It's Not Contradictory

We have now said two things that may appear to be contradictory. We have said both that the Old Media consistently fails to predict accurate results of voter behavior and that they control voter's behavior. If you read TheRedKap's previous posts you should be able to discern the elements of what is being said that make these two arguments consistent. For those who may miss it, the Old Media is doing both. There is a groupthink among political pundits because they all ride around in the campain busses with the candidates and they all go back to D.C. or New York together so their perspectives are altered by the social dynamics of their little click. They are also lazy, selfish, and stupid just like any other human so they only want to wright about a limited feild of candidates. I don't know to what extent personal preference enters into it but after the run-up to the war in Iraq, I refuse to assume there is such a thing as journalistic integrity. This is the control aspect of what the media does. They limit the field of candidates based not on quality or support but on unrelated social factors from within their profession, and their own lazyness. After this decision has been made for the people by the media it affects peoples perceptions and those who like a "third party" candidate or a "fringe" candidate vote for someone the media tells them is a mainstream candidate so they don't "throw their vote away." This alteration is not about substance, its simple social manipulation that any social primate, down to the colobus monkey, could see through. Thats right I called you a monkey.

This time around you had three candidates getting free publicity by this time last year so it was almost unthinkable for anyone else who might run for president to wait till the traditional start of the presidential race. After all the early announcements the states decided to get in on the action and push the primary race earlier than ever before. I think an anomaly in diversity of candidates this year has caused a permanint change in the election system, the full effects of which are yet to be seen. But, I digress.

It is no suprise that given the criteria used by the Old Media to determine the content of election coverage are not in line with the thoughts of the average voter. Thankfully we have the intertubes as a communication tool where candidates can bypass the media filter of lazyness and ignorant preferance and speak to us directly. Or even better, citizens of a democracy can speak to each other about their options for presidential candidate. It gives me hope for our country when I see a maniac like Huckabee win a primary when the media had written him off.

To draw the distinction more clearly: the Old Media does manipulate their reporting and consequently the election but thanks to the internet, involved citizens can educate themselves and override the marching orders handed down to them by the groupthink overlords.