s reelection campaign, including being trained to do door to door. In voting season- something I am not at all comfortable doing but understand how important that will be in 2022. Also, sending postcards to voters. Hundreds of them. At my own expense. Then, last October, I invited 16 neighbors to come dit on my deck, have a drink and some appetizers, and reviews short bios of the 13 candidates for our local school board. Four Republicans in the group, by the way. Gratefully, my top three candidates won. But more important I think, was that all of us voted. The takeover of our local school board by Trump style R’s was thwarted.
Your assessment of the media environment contains some difficult truths but this group already understands much of that. Besides, nothing that anyone here can do about that except continue to search for non mainstream sources that tell the truth. The reality that the mainstream media is broken cannot be fixed in time for the 2022 election.
Cynicism is luxury I can’t afford. It is my strongest opinion that none of us can. Action is my solution to my deep fear that we will lose this democracy. I ask you to join me and take action.
You are also someone who mushes together journalism from a strong practitioner of it, such as Rachel Maddow, with those of far-right propagandists, such as Carlson and Hannity. When I have time, hopefully in the near future, I will this substantiate my argument. Have you read Rachel Maddow's books and reviewed the transcripts of her programs with those on Fox News? Will you factually argue your position?
Fern, First of all, I appreciate your response. Second, I would agree with you on substance (for the most part), particularly Madow--and I personally have no issue with her in the grand scheme of things. However, that is not really germane to my argument. My point is one of intent, positioning by the media itself and then, of course, the response by viewers. Of course Madow is more journalistic, intellectual and factual in her work in programing--because at least a significant portion of her intended audience is among the better educated demographic in America. But it doesn't change the fact that she is STILL 1) a pundit and 2) the point of her program, more than anything, is to gain a following that, whether we want to admit it or not, is still HIGHLY based on emotion, charging/solidifying opinion, "fighting the other" and so on. That's not all of it, but it's the biggest part. She is largely in what I call the "viewer satisfaction," category--or as that ersatz philosopher Ron Burgundy once said, "We gotta stop giving people the news they need, and give them the news they WANT." She applies there too--she just does it with more journalistic integrity. Her entire program was created as an alternative/answer, for left-minded people after the onset of Rush and the Fox Fools. I don't blame MSNBC, her, or followers of her program for feeling that way either. But, it is what it is.
And let me be clear--yes, I intentionally couched most of what I wrote as "we." I refuse to accept people saying things like "not my president." That's bull (I said it three years ago to friends of mine who were actual supporters of Hillary Clinton. I said it 25 years ago to colleagues who took down President Clinton's picture from the chain of command photos in Army offices). Moreover, I will say what too many don't want to hear or acknowledge: we got Donald Trump because we--as a whole nation--deserved it. And until we, as a whole people, decide to DESERVE better, we will continue to get crap. That includes me--I'm no less to blame--and yes, I'm working to DESERVE better.
I'm quite tired of "us and them" and hearing every reason in the world why it's someone else's fault for everything. No, it's ALL of our faults. Sure, there are a few satanic, panicked stallions out there who will run right over the cliff no matter what we do--I won't stop them. And some who will oppose EVERY good faith effort to make things better--they, I will oppose with all of my means. I pity those people though, not hate...and I pity that if they try to overthrow our country again, I'll gladly go back on active duty and put them down like a pestilence. It should NEVER have to come to that, but if it does no, I'll fight it till my dying breath.
But I will also spend the rest of my life going back and thinking hard about how we ALL went wrong and let it get this way. How we ignored places like the rust belt and Appalachia to the point that a state that voted predominantly Dem for decades (West Virginia) became one of hardest hearts of Trump territory--things like THAT should make us all pause. It bothers me a lot, and I'll be damned if I'm going to blame it all on Fox Media, Steve O'Bannon and Donald Trump (Oh, they all played a huge role, and I can't wait to see most of them in jail, but they're just part of way bigger problem).
This is a busy day for me, so I have no time today to provide you with a proper response. Do you have a name for your beliefs? I am asking a couple questions, so I might identify whether your lecture like response to me is connected to any organization or following. Otherwise, I will recognize that you are expressing your personal beliefs independent of any affiliation. You will hear from me in a day or two. Thank you for your response and patience.
Voting is the citizens’ right and responsibility in a democracy. The turnouts have been atrocious for a long time and need to be emphasized, especially because there will be important primaries this year. Secretary of State offices keep those figures. Look up your state!
Given that Republicans already are working on a plan to replace anyone who has anything to do with elections at ALL levels of government, including Secretaries of State, w/ Trumpers, that may well tip the scales.
Georgia has removed our Secretary of State from overseeing elections, probably because Brad Raffensperger refused to cave in to Trump's request to "find the votes" to make him the victor. Raffensperger's motivation in bucking TFG were questionable, but he did the right thing at the time. Now, county election boards in liberal areas are being replaced so that partisan legislators can nullify the votes and declare the candidates of their choice winners.
Good point. Here in my blue state we vote for the electors. I don’t know if it’s like that in every state, especially now with rampant repub cheating, but it takes some thought and research. Most just skip it I bet.
I think that you are wrong to throw the ‘Rachel Maddows’ in the same lot with the ‘Hannitys and Limbaughs’, within the context of current discussion. As viewers, we are challenged to form our own opinions from what we hear or read or watch. Those on the media right are espousing opinions based on unsubstantiated claims or outright nonsense, whereas those on the media left are most often taking off from a platform of knowns. I am in agreement on your comments about voting. In defense of what to some seems indefensible, i.e. the lack of engagement on the part of voters…I find it to be an arguable point that people inherently want to trust. When that trust is eroded or broken, many become disillusioned, some fully disengage. The challenge is to find a way to bring people back to caring.
I don’t often hear a Democrat calling out Rachel Maddow, but I have always felt that the spoon-feeding of partisan opinion, if it is to exist at all, should stay with the right-wing propaganda machine and not be mimicked by the left. I’ve heard all the rationale about how we need to counter Faux news, but it diminishes us to resort to such “journalism.”
