The Media Does Matter

EricByler | Eric Byler 2011 election day diary plus: Republican overreach, or both parties reaching for the wrong thing? | Coffee Party:

"... Republicans and Democrats are mesmerized by the media, and they need to wake up to the America that exists outside the television box. Politics and entertainment have been deliberately fused into a never-ending reality TV show that has more to do with professional wrestling than it does with good government. During the past 3 years, political leaders have been staking out policy positions based on how consumers of these warped and ugly media products express themselves, often as cast members in the very same shows that they consume.

For shorthand, I'll call it "1% media" because the political content and the resulting disengagement and alienation that these media products produce directly serve the interests of the 1% as defined by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The bubble had to break some time. And, in fact, I think that #OWS had something to do with it. They proved that there is another compelling narrative, and given a choice, more people began thinking for themselves. If there are two choices, that means there is more than one. That means we can have some agency in forming our own opinions. That means a lot."