Thursday, October 07, 2004
I Believe We Are In A Watershed Year
Culture War?
I believe we are in a watershed year, one of those times where the direction things take will have a huge impact on the future of the US.
Many of the bedrock institutions we have trusted in have started to change. There are huge sectors of society angry: angry on the right about suppression of religion in the public sphere, the perception of a gay agenda, the feelings that the media elite doesn't speak for them, perceptions of pc-dominated judges and other things. The left have their causes, perceptions about minority issues, civil liberties, the war in Iraq and other things. We are a country that is very often angry, and times are frightening.
The Rathergate scandal with the news media has brought out a point that had been whispered about, became more and more obvious during the Iraq War, and is now clear - the mainstream media, far to the left from the rank and file Americans they are supposed to inform, shaped by the ferment of the 1960s and the Vietnam experience, see themselves as crusading elites trying to whip us into shape...and who now seem to believe that journalistic ethics aren't part of the package, for the ends of their goals justify the means of gettting there.
At Election Projection.com, they notice this:
Dan Rather's irresponsible, politically calculated use of forged documents to batter President Bush only serves to further and accelerate old media's decline. A startling confirmation that the mainstream media is suffering heavy hits to its credibility and influence can be seen in a recent poll released by the polling institute at Sacred Heart University. The numbers that headline the release track the presidential horse race, yet the most telling numbers may be these further down in the article...
From these figures, it is obvious that the old media isn't losing their credibility - they've lost it. A whopping 85.2% believe at best only some of what they hear. This response cannot be overstated. In today's America, only 3 out of 20 people say they believe most or all of what the media is saying. And the reason for the disbelief cannot be spelled out any clearer than this...
And not only are we doubting our sources of information (which may lead some of us to consider all sources equally valid or invalid, which makes decisionmaking even harder), we have seemed to cross some threshold on political action, where dialog is not wanted. Instead, there is the piling up of evil attributes onto your opponents to such a degree .
Mark Noonan at Blogs For Bush posted this:
An eight foot by eight foot swastika was burned into a homeowner's lawn because he had a Bush/Cheney '04 yard sign.
Protestors forced their way into the Republican headquarters in Orlando, Florida, vandalizing the facility and injuring two campaign workers.
In Miami, over 100 protestors stormed the Bush-Cheney campaign office and in Tampa over 30 invaded the Republican office.
Source: AlphaPatriot
Wisconson GOP had this statement: More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today, trespassing, creating a disturbance through the use of a bullhorn in the office and then refusing to leave when asked.
There have been break-ins, shots fired into campaign headquarters in more than one place.
The irony for much of this is that these people frequently are mad about the war, and they see nothing inappropriate in the use of violence to keep us from fighting.
If Bush wins the electoral college vote and doesn't have a strong majority, there could very well be violence. Even if he has a clear majority in all the states he takes, there will be those who have demonized him so badly that they will feel that they must take action somehow to fight the perceived evil at their doorstep.
How we react to this will shape our future. Do we step back from the abbyss of civil war, or take the plunge? This time, it's not quite so regional like last time. There will be no place to hide.
I believe we are in a watershed year, one of those times where the direction things take will have a huge impact on the future of the US.
Many of the bedrock institutions we have trusted in have started to change. There are huge sectors of society angry: angry on the right about suppression of religion in the public sphere, the perception of a gay agenda, the feelings that the media elite doesn't speak for them, perceptions of pc-dominated judges and other things. The left have their causes, perceptions about minority issues, civil liberties, the war in Iraq and other things. We are a country that is very often angry, and times are frightening.
The Rathergate scandal with the news media has brought out a point that had been whispered about, became more and more obvious during the Iraq War, and is now clear - the mainstream media, far to the left from the rank and file Americans they are supposed to inform, shaped by the ferment of the 1960s and the Vietnam experience, see themselves as crusading elites trying to whip us into shape...and who now seem to believe that journalistic ethics aren't part of the package, for the ends of their goals justify the means of gettting there.
At Election Projection.com, they notice this:
Dan Rather's irresponsible, politically calculated use of forged documents to batter President Bush only serves to further and accelerate old media's decline. A startling confirmation that the mainstream media is suffering heavy hits to its credibility and influence can be seen in a recent poll released by the polling institute at Sacred Heart University. The numbers that headline the release track the presidential horse race, yet the most telling numbers may be these further down in the article...
| Both CNN and Fox News appear be leading as favorites -- 26.6% and 22.4% -- when respondents anticipated who they plan to turn to for election 2004 coverage and reporting. These cable networks were followed by ABC News (11.7%), NBC News (10.5%), Local News (9.5%), PBS News (7.4%), CBS News (7.1%), MSNBC News (3.7%), CNBC (0.7%), and CBN (0.4%). |
| Only 13.0% suggest they believe "all" or "most" of media news reporting. Another 60.0% suggest they believe only "some," while 25.2% indicated they believe "little" or "none" of media reporting. |
And not only are we doubting our sources of information (which may lead some of us to consider all sources equally valid or invalid, which makes decisionmaking even harder), we have seemed to cross some threshold on political action, where dialog is not wanted. Instead, there is the piling up of evil attributes onto your opponents to such a degree .
Mark Noonan at Blogs For Bush posted this:
When I'm not writing here at the Blog, I make my money as a credit underwriter for a large financial institution. Today we received a written request for a credit limit increase on a customer's credit card. I can't quote verbatim from the letter because the Privacy Act forbids me from having a copy of the letter outside of the workplace, but quoting as best I remember it, the letter went thusly:
I want a credit line increase. And not a piddly $50.00; I want a big credit line increase. $50 is an insult - much like the insult GW Bush gave when he passed a tax cut for the rich.A long litany of acts of violence against Republican headquarters, campaign signs and others is beginning to pile up:
An eight foot by eight foot swastika was burned into a homeowner's lawn because he had a Bush/Cheney '04 yard sign.
Protestors forced their way into the Republican headquarters in Orlando, Florida, vandalizing the facility and injuring two campaign workers.
In Miami, over 100 protestors stormed the Bush-Cheney campaign office and in Tampa over 30 invaded the Republican office.
Source: AlphaPatriot
Wisconson GOP had this statement: More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today, trespassing, creating a disturbance through the use of a bullhorn in the office and then refusing to leave when asked.
There have been break-ins, shots fired into campaign headquarters in more than one place.
The irony for much of this is that these people frequently are mad about the war, and they see nothing inappropriate in the use of violence to keep us from fighting.
If Bush wins the electoral college vote and doesn't have a strong majority, there could very well be violence. Even if he has a clear majority in all the states he takes, there will be those who have demonized him so badly that they will feel that they must take action somehow to fight the perceived evil at their doorstep.
How we react to this will shape our future. Do we step back from the abbyss of civil war, or take the plunge? This time, it's not quite so regional like last time. There will be no place to hide.
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 5:59 AM 