(spoonfeeding) "should stay with the right-wing propaganda machine and not be mimicked by the left"
I might have agreed in 1999. But, now, seeing how truly, spectacularly successful Fox + AM radio + direct TV is at turning its viewers into drones for Trump, a fascist?
I think that whomever controls the levers of the propaganda machine wins. That is one reason I think that the probability of the US becoming Fascist is greater than 0.5.
The "left" has been asleep at the wheel while the right has taken over ever lever of propaganda from AM radio, TV, direct TV, you name it. I drove from PA to western NY listening to AM radio and EVERY town has an AM propaganda station saying that Trump won the election all day every day.
The left will lose if they/we don't get with the program.
But, honestly, it may be, in fact likely is, too late.
Goebbels completely understood this:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
If you dig deep into what Peter McIndoe started, you may see that he is simply "fighting lunacy with lunacy". The next time someone tries to tell you a conspiracy about vaccines or that masks don't work or that the virus isn't really that bad...just tell them that "Birds Aren't Real." An alternate approach could be: "Do you have a few minutes to hear about the Flying Spaghetti Monster?"
You're right, Kathy. Putting Maddow, with a Doctorate of Philosophy in Politics from Oxford with Hannity, a college drop out carnival barker is ludicrous!
I certainly don’t intend to question Maddow’s credentials, but I find her delivery, her outrage, her indignance, all serve to stoke the polarization we’re experiencing among our citizens. Just because the right-wing people do this does that make it advisable? Do we need angry, indignant editorializing on the left? I guess lots of people must think so because she’s so popular, but I prefer my news delivered in a more dispassionate fashion.
We must factor in how utterly outrageous the stories there for the telling have been these past years. To me, it has been the equivalent of the Nixon Watergate break-in’s repeated on a daily basis. The sheer volume and audacity of the daily assault on democracy has worked against any hope of academic delivery. TRMS tells the daily democracy horror stories. Yes it is hard not to sound or feel impassioned about that which may be at risk. I stand by her show even as I admit that I am moved by her indignation. However, in my mind, she will never be the opposite side of the same coin as Tucker, etc. Perhaps sometimes the truth requires passion.
Perhaps we do need to be angry and indignant. I am angry and indignant! Although I myself wouldn’t characterize Maddow like that. I see her as sharp as a tack, great research, and a good interviewer. However, I don’t watch very often. I prefer to read my news.
Karen, you're right about delivery, I think. I'm not a fan of vein popping outrage from media personalities either. I am not a huge fan of commentary so I don't spend much time consuming it. I prefer news.
Well, I'm actually an independent voter, who has voted (almost--excepting Charlie Baker) straight Dem for the last two elections. I have an old (and brilliant) high school friend who works in data analysis for Dem pollsters. A year ago, he issued a stark warning: that the language/rhetoric he was seeing on the Far Left was much the same as what/where the Far Right had been using only four years earlier--and trending worse. A movement's virtues are also its vices (not my line). I am politically much like Camus:"no one's enemy," but I AM the enemy of oppression, unjustified violence and intentional injustice; and therefore, necessarily, to those who makes themselves slave to those horrors. David Brooks, whom I still admire, wrote very pointedly about the fall of the GOP in the Atlantic this week; Heather has written in the past about those moderate Democrats who sided with the North in days before the civil war--anyone who is NOT openly against us, is FOR us--that should be our thinking. Values and some sort of moral/ethical compass guide my comments more than politics.
Both-side-ism and protestations of independence can seem like eminently reasonable positions, but when the moral battle lines between those who would destroy democracy and those who seek to save it are as clearly drawn as they are today, such sentiments ring very hollow indeed.
Please be specific, which people and or groups was your 'brilliant' high school friend in data analysis for Democratic pollster referring to? Which firm does he work for? What is the language/rhetoric from far-right and far-left was he referring to. When strong accusations such as yours are put forward, it makes sense to look at the source/evidence from which it comes. Thank you.
Thank you, Fern. It is just as inaccurate to equate Liz Cheney and Lauren Boebert (two Republicans) as it is to equate Rachel Maddow and Joe Manchin (two Democrats). People on the ideological far ends of political positions are not in the same mind-set as those who are willing to put forward cogent arguments supported by responsible data.
Thank you, Melinda. I don't know that Maddow is a member of any party. I believe that she has stated that she has no affiliation with any political party.
One more point for now, while you haven't spelled out your claim, are you comparing publicly dispensed reports of equal strong or weak organizations. A small, fringe group would not be comparable to Fox News and the stream of propaganda from Facebook/Meta.
Must be the “left” that Bill Maher skewers regularly. They seem to be elite celeb types. I know of no such creature. This old, retired counselor noticed long ago that Dems seem to follow the Golden rule more than republicans. That and Samuel Gompers guided me.
I find David Brooks to be a sophisticated pundit, borderline elitist. His demeanor and intelligence can suck you in, but at days end leaves me with an empty feeling. But then, I am not one to view the NYT or the Atlantic as ‘prints of record’
I used to like David Brooks but after I heard him say that there should not be accountability for the Jan 6 insurrectionists and that I would need to get along with Josh Hawley, I changed my mind.
It was on this very issue that Obama “lost” me. After campaigning that he would preserve our privacy, he immediately caved after being elected because “it seemed to have national security benefits”. Total BS.
I'll take your analysis one step further back. The die was cast when education at all levels was sacrificed to budget cutters. We have raised a generation of people who are fundamentally ignorant of how governments work and what is required of citizens. The result? A population who thinks their obligations start and end in the 24 hours of election day. A population that is willing to turn over the hard work of understanding policy and forming an opinion to whoever yells the loudest. Why think? There's someone who's willing to do that for you, at the small price of your freedom. Besides, The Apprentice is on tonight.
