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ARTICLES:
THE STANDARD LINE ON
THE ECONOMY
PRESS COVERAGE OF
LEAKS AND WIRETAPS
TERRORIST AIR TIME
media irresponsibility
ON DEFINING THE WAR?
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
IN THE WAR ON TERROR
bio weapons labs:
DEMONIZING THE MEDIA
WMD
History Rewrite
Dancing on the Edge
Misconstruing the
Constitution
FISA AND WIRETAP
SECRECY
MORE ON THE WIRETAP
ISSUE
THE DEMOCRATS AND
HARRY TAYLOR
FIXING THE ENGINE
THE BUSH ADMIN'
ENVIRONMENTAL
RECORD, AND MORE
THE CURRENT
ADMINISTRATION
OBSESSION WITH
SECRECY
THE 2004 ELECTION
INTERNET LIMITATIONS
STARTLING REVELATIONS
ON 9/11 INTELLIGENCE
Bigfoto
(for providing
background pattern). |
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The Bigger Picture
This article,
posted yesterday on the
Daily Kos, applied
Mahatma G's comment, "First
they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then
you win," to the Internet, to progressives, and to the
cause of the religious far right to impose its beliefs firmly into
our government structure.
In the case of
progressives, it is misapplied.
Whatever this term means, its foundation as part of the democratic
party has long been present. Whatever marginalization has occurred
is not a result of being new to the scene, but an inability to both
recognize and effectively communicate to a majority of America,
the messages and information that need to be conveyed. To
simplify into even broader categories, republicans show, democrats
tell or conclude. Republicans sell, democrats argue.
(Including with me, when I make these suggestions to them.)
And democrats think that everybody knows what they know. Some
examples are found
here,
here, and
here.
Regarding the Internet, in this regard it is also misapplied. The
flow of information in, the enthusiasm for, and the
effects of the Internet, are being sadly mistaken for a decrease in
the importance of what is the heart of the problem in America today;
everybody's newest favorite villain:
The media. But the
reality is, ultimately, the media matters, more than anything else:
It is an immutable law of the physics of knowledge and society:
A democracy is only as strong
as the quality of its mainstream information.
It always has been, and always will
be. Voters act upon the information that they get, and the
foundation for that information is the mainstream media. Blogging,
for example, serves as a supplement, and a reinforcement, and
sometimes an influence upon that mainstream media. But as the
Internet becomes ever more popular, the mainstream media will merely
incorporate its resources further, as it has already begun to do and
should do.
On the other hand, in the case of the
religious far right, the author makes some
good points.
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