Friday, November 18, 2005
Talking to Myself
The administration's pushback on Iraq seems feeble and stupid to those of us who are intimately familiar with the history of spin, misdirection, and outright lying involved in the decision to go to war and the ongoing defense of that war. But I wonder how feeble it seems to Mr. and Mrs. America, who have jobs and kids and lives and, most importantly, lack the kind of time we political geeks have to keep track of the spin, misdirection, and outright lying.
It's true that the media, especially the cable channels, are being tougher on the administration than ever before, and occasionally even calling bullshit on the bullshit. But at the same time, their tendency to oversimplify must pull on them mighty hard. Just read Josh Marshall's explanation of why so many of the Repugs' talking points are so silly. It provides an overarching framework for evaluating those talking points--but how would it be translated into TV terms? Not easily, I don't think. Could it be done without simplifying to the point at which the simplicity becomes its own distortion? I don't know. All day today MSNBC's been headlining the controversy "War of Words." But doesn't that give the subconscious appearance, at least, of turning the controversy into another case of he-said/she-said, like everything else that comes out of Washington? If so, that perception devalues what's happening now, from the exponentially worsening blizzard of lies that it is, down to the kind of Beltway brouhaha that parents of two in West Overshoe don't think they have time to worry about.
But then again--He Who Must Not Be Named is down to something like 34 percent approval, so clearly, what's happening is getting through to some of the citizens of West Overshoe. And just yesterday, I adamantly insisted that good citizens of a democracy can tell the difference between truth, lies, analysis, and spin. So let's not be impatient. It's taken a year to get this far. In just the past two weeks, thanks to the administration's political weakness, we've stopped the oil drilling in ANWR and slowed the budget-cutting train (albeit not enough). In another year, at the current rate, Dear Leader will be less popular than either Nixon or jock itch, and who knows what that might bring?
Geek Stuff: Be sure to notice the box on the right that shows where the last 10 readers of this blog were located. I have no idea how it works, but it seems pretty cool. Also, take a trip over to Gather.com. I'm occasionally contributing there, and would appreciate the clicks on my stuff--but you will probably also find other stuff worth reading there as well.
The administration's pushback on Iraq seems feeble and stupid to those of us who are intimately familiar with the history of spin, misdirection, and outright lying involved in the decision to go to war and the ongoing defense of that war. But I wonder how feeble it seems to Mr. and Mrs. America, who have jobs and kids and lives and, most importantly, lack the kind of time we political geeks have to keep track of the spin, misdirection, and outright lying.
It's true that the media, especially the cable channels, are being tougher on the administration than ever before, and occasionally even calling bullshit on the bullshit. But at the same time, their tendency to oversimplify must pull on them mighty hard. Just read Josh Marshall's explanation of why so many of the Repugs' talking points are so silly. It provides an overarching framework for evaluating those talking points--but how would it be translated into TV terms? Not easily, I don't think. Could it be done without simplifying to the point at which the simplicity becomes its own distortion? I don't know. All day today MSNBC's been headlining the controversy "War of Words." But doesn't that give the subconscious appearance, at least, of turning the controversy into another case of he-said/she-said, like everything else that comes out of Washington? If so, that perception devalues what's happening now, from the exponentially worsening blizzard of lies that it is, down to the kind of Beltway brouhaha that parents of two in West Overshoe don't think they have time to worry about.
But then again--He Who Must Not Be Named is down to something like 34 percent approval, so clearly, what's happening is getting through to some of the citizens of West Overshoe. And just yesterday, I adamantly insisted that good citizens of a democracy can tell the difference between truth, lies, analysis, and spin. So let's not be impatient. It's taken a year to get this far. In just the past two weeks, thanks to the administration's political weakness, we've stopped the oil drilling in ANWR and slowed the budget-cutting train (albeit not enough). In another year, at the current rate, Dear Leader will be less popular than either Nixon or jock itch, and who knows what that might bring?
Geek Stuff: Be sure to notice the box on the right that shows where the last 10 readers of this blog were located. I have no idea how it works, but it seems pretty cool. Also, take a trip over to Gather.com. I'm occasionally contributing there, and would appreciate the clicks on my stuff--but you will probably also find other stuff worth reading there as well.