In the short run, we have to pass election reform so our government is even slightly representative of popular opinion. In the long run, we have to reform education and create a country of citizens instead of sheep.
Do you remember when Civics was taught in high school? I do. I graduated from high school in1962, back when we still had a democracy. When I was in high school, one needed 70 to pass a course and 93 to score an A. Not long after those years in the 60s, many schools lowered scores necessary to pass, e.g., 60 or 65 could let you slide through high school, and to get an A, one only would need to score a 90. "Make it easy on these kids. Life it tough enough to force them to pass with higher standards," so-called educators and school boards would cry. Is it any wonder why this country seems to be going to Hell?
This thinking is exactly what made me sign up to send postcards and letters through those grass movement channels. Years ago, I got recruited to work on a school referendum, having been identified as one of the "movers and shakers" among the school parents. (I am still amazed at this as I didn't say much, I'd just SHOW UP to stuff) It was educational for me to watch how the school board members strategized based on data of voters. Think your local schoolboard is just now becoming political? Think again. At least for that, they were trying to save programs in our school.
I don't wish to be pushed out of my comfort zone again, I can hear readers gnashing their teeth, but I don't like making calls for elections, didn't like standing in the cold outside polling places, etc. What I CAN do, from the comfort of my home, is write those letters and postcards. Perhaps I am idealistic, but I do like to think that they make a difference. I would suggest that anyone who is able to do that much, yeah, even if it is only 10 postcards, sign up now to do it. I don't have the information handy on where/how to sign up, but perhaps one of Heather's "movers and shakers" commenters will do so.
A college writing text that covers writing for argument or persuasion can help you develop your writing skills, e.g. "Writing Worth Reading: The Critical Process" by Packer & Timpane, or "From Inquiry to Argument" by Linda McMeniman. Finding or starting a writing group that will critique your work in a supportive and constructive manner is the best way I've found, both as a writer and as a teacher, to improve the work.
I hope you read the comments here, Robert. You may find the differences some of us have with you and the information offered a means to greater understanding.
Robert, putting Rachel Maddow in the same sentence as Limbaugh and Hannity is disconcerting to me. When you say that she tells us what to think, I feel that you are pain wrong. I listened to her when she was on Air America. I found her to be an authority, but I like to feel that I can think for myself. I respect those like Heather, John Meacham, Michael Beshloff, and other scholars who present fact. It does not mean that I agree with everything they say. You shared your feeling, but did some people agree. So, in a way, you are telling us to believe you. Rachel does not tell us that we have to accept everything she presents. She has a large staff who go out and research the facts she presents. I have appreciated the work that she does and feel that it is disingenuous to lump her in a despicable group. You are quite free to disagree with her statements, but please do not tell me that she controls my think.
About 12 years ago, I came to believe that our ruling elite (if you want to call them that) of BOTH parties were content--even preferred--having an American public that is (our favorite phrase in the military) "fat, dumb and happy." Keep gasoline cheap, jack up the internet bandwidth, keep the fatty foods everywhere and affordable, and let the "smart people," run the country. And I consider Democrats--with their reliance on virtue & technocracy until ~2016, just as complicit in that. Well, this is just one, logical result of that attitude, courtesy of our perpetual disengagement for want of more satisfying things. Because, as is usually the case, the REAL culprit is We The People. We didn't immediately fall for the next Hitler or Stalin, no. We fell for the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys--but also Rachel Madows--who told us, 24/7 for 2 decades without pause, what and how to think. Meanwhile, while we get our panties in a bunch about boogiemen like the NSA "tapping our phones," we gladly handed over every aspect of our privacy to Google and Facebook (both of whom collect, literally 1000X more personal data than the NSA could if it wanted to)...and now, they influence our lives FAR more than we even realize...and then we shrug our shoulders and don't care anyway. Because they didn't bully us--they appealed to our insatiable lust for comfort, convenience, "stuff." Sure, they kinda LIED to us about how they were doing it, but once the truth came out, we did startlingly little to change it. Because we still don't freaking CARE. And it's all of us. It just so happens that, The Right, being more desperate, got more inventive & outlandish in how they exploited it. This time. But we're still marvelously nonchalant about all of it when it comes to DOING anything. Shrieking does not count as action, despite what people might imagine.
Even now, with all that's happened, we still anticipate the voter turnout (at least for Democrats) will be LESS next year than it was last year. This seems unfathomable, if not criminal. We are the civilian equivalent of the 2021-2 Boston Celtics (it's a Boston/sports thing. Trust me, this isn't a favorable metaphor)--looking to do the minimum possible to make our own lives comfy, surely distracted by emotions and histrionics of the moment, but also still fully prepared to do close-to-nothing about it when it matters, even declare it's hopeless if necessary--just don't make me DO anything. We seem to want to be France in 1939--bent on letting ourselves descend ALL the way into hell before we get serious about it (psychologically, if not also physically--Camus wrote of this, quite eloquently and succinctly). EXACTLY as our leaders want it (well, unless they want an insurrection--then, for sure, they want you). The way out of this is simple: normal people finding the time and priority to freaking VOTE. Vote, dammit--if you don't (I'm not talking about anyone who has unjustly been denied. I'm talking about those who choose not to) vote, I have NO use for you, period. Do that, and I don't care how rigged these GOP fascists make it, they will still lose most of the time--because they can muster 40% of us on their best days. Because we are right (good or bad) because, as Heather noted, MOST OF US DON'T BELIEVE IN THAT CRAP. So, make it right: Vote, vote, VOTE--make it a Top 3 priority in your life...because, yeah, your life MIGHT depend on it--if not now, then surely coming soon. Heather is not exaggerating the stakes.
