Bush's Media Machine

The ever-present worship of the Bush Administration in the media is a new topic on this website or any other. A stellar NY Times article this weekend is essential reading for anyone curious about the Administration's obvious and deliberate manipulation of the American public through the media. I think the article does a fine job of explaining things, so I won't make you sit through my lackluster reiteration.

The most aggravating thing about an article like this is it shows what stupid, thoughtless shits we Americans can be. The rest of the world doesn't hate us because our foreign policy is like incredibly bad parenting. Although sometimes, I feel like I'm watching one of the nanny reality shows when I read about our foreign policy. The Bush administration is like the incredibly horrible parents that you see every week on those shows, that makes you say, with my or whenever I have kids, I would never do that. What are these people, NASCAR fans?

What makes the whole thing terribly sad is not the fact that the Bush Administration has figured out how to use the media to their benefit. When it comes right down to it, they are lying, which I've been told is wrong, but the sickest part is how much of their recycled donkey shit we eat up like Mongolian BBQ. I actually think the Bush Administration, in all their ineptitude, is doing something quite well, even if it involves lying and creating the news.

Anytime I hear people complains about the media, violence on TV, the quality of the news, or anything along that thread, it pisses me off. The media doesn't just pick things out of a hat to present to us. The media is a reflection of what they know we will watch, and what will keep us tuned in and coming back for more. It's not the media's fault that you can't use the high school education that we all chipped in on to figure out that an Iraqi guy who works at a taco stand in Cleveland is probably not a direct reflection of the sentiment of the Iraqi people.

How much thought does it take to actually figure out that our efforts to thwart terrorism have been myopically focused on airline security, and have completely ignored our borders, funding first-responders, power plants, our water supply, ports, ferry boats, small aircraft, availability of weapons and bomb materials to terrorists, and many other potential risks?

People have accused me of hating our country, because I don't jerk off to a picture of John Ashcroft wrapped in an American flag. I would like to reiterate that I don't hate our country. I sincerely appreciate the ability to write on this blog without being arrested and the availability of sports and plasma televisions. What would make me even prouder, is if Americans weren't so dense that they believed everything they see on the news, read in the paper or on some midget's blog. What does this say about our ability to analyze facts and think critically about issues that have a significant impact in our lives?

As I write this, people are spending hours and millions of dollars analyzing the recently-released brackets for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, but they still voted for a guy who says he's pro-life but has launched a war where thousands or innocent people were killed and has done nothing, thankfully, to affect the availability of abortion, something he has the "political capital" to change. If anyone has an explanation, aside from the fact that our President is a liar and master manipulator, I would love to discuss it. Until then, I've got Kansas going all the way. Go Jayhawks.