our discussion, both in this forum and throughout class, is building within me a strong distaste for and distrust of the media (and politicians, too - lying bastards...). when i consider the past and future of democracy in light of all of the theories of manipulation, monopoly, and political predation that we've learned this semester, i see a slow, constant stroll down the garden path to hell. i feel as though, in spite of ourselves, the citizens/politicians of the united states are slowly succumbing to that self-interest that i mentioned earlier, gradually finding ways to circumvent all those Madisonian safe-guards against just such a travesty. as my beloved checks and balances erode in front of me, i cannot help but ask myself -and you too- is there (no) hope for the future of democracy? -jd
[note: i am admitedly a bit too idealistic in my views of democratic theory and american revolutionary war-era politics so, although there may be a touch of melodrama in this post's delivery, the sentiment is genuine]
1 comment:
There is always hope for the future of democracy. While our system may not be perfect, in fact it surely is not, understanding democracy through political communication does offer some real hope for democracy itself. Clearly the media has an agenda: money. They want ratings and people to view their shows or newspapers. As such, they tell us what (a) we want to hear and (b) what we have shown we are interested in. In my view, if we (the general public) want to be politically engaged, hold our elected officals responsible, we need to hold the media responsible. Until we stop wanting to hear about the Anna Nicole Smith's of the world the media is going to tell us about them.
Democracy rests on an active and engaged citizenry. Clearly we have lost some of the engagement which does harm to the future and hope for democracy. But we can regain interest. Until the public demands real news stories that are "spin free" (and no I don't mean in the FoxNews sort of way) or are intelligent about situations enough to know when they are being spun, political officals will continue to use the media to keep us at bay. Again, democracy rests on an active and engaged citizenry to hold its offials responsible. We must first start with holding ourselves responsible for our lackluster level of political knowledge and then media for heeding our sometimes unintelligable interests.
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