Robert, your assessment and solution are basically correct with one exception. Your are preaching to the choir. What are you doing to get out the vote? The League of Women Voters perhaps around the country, but certainly in Maine has programs to promote voting and to register voters. One of those programs needs volunteers to go to high schools to speak to students and register them to vote. I joined our local LWV and offered my name as a volunteer to help where they need me. Stacy Abrams is the most well known voter organizer with her hands in a lot of voter registration and get out the vote drives. They need donations and funding. Find them online, send your checks and perhaps volunteer or start your own voter registration and get out the vote organization. Go meet with your local, state and Federal elected representatives in person to register your concerns. If they a re e doing a good job, ask how you can help them advance their work and get reelected. Get some friends together to join you. No doubt waiting until the next election to start working on this is too late. Always has been.
I would like to follow up on my my comment that as a whole, right, left or Independent, Americans are poorly informed about our world. I listened last night to Professor Seth Singleton speak on the topic "Will the West Survive?" on a Zoom program by the Camden Conference, an internationally recognized organization that holds annual conferences in Camden, Maine focused on current topics of significant importance and urgency. This February's conference is "Europe: Challenged at Home and Abroad".
Singleton, has worked a lifetime abroad with agencies all over the world involved in international relations and related education. Singleton gave us a PowerPoint presentation of the course of American, European, Eastern European, Russia/Soviet and China relations from WWII to the present. He pointed out how US management of these relations, particularly with our strong European alliance, have created and preserved security and prosperity for the US and the West compared to human and previous American history where nations were more nationalistic or worked in smaller alliances designed for military aggression. The goals, strategies and personalities of world leaders to preserve peace and improve prosperity were explained in detail that made the importance of informed, internationally curious and capable leaders and diplomats more apparent than anything we hear from our basic education and news media in the US.
Americans need this level of education and information to better understand why our vote, democracy and quality of leadership is so importance.
Singleton described how we have moved from securing our place in the world for the benefit of everyone to giving that place up under Trump, and losing our grip and influence, putting Europe of a track of going their own way without us. And giving China and Russia an open door to fill our vacuum.
He advised that until we resolve our internal authoritarian trend, and form a new international perspective and ideology of human rights, worldwide health and prosperity, and protection of the planet, we will fall back into a weak, isolationist, authoritarian direction that threatens ourselves and the world.
Education for ALL of us is key. Maria Ressa's speech to the Nobel Prize committee is critical to getting factual education out to the citizens who will make the decisions is critical.
It is true that Americans' level of general knowledge is appallingly low, not just because isolationism and authoritarianism, but because science education has been undermined by the more-extreme evangelical Christians, and because the mass media are America-centric and include very little news or information from the world beyond its borders.
To educate our citizens education needs to be more available. Education needs to be free for those who cannot afford it and teachers should be well paid. I remember a smug comment by wealthy businessman it’s probably many of you know. He said something to the effect of “Those who can do, those who can’t, teach”
That comment has been around since I was in college in the 60s. There are many who can do, but can’t teach at all. My first career was as a systems programmer. I was lucky enough to stay home for 12 years with my young children. By the time I was ready to go back to work, several generations of computers had come and gone. I went to grad school to get a teaching license and was a teacher librarian for 22 years. I loved it.
We need to pay teachers better and also show them a lot more respect. When I was in public school in the 50s and 60s, we had high quality teachers, in part because few other careers were open to women. As the career options have opened up to women, the low pay and lack of respect are pushing a lot of women into other career choices.
First I want to thank you. Second both my sisters in law are teachers and I admire them both.
George Bernard Shaw, in "Man and Superman", 1905.
Yes! yes! yes!
("Americans need this level of education and information to better understand why our vote, democracy and quality of leadership is so importance."
Correct. Put YOUR effort (and $) behind those working for what you want. LWV is non-partisan and doing a great education and voter registration effort.
Mostly word of mouth. I'm a writer and slowly building my community involvement (it's hard; complicated and I reside overseas) from afar. I donate money to Vote.org, Rock the Vote, Ballot Ready, and BLM. I'm also a member of Writers for Democracy and am involved with non-political organizations that encourage community involvement, adult education and general activism.
While I would expect this forum to have a notably higher-than-average voter turnout, I would never presume it to be "a choir." I'm met a surprising number of individuals (mostly young, but not all) over the past few years who are intelligent, known issues, are concerned as hell...and for some reason also decide "my vote doesn't matter," or "what's the point?" Really--I had such a discussion just three days ago with someone I consider incredibly conscientious and bright.
And voting is just the most direct thing.
My 42yo son votes but doesn't think it makes a difference. He's ready to let the country fall apart so that it can be rebuilt. We've had many discussions.....
Does your son understand that his strategy is the very definition of Anarchism? I've been to a couple of lectures by Noam Chomsky at MIT over the years, and the simplest way to understand Anarchism is to tear the government down or let it collapse, but only to the last point where it was working effectively for the people, and then immediately rebuild (with any luck, more intelligently) from that point forward. There's a fine interview online he did with Michael Wilson back in 2013 that you and your son might find interesting: https://chomsky.info/20130528/
I'm not willing to have democracy shredded just now, with so much rampant craziness manifesting all over the place. If everything is allowed to fall apart, who does your son think will take steps to control everything?
It is all good + please knock, knock, knock on your neighbors' doors and school doors also, Eh!?
Hear hear!
Will add LWV to my monthly contributions, thank you.
Ditto
When I was living in the US, I stopped voting after the election of Jimmy Carter because I realised that the Electoral College would always make a mockery of the popular vote.
The only election in the world where the winner often doesn’t
It chafes when a writer claims the all pervasive "we". I take firm exception to lumping all Americans into any collective "we". Down through the decades there has been a whole subset in this Country who did not buy into the oligarch driven lobotomizing of America. We didn't fall down the rabbit hole of consumerism, mindless media and fast food. Some of us were called hippies. Some of us were called college professors. And some of us were called radicals. An awful lot of us have been simply going about our lives in quiet opposition to what has been happening concerning the subversive and corrosive damage to mind, soul and body in the USA promoted by an awful lot of politicians and religious leaders. We have been working for holding the line on our Democracy, voting rights and a just plain nation wide sanity. How do we know this to be true? The fact that there is still a Democratic Party, voting rights and a significant victory in the 2020 taking of the White House, Senate and House; not to mention Georgia, in the middle of a raging pandemic with mail in ballots being threatened at every turn so we stood at the polls in the covid fog. All this sure tells me there is a viable contingent of serious Americans in this Country.
