Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Why The 24 Hour News Networks Make Americans Dumb

Those of you who read the Ragin' Man regularly can probably tell that he takes in a lot more news than the average person he comes into contact with. You can also tell that he rages against all things big and small. Some of the biggest targets for the Ragin' Man's ire are the 24 hour news networks. They are making Americans stupider daily.

You're probably thinking "Well Ragin' Man, how can a 24 hour news network make Americans more ridiculously uninformed than they already are?" I'm glad you asked... you.

Recently Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) released what has become the Republican budget proposal for 2012. Without getting into my feelings on the matter it seeks to simplify the tax system, lower taxes on the top earners, "save" Medicare and Medicaid by changing the way their benefits are paid out and at what time one becomes eligible, and it claims to be able to balance the budget by 2040.

Shortly after the budget was released President Obama (D-Kenya) outlined his own budget proposal which sought to do roughly the same without the tax cuts for top earners and significant cuts to Medicare or Medicaid. The President actually proposed raising taxes on the top earners to the rates under President Clinton. President Obama's bill claims to balance the budget by 2017.

There have been competing Republican plans submitted by sitting Senators and others tangentially connected to the party. The news media has focused on the political ramifications of the competing claims between Ryan and Obama almost exclusively. The two parties have used their own outlets and media blitzes to push their competing views on the nobility of their positions, often with false information. Why are these things so effective? It's because the 24 hour news outlets are instead focusing on the potential political ramifications of these stories and then following up by focusing on polling data to prove themselves right or wrong.

It is all part of a larger trend where Americans care less and less about policy and more about the parties they "root" for. Much like football teams, we Americans have bought into the narrative each party has built for themselves and choose to embrace that party, rather than vote for representatives who are qualified and have made good choices in the past. We trust each party on certain issues that they are "good" at.

The more media savvy of the two parties, the Republicans, played the system perfectly in the last political cycle when it came to the Affordable Healthcare Act. All summer long the American public was subjected to Town Halls in which regular Americans were enraged by any amount of horrible things in "Obamacare." The Ragin' Man will admit probably the funniest exchange during this time happened on a motorcycle trip through Mississippi during which several veterans were discussing their hatred for the bill over lunch and they decried "socialism" and how it was going to take away their benefits from the government run Veterans Administration. Second funniest moment goes to a girl in Massachusetts who told a gay Jew that he and a black guy were somehow knowingly instituting a policy of Hitler's, much to the chagrin of the right wing media.

This was all used to portray the Democrats as somehow "out of touch" with the American people. CNN ran no less than one poll story a week detailing the declining support for the plan that hadn't even been finalized or totally spelled out. It was brilliant. Meanwhile the Republicans demagogued the Democrats because, as Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said “The American people have said overwhelmingly that they want this bill repealed,” and the Republicans were "going to listen." This was all true, even though several studies showed that the individual provisions of the bill were popular. Successful labeling, a 24 hour news cycle of town hall protests, and a constant parade of polling data showing a downward trend led America to sour on the plan. The plan eventually passed, but it was severely watered down with no public option and all kinds of opt out options from the mandatory coverage. For the record the public option and mandatory coverage were the things that served to drive down price the most, but the Democrats were already eying their dying reelection prospects.

Now the Republicans stand in the opposite position, and they're being beaten at their own game. Polling shows Americans don't like Ryan's plan. No doubt old people will be giving testimonials about how Medicaid under it's current format is what is keeping them alive. What do they actually know about Paul Ryan's plan? Probably very little, and they're most likely not going to know much more than whether they like the plan or not.

What does that mean we should all run out and do? The Ragin' Man has no idea. He just rages on surrounded by idiots who think they're watching news.

_______________________UPDATE__________________________________
I wrote this blog and went to bed. While in bed I was flipping channels and saw this.



The Democrats are doing to Paul Ryan over the budget what was done to them during the healthcare debate.

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