Missing the point

I apologize up front, but I’m gonna rant.

I’m in complete media fatigue. When I dial up NPR this morning during my commute to the office, I rolled my eyes when Morning Edition started off with ”The New Conservative Congress”. This is probably the five-hundredth time since election night NPR ran this piece. I’m not bitter that conservatives won, heck, I’m a Republican and that’s just dandy. I’m tired of the media beating the shit out of a dead horse.

It kind of like when you go to a friends house in February and their Christmas tree is still up.

For some reason, I naively thought that after Tuesday night, the media would back off and I’d be able to listen to some other news besides what John Boehner had for lunch. Yes, I know he’s got a uphill battle rounding up newely elected Tea Party Canidates and yes, I know he loves golf, but why do I have to hear about it from every view point known to man. It’s tiring.

Yeah, that's why the Administration as been the most gun friendly in the past 50 years. Don't worry, NRA will say otherwise.

I wanted to start with that so I can segue into my other topic; people c0mpletely missing the point in rational statements, then taking what they believe they heard as gospel. For instance, some of you reading this probably think I’m tired of hearing about the Republicans victory because you think I’m some kind of libruul. If you thought that, you’re missing the point. I’m tired of the media coverage drowning out all other news, not the election itself. Did you know there’s a hurricane hitting Haiti today?

(Ok, rant mode)

That kind of deafness to actually understanding the subject matter was all over the fucking place during this election. Facts were replaced with impassioned rhetoric, policy was replaced with quippy catch phrases and buzz words, outright lies replaced fact checking, and independent research of the issues was replaced with commercials with bullet points. Both sides of the political spectrum and special interests are to blame for this, but most of all, I blame the voter.

“Well Hannity said Obama is ruining America, so Obama must be ruining America. “

“Obama hasn’t done ANYTHING since getting into office.”

“So-and-so votes with Nancy Polosi 4000% of the time and personally licks the shit off her ass when she poops.”

“Death  Panels.”

“I’m not saying the Census is bad, but the Nazi’s has a census to find all the Jews before the Blitzkrieg”

I thought she was hotter when she was on "House".

“Aqua Buddha”

“John Boehner will ruin Amercia and re-institute all the regulations that will cause another financial meltdown”

You see how far-fetched these claims are? Believe actually believed this shit! People out there actually thought that Rand Paul considers himself the Aqua Buddha and therefore, is unfit for office.  A whole lot of people believed that Obama would institute a “death panel” to kill your grandma.

Many people ate that shit up and voted based off that. Yes, they did.

Item 1: People Abdacating personal responsibility to independently learn about the issues and/or candidates by taking the cues of pundits and/or the media.

This isn’t what kills me, what grinds my gears is the over-the-top ridicule one gets when trying to dispel rumors with facts. Did so -and-so vote 4000% of the time with Nancy Pelosi? Probably not because Pelosi can’t vote because she’s speaker of the house. I know that’s a moot point, but it shows a major fallacy in the argument without getting too far into it. I’m sure many of those votes are procedural votes such as naming of post offices, flag christenings, procedural votes, and other mundane things. My old Ohio district’s congressman is Tim Ryan, he voted for Health Care reform. He voted for health care reform because he publicly stated that he has a overwhelming proportion of constituents in his districts that go without health care or are unable to have access to health care. To him, this bill was good for his district and the citizens he represents. What he didn’t do was vote for healthcare reform because Pelosi told him to. I don’t know how many times I would look up my local paper online and see comments from people saying such ignorant statements that Tim Ryan is in bed with Nancy Pelosi, Tim Ryan is Pork as usual, A “DEMOCROOK”, Doesn’t tell the “people who HIRED HIM” what he’s doing. Ryan had to cancel a town hall meeting last summer due to death threats to him and his family. He was called a “Nancy” and told to “Grow some Balls” in the local media.

I didn’t vote for Tim Ryan when I lived in Ohio, I didn’t like him. But now that I live outside NE Ohio I have a outside looking in point of view and I see that he really works hard to the valley.  I’d still probably not vote for him, but I will defend him when he’s met with completely made up allegations. I’d do that with any representative in whatever district I live in. It’s simple, get to the facts and do you’re own research, don’t be part of the buzz word brigade.

“Waa! My congressman never tells me what he’s doing!” Did you try looking online on his website for that info? I’m pretty sure he has a facebook page and/or Twitter feed as well.

Item 2: Using buzz words when they don’t know what the word means.

I live near ground zero HURR and DURR. I work just off K street in DC and right around the White House. I see WHARRGARBLE on a daily basis. I’ve seen Posters of Obama as Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao. On tax day 2010, I walked out to Freedom Park to check out the tea party protests and saw reinactments of Obama killing grandma and posters calling NBC,CBS,ABC,CNN,NPR and MSNBC as PRAVDA. At the time I didn’t know what Pravda was so I asked. The protester didn’t know either. It wasn’t until I got in front of a computer to look up Pravda and read that it was the name of the state ran media during Soviet Russia.

Ok, who made this sign for this guy? Was it some libruul plant? Probably not. I saw a lot of signs that said the same thing, so adding two and two together I went to the Tea Party Express website and TA-DA, right there.

It’s perfectly fine to believe one news bureau has a bias on certain subjects than others. What isn’t fine is to lump all media that doesn’t fit into your distorted point of view and label is as state ran media. It’s not rational or even remotely logical.

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Without turning this into a thesis, I just wanted to illustrate that I believed there was a WHOLE LOT of this going on this election cycle, and because of that real messages along with facts and numbers were completely drowned out. I had a facebook friend tell me that political ads are the “resume for the candidate because there’s no other way to find out about his personality”. Two things 1.) WHAT!?! and 2.) Personality? What about the issues, voting record, stance on hot button issues, or what they’ll bring to the table if and when they’re elected? You’re using political ads as a “resume” for your basis as to which candidate gets your vote? What the hell is wrong with you?

I’m sure I’d be called a libruul sympathizer for even bringing up that political ads are the worst source of information for choosing which candidate you want in office.

But life goes on. My candidate stayed in office because he does a good job for the district and is a brilliantly smart man with an eye for details, not because he’s a democrat.

Let me leave you with the most over-the-top political ad I can think of. It’s so bad it’s funny. It was a political ad from Paul R. Nelson back in 2006 against congressional incumbant Ron Kind. Wait for the end, this “Paul R. Nelson” has the funniest voice in the world. Enjoy!