"Some of us were called hippies. Some of us were called college professors. And some of us were called radicals."
And some of us freely made the ultimate sacrifice to protect what we Americans enjoy today.
America is:
We The People...
Good
Bad or,
Indifferent.
We are all equal if we ALL vote for what is in the best interest of ALL the people of our America.
My understanding from his post is that he is calling on the "do not rock the boat" mentality, to which so many democrats signed up to. In many ways our 401K plans and retirement portfolios feed into this system, making it "too big to fail".
With respect. I have a hard time with such statements as "to which so many democrats signed up to..." Also. Subscribing to a retirement plan does not negate an interest in Democracy. That is a false equivalence in my mind. I wonder how many of those Democrats with a decent retirement are now able to donate to Democratic Candidates?
Thanks, Barbara. By "so many democrats.." I am referring to the Democratic Party establishment primarily. Indeed, private retirements plans are not anti-democratic, however the way in which they have been set up and structured is the deal breaker. A majority of main stream retirement plans don't give visibility to the companies one in investing, because they are bundled by portfolios towards a style of investment (conservative to aggressive returns). Through our 401K investments we could well be supporting Koch industries in one of our portfolios; or an oil company that could care less about the environment; or a company who gets into a country's politics to its own advantage, etc, etc. While being an investor does not negate Democracy, unintentionally we can be undermining it by financially supporting companies that act against Democracy.
As I recall, an uncomfortable number of people, during the last campaign, answered the question of who they were voting for with: “As long as my stocks are fat and happy, I’m happy.”
Thank you for your response. For me I try not to get stuck in the minutia. Each person has the opportunity to form the best ethical and compassionate life for themselves that they can put together. I just can't label people who shop Walmart as supporting the Walton family, or the people who buy a particular product as contributing to the burning of the Amazon forest. And on and on.
I focus on the big picture. Voting, registering people to vote, getting people to the polls etc.
Besides if someone is concerned about the ethical nature of their portfolio then why not support the campaigns of Stacy Abrams or Beto O'Rourke?
I have always used "we" since I became the member of a professional firm as a college graduate where I wrote letters representing the firm. My boss explained that even if we have differences of opinion or do our job somewhat differently, when we represent the firm, "we" are all working together, not individually. Ever since, I have recognized that wherever I am, I am part of a greater whole, such as "we the people".
As I developed my own firm, I always used "we" in my letters and communications. As I mentored our staff, it frustrated me that younger staff had a hard time getting out of the habit of using "I" in their communications with clients and consultants, and with our staff. Maybe this is old school. And maybe it isn't clear in stating who is most responsible, but I have found that people and businesses who use "I" are less effective in working with others in sharing responsibilities and credit.
The use of we in the context you state is fine. That is part of a rather dry, professional environment uniting for a common business objective. Mr. McTague was lumping everyone in the same despicable pot. I don't believe the use of the collective we works in that case.
Agree. One of the most distressing manifestations of recent years is the obsession with "Me" and My" everything.
I, for one, appreciate Rachel Maddow's show. She is intelligent, articulate, and has the letters behind her name from some pretty powerful institutions to back up her positions. I recognize that it is the opposite of what is churned out on Faux Noise; it is also not even in the same ballpark as what is being done by Carlson and Hannity. TRMS is not news, nor does it claim to be. It is opinion, and there is a metric s-ton of research that goes into the spots she delivers, and she will self-correct when she has misstated something, or gotten the facts wrong.
I agree that comparing Rachel Maddow as equal to Tucker Carlson in insane
Odd fact: Carlson gave Maddow her start. I just hope she more than makes up for him. He's really gone beyond the pale.
He was always so, raised by morons
Followed by Lawrence who also has a show focused on truth.
I love Lawrence. His calm is the antidote to Rachel's more dramatic delivery.
I Trust her on the level of Walter C., she has the chops to do it right. Makes me boil when people compare her (also Hayes and ODonnell) to Rupert’s crew of evil.
Yes, I was taken aback by the reference to Maddow. I also appreciate her for all the reasons you have mentioned. There are times when we can't watch because she is so on point about all that is being discussed in this commentary and also during the death star donny years. It's overwhelming.
For several years, I couldn't watch Rachel, because of her delivery. I'd feel my blood pressure rising as she dramatically spelled out her point and finally revealed it. However, I have come around to watching her program every night, as her point is always valuable. Like Heather, she pulls the threads to reveal motivation and intent, and I've never found her logic or information to be faulty.
Rachel's narrative style puts off some people because it's the opposite of how news is typically delivered. Her approach is to tell a story, a story that takes you somewhere, an information-rich journey with a distinct destination. Along the way, she interprets what's happening and why, provides a wealth of context, and looks ahead to what may be next.
Because of Rachel's distinctive style and the amount of time she devotes to her top story, I come away feeling I better understand the news, including what I've already read about or heard earlier in the day.
I feel the same way, but after the 2016 "election," I was in such a swivvet, I didn't want to be led down a path, unless it was one that ended with TFG's execution. Rachel's style is unique in the industry, and it took some time before I could appreciate her approach. I now love the story in her narrative, and her interpretation is always spot-on.
I haven't either. I admire excellent research and scholarship which is why I like her.
Hope Rachel weaves this into a story ! Voter fraud….in this Trump/DeSantis-loving community.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/12/13/3-residents-of-the-villages-arrested-for-casting-multiple-votes-in-2020-election/
Love this.
