Sorry for the politics, but I'm annoyed. The commie left and the fascist right are both reporting like they're covering Jerry Springer specials. I'm concerned that the media is creating a powder keg of fear and paranoia on both sides of the aisle, and that we're going to end up in either a civil war in the worst case scenario, or "just" more homegrown terrorists blowing up whatever whenever*.
Extremist fanatical rhetoric, the glamorizing of the nuts on both sides by the media is making people scared of "the other side." It's got to stop. The media needs to go back to being boring and stop trying to make politics popular by turning it into a reality TV show, complete with all the drama that comes from dysfunctional human beings.
There is no radical Center, so we don't get the press, but damnit, most people in America are not liberal atheists or fundamentalist Christian conservative evangelicals. Most people are nominal Christians who go to church on Easter and maybe Christmas, try to keep up with the Jones's, and take their kids to soccer practice while gossiping about the local school moms and dads. They want good jobs that pay well, affordable health care, and a way to get out and have fun on the weekends. They might think we occultniks are weird, but as long as we aren't stealing babies or sacrificing their family pets, they don't really notice us much.
Fuck you Fox and MSNBC. Fuck you Hannity, and Olbermann. Go away.
*And don't tell me the liberals don't go forming militias when they feel all radical, it wasn't that long ago that the Weather Underground were bombing the police. How different are they from the Christian Militia that wanted to start a war by assassinating police at a police officer's funeral?
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Mmm... tagging the Weather Underground with the term "liberal" is exactly what the radical right wants people to do. They were not "liberals." They expressed contempt for liberals. The Weather Underground was a group of radical Marxists. That doesn't actually equate with "liberal." Liberals aren't now, and weren't then, blowing up police stations or robbing banks, and the WU certainly didn't go around calling themselves "liberals." While they were violent criminals and morally bankrupt, they were a lot more honest than those groups running around today calling themselves "conservatives."
ReplyDeleteSL, Marxists aren't the radical left? Liberals what, "aren't that bad?" It started with no nukes, moved on to saving whales, and now they want world peace and equitable society! How far are we going to let this shit go, man?
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. :D
But the point of the post wasn't the weather underground or liberals or whatever. The point is that the media is drumming up extremists. How many stressed out unemployed people really need to be hearing as much as we do about the media-driven farce that is the "Tea Party?" I mean, before they started getting mentioned on every damned broadcast, they were gatherings of a dozen to maybe a couple hundred. Now they've been hyped as the next OKC bombers, and everyone's trying to get in on it. There's a liberal here in MD who dresses up like a monk and carries signs that say "God hates taxes" at the tea parties. It's madness dude. Liberals are swelling the ranks of the Tea Partiers trying to make them look stupid on purpose, and the best they can come up with is a monk with "God hates Taxes?"
I just don't think now's a really good time to be feeding the flames of political dissent. Lots of people with no jobs or much of a future haven't got a lot to lose, and they're sitting around getting scared watching the media overhype bullshit. It's a bad combination.
Washington needs to head for the Center, the Media needs to cut the "opinion news" broadcasts, and people need to go back to being bored with politics. The general population can't handle social awareness, it makes their trigger fingers twitchy.