Ally, I am a fellow Oregonian. I appreciate your input on Rachel, as I feel the same as you about the fine work she does on each of her shows.
Can’t just preach to the choir here (though I disagree with your assessments). Gotta get off your backside, fat, happy, dumb or otherwise, and work to get out the vote. So I’ll call the question. What are YOU doing to get out the vote? Me? Volunteering with my state representative’s reelection campaign, including being trained to do door to door. In voting season- something I am not at all comfortable doing but understand how important that will be in 2022. Also, sending postcards to voters. Hundreds of them. At my own expense. Then, last October, I invited 16 neighbors to come dit on my deck, have a drink and some appetizers, and reviews short bios of the 13 candidates for our local school board. Four Republicans in the group, by the way. Gratefully, my top three candidates won. But more important I think, was that all of us voted. The takeover of our local school board by Trump style R’s was thwarted.
Your assessment of the media environment contains some difficult truths but this group already understands much of that. Besides, nothing that anyone here can do about that except continue to search for non mainstream sources that tell the truth. The reality that the mainstream media is broken cannot be fixed in time for the 2022 election.
Cynicism is luxury I can’t afford. It is my strongest opinion that none of us can. Action is my solution to my deep fear that we will lose this democracy. I ask you to join me and take action.
Well said. We are either part of the problem or part of the solution.
Excellent. Thank You for this and your important work. It (democracy) all starts at school boards - and PTA's, and back yard barbecues.
Yes, Sheila!
“Cynicism is luxury I [we] can’t afford. It is my strongest opinion that none of us can. Action is my [our] solution to my deep fear…”
💙💙💙
YES!
“Cynicism is the luxury I [we] can’t afford. It is my strongest opinion that none of us can. Action is my [our] solution to my deep fear…”
Thank you, Robert & Sheila & Ashley!
You are also someone who mushes together journalism from a strong practitioner of it, such as Rachel Maddow, with those of far-right propagandists, such as Carlson and Hannity. When I have time, hopefully in the near future, I will this substantiate my argument. Have you read Rachel Maddow's books and reviewed the transcripts of her programs with those on Fox News? Will you factually argue your position?
Fern, First of all, I appreciate your response. Second, I would agree with you on substance (for the most part), particularly Madow--and I personally have no issue with her in the grand scheme of things. However, that is not really germane to my argument. My point is one of intent, positioning by the media itself and then, of course, the response by viewers. Of course Madow is more journalistic, intellectual and factual in her work in programing--because at least a significant portion of her intended audience is among the better educated demographic in America. But it doesn't change the fact that she is STILL 1) a pundit and 2) the point of her program, more than anything, is to gain a following that, whether we want to admit it or not, is still HIGHLY based on emotion, charging/solidifying opinion, "fighting the other" and so on. That's not all of it, but it's the biggest part. She is largely in what I call the "viewer satisfaction," category--or as that ersatz philosopher Ron Burgundy once said, "We gotta stop giving people the news they need, and give them the news they WANT." She applies there too--she just does it with more journalistic integrity. Her entire program was created as an alternative/answer, for left-minded people after the onset of Rush and the Fox Fools. I don't blame MSNBC, her, or followers of her program for feeling that way either. But, it is what it is.
And let me be clear--yes, I intentionally couched most of what I wrote as "we." I refuse to accept people saying things like "not my president." That's bull (I said it three years ago to friends of mine who were actual supporters of Hillary Clinton. I said it 25 years ago to colleagues who took down President Clinton's picture from the chain of command photos in Army offices). Moreover, I will say what too many don't want to hear or acknowledge: we got Donald Trump because we--as a whole nation--deserved it. And until we, as a whole people, decide to DESERVE better, we will continue to get crap. That includes me--I'm no less to blame--and yes, I'm working to DESERVE better.
I'm quite tired of "us and them" and hearing every reason in the world why it's someone else's fault for everything. No, it's ALL of our faults. Sure, there are a few satanic, panicked stallions out there who will run right over the cliff no matter what we do--I won't stop them. And some who will oppose EVERY good faith effort to make things better--they, I will oppose with all of my means. I pity those people though, not hate...and I pity that if they try to overthrow our country again, I'll gladly go back on active duty and put them down like a pestilence. It should NEVER have to come to that, but if it does no, I'll fight it till my dying breath.
But I will also spend the rest of my life going back and thinking hard about how we ALL went wrong and let it get this way. How we ignored places like the rust belt and Appalachia to the point that a state that voted predominantly Dem for decades (West Virginia) became one of hardest hearts of Trump territory--things like THAT should make us all pause. It bothers me a lot, and I'll be damned if I'm going to blame it all on Fox Media, Steve O'Bannon and Donald Trump (Oh, they all played a huge role, and I can't wait to see most of them in jail, but they're just part of way bigger problem).
This is a busy day for me, so I have no time today to provide you with a proper response. Do you have a name for your beliefs? I am asking a couple questions, so I might identify whether your lecture like response to me is connected to any organization or following. Otherwise, I will recognize that you are expressing your personal beliefs independent of any affiliation. You will hear from me in a day or two. Thank you for your response and patience.
Voting is the citizens’ right and responsibility in a democracy. The turnouts have been atrocious for a long time and need to be emphasized, especially because there will be important primaries this year. Secretary of State offices keep those figures. Look up your state!
Given that Republicans already are working on a plan to replace anyone who has anything to do with elections at ALL levels of government, including Secretaries of State, w/ Trumpers, that may well tip the scales.
Georgia has removed our Secretary of State from overseeing elections, probably because Brad Raffensperger refused to cave in to Trump's request to "find the votes" to make him the victor. Raffensperger's motivation in bucking TFG were questionable, but he did the right thing at the time. Now, county election boards in liberal areas are being replaced so that partisan legislators can nullify the votes and declare the candidates of their choice winners.
With the Electoral College able to reverse the outcome of the popular vote, it may take more than just voting to save American democracy.
Good point. Here in my blue state we vote for the electors. I don’t know if it’s like that in every state, especially now with rampant repub cheating, but it takes some thought and research. Most just skip it I bet.
I think that you are wrong to throw the ‘Rachel Maddows’ in the same lot with the ‘Hannitys and Limbaughs’, within the context of current discussion. As viewers, we are challenged to form our own opinions from what we hear or read or watch. Those on the media right are espousing opinions based on unsubstantiated claims or outright nonsense, whereas those on the media left are most often taking off from a platform of knowns. I am in agreement on your comments about voting. In defense of what to some seems indefensible, i.e. the lack of engagement on the part of voters…I find it to be an arguable point that people inherently want to trust. When that trust is eroded or broken, many become disillusioned, some fully disengage. The challenge is to find a way to bring people back to caring.
Thus caring:
Here we all are.
Let's get it done,
Now. Eh!?
"the REAL culprit is We The People"
Yes, correct.
Who exactly is we the people?
Me. You. Jim Bob. Roy Pack. Javier. Julio. Moses.
Just to name a few.
Remember. I voted for Reagan twice.
Feel free to shoulder your share of the blame, but not everyone should be included.
I don’t often hear a Democrat calling out Rachel Maddow, but I have always felt that the spoon-feeding of partisan opinion, if it is to exist at all, should stay with the right-wing propaganda machine and not be mimicked by the left. I’ve heard all the rationale about how we need to counter Faux news, but it diminishes us to resort to such “journalism.”
(spoonfeeding) "should stay with the right-wing propaganda machine and not be mimicked by the left"
I might have agreed in 1999. But, now, seeing how truly, spectacularly successful Fox + AM radio + direct TV is at turning its viewers into drones for Trump, a fascist?
I think that whomever controls the levers of the propaganda machine wins. That is one reason I think that the probability of the US becoming Fascist is greater than 0.5.
The "left" has been asleep at the wheel while the right has taken over ever lever of propaganda from AM radio, TV, direct TV, you name it. I drove from PA to western NY listening to AM radio and EVERY town has an AM propaganda station saying that Trump won the election all day every day.
The left will lose if they/we don't get with the program.
But, honestly, it may be, in fact likely is, too late.
Goebbels completely understood this:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
Oh, I forgot. The right wing has also taken over youtube and reached out to our youth.
My own son came home with some story he got from youtube after a friend forwarded it to him that was pure right wing propaganda.
My....own.....son was starting to be swayed, in fact, probably was.
Tell your son that "Birds Aren't Real". Tell him to look it up.
I just did that; pretty scary. Reeks of Zimbardo.
If you dig deep into what Peter McIndoe started, you may see that he is simply "fighting lunacy with lunacy". The next time someone tries to tell you a conspiracy about vaccines or that masks don't work or that the virus isn't really that bad...just tell them that "Birds Aren't Real." An alternate approach could be: "Do you have a few minutes to hear about the Flying Spaghetti Monster?"
Will do. Thanks for the pointer.
I don’t understand the call out of Rachel Maddow. Placing her in the same basket with Hannity et al? No. These days, the truth appears partisan.
You're right, Kathy. Putting Maddow, with a Doctorate of Philosophy in Politics from Oxford with Hannity, a college drop out carnival barker is ludicrous!
I certainly don’t intend to question Maddow’s credentials, but I find her delivery, her outrage, her indignance, all serve to stoke the polarization we’re experiencing among our citizens. Just because the right-wing people do this does that make it advisable? Do we need angry, indignant editorializing on the left? I guess lots of people must think so because she’s so popular, but I prefer my news delivered in a more dispassionate fashion.
We must factor in how utterly outrageous the stories there for the telling have been these past years. To me, it has been the equivalent of the Nixon Watergate break-in’s repeated on a daily basis. The sheer volume and audacity of the daily assault on democracy has worked against any hope of academic delivery. TRMS tells the daily democracy horror stories. Yes it is hard not to sound or feel impassioned about that which may be at risk. I stand by her show even as I admit that I am moved by her indignation. However, in my mind, she will never be the opposite side of the same coin as Tucker, etc. Perhaps sometimes the truth requires passion.
Perhaps we do need to be angry and indignant. I am angry and indignant! Although I myself wouldn’t characterize Maddow like that. I see her as sharp as a tack, great research, and a good interviewer. However, I don’t watch very often. I prefer to read my news.
Karen, you're right about delivery, I think. I'm not a fan of vein popping outrage from media personalities either. I am not a huge fan of commentary so I don't spend much time consuming it. I prefer news.
Well, I'm actually an independent voter, who has voted (almost--excepting Charlie Baker) straight Dem for the last two elections. I have an old (and brilliant) high school friend who works in data analysis for Dem pollsters. A year ago, he issued a stark warning: that the language/rhetoric he was seeing on the Far Left was much the same as what/where the Far Right had been using only four years earlier--and trending worse. A movement's virtues are also its vices (not my line). I am politically much like Camus:"no one's enemy," but I AM the enemy of oppression, unjustified violence and intentional injustice; and therefore, necessarily, to those who makes themselves slave to those horrors. David Brooks, whom I still admire, wrote very pointedly about the fall of the GOP in the Atlantic this week; Heather has written in the past about those moderate Democrats who sided with the North in days before the civil war--anyone who is NOT openly against us, is FOR us--that should be our thinking. Values and some sort of moral/ethical compass guide my comments more than politics.
Both-side-ism and protestations of independence can seem like eminently reasonable positions, but when the moral battle lines between those who would destroy democracy and those who seek to save it are as clearly drawn as they are today, such sentiments ring very hollow indeed.
Exactly
Please be specific, which people and or groups was your 'brilliant' high school friend in data analysis for Democratic pollster referring to? Which firm does he work for? What is the language/rhetoric from far-right and far-left was he referring to. When strong accusations such as yours are put forward, it makes sense to look at the source/evidence from which it comes. Thank you.
Thank you, Fern. It is just as inaccurate to equate Liz Cheney and Lauren Boebert (two Republicans) as it is to equate Rachel Maddow and Joe Manchin (two Democrats). People on the ideological far ends of political positions are not in the same mind-set as those who are willing to put forward cogent arguments supported by responsible data.
Thank you, Melinda. I don't know that Maddow is a member of any party. I believe that she has stated that she has no affiliation with any political party.
One more point for now, while you haven't spelled out your claim, are you comparing publicly dispensed reports of equal strong or weak organizations. A small, fringe group would not be comparable to Fox News and the stream of propaganda from Facebook/Meta.
Must be the “left” that Bill Maher skewers regularly. They seem to be elite celeb types. I know of no such creature. This old, retired counselor noticed long ago that Dems seem to follow the Golden rule more than republicans. That and Samuel Gompers guided me.
I find David Brooks to be a sophisticated pundit, borderline elitist. His demeanor and intelligence can suck you in, but at days end leaves me with an empty feeling. But then, I am not one to view the NYT or the Atlantic as ‘prints of record’
I used to like David Brooks but after I heard him say that there should not be accountability for the Jan 6 insurrectionists and that I would need to get along with Josh Hawley, I changed my mind.
Yes.
I should have voted for Baker.
If your cable provider carries BBC, they give a less partisan presentation of American politics.
Love them
It was on this very issue that Obama “lost” me. After campaigning that he would preserve our privacy, he immediately caved after being elected because “it seemed to have national security benefits”. Total BS.
He had to deal with the tea party haters, I forgive him about everything. Just shocked that he wasn’t killed, the hatred was palpable in rural Texas
I'll take your analysis one step further back. The die was cast when education at all levels was sacrificed to budget cutters. We have raised a generation of people who are fundamentally ignorant of how governments work and what is required of citizens. The result? A population who thinks their obligations start and end in the 24 hours of election day. A population that is willing to turn over the hard work of understanding policy and forming an opinion to whoever yells the loudest. Why think? There's someone who's willing to do that for you, at the small price of your freedom. Besides, The Apprentice is on tonight.
In the short run, we have to pass election reform so our government is even slightly representative of popular opinion. In the long run, we have to reform education and create a country of citizens instead of sheep.
Do you remember when Civics was taught in high school? I do. I graduated from high school in1962, back when we still had a democracy. When I was in high school, one needed 70 to pass a course and 93 to score an A. Not long after those years in the 60s, many schools lowered scores necessary to pass, e.g., 60 or 65 could let you slide through high school, and to get an A, one only would need to score a 90. "Make it easy on these kids. Life it tough enough to force them to pass with higher standards," so-called educators and school boards would cry. Is it any wonder why this country seems to be going to Hell?
This thinking is exactly what made me sign up to send postcards and letters through those grass movement channels. Years ago, I got recruited to work on a school referendum, having been identified as one of the "movers and shakers" among the school parents. (I am still amazed at this as I didn't say much, I'd just SHOW UP to stuff) It was educational for me to watch how the school board members strategized based on data of voters. Think your local schoolboard is just now becoming political? Think again. At least for that, they were trying to save programs in our school.
I don't wish to be pushed out of my comfort zone again, I can hear readers gnashing their teeth, but I don't like making calls for elections, didn't like standing in the cold outside polling places, etc. What I CAN do, from the comfort of my home, is write those letters and postcards. Perhaps I am idealistic, but I do like to think that they make a difference. I would suggest that anyone who is able to do that much, yeah, even if it is only 10 postcards, sign up now to do it. I don't have the information handy on where/how to sign up, but perhaps one of Heather's "movers and shakers" commenters will do so.
postcardstovoters.org
turnoutpac.org
fieldteam6.org
Hello Ruth:
I was born a dreamer. I think in images, not words.
I have been an Architect for over 60 years & still going strong!
All this is my excuse for not being able to master wordsmithing into persuasive appeals.
So Ruth can/would you care to direct me to resources that would help me develop effective original appeals I could utilize to urge Americans to vote?
Thank you Ruth for your consideration.
George
A college writing text that covers writing for argument or persuasion can help you develop your writing skills, e.g. "Writing Worth Reading: The Critical Process" by Packer & Timpane, or "From Inquiry to Argument" by Linda McMeniman. Finding or starting a writing group that will critique your work in a supportive and constructive manner is the best way I've found, both as a writer and as a teacher, to improve the work.
WOW! Ruth, thank you!!!
Excellent recommendations that I would never be able to confidently discover any of them without your expertise and kind consideration.
Ruth Brinton will be forever at the top of my electronic composition file, even though it is otherwise in alphabetical order!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all of your loved ones now and forevermore ... and even longer!
Sincerely,
GEORGE EDWARD DOBB JR.
George, when you sign on to those websites, they give you excellent examples.
Thank you, Ruth!
And thank YOU, Miselle! Your efforts make a difference! 💙
I hope you read the comments here, Robert. You may find the differences some of us have with you and the information offered a means to greater understanding.
Robert, putting Rachel Maddow in the same sentence as Limbaugh and Hannity is disconcerting to me. When you say that she tells us what to think, I feel that you are pain wrong. I listened to her when she was on Air America. I found her to be an authority, but I like to feel that I can think for myself. I respect those like Heather, John Meacham, Michael Beshloff, and other scholars who present fact. It does not mean that I agree with everything they say. You shared your feeling, but did some people agree. So, in a way, you are telling us to believe you. Rachel does not tell us that we have to accept everything she presents. She has a large staff who go out and research the facts she presents. I have appreciated the work that she does and feel that it is disingenuous to lump her in a despicable group. You are quite free to disagree with her statements, but please do not tell me that she controls my think.
Thank you for pointing out how little privacy we have. I do laugh when I hear people complain about losing their privacy because they already have.
Hear, here!