Politics, pundits and puppets

Friday, June 6th, 2008

What did Hillary Clinton ever do to upset our opinion-influencing (they hope) media overlords? Even the BBC is in on the act, happily allowing the consistently snide Justin Webb to shamelessly reveal just how partisan he is by advocating Obama and rubbishing not only Mrs Clinton, but her husband as well. But the Obama Promotion Machine is everywhere. Given how much he has spent to win, it’s astonishing that so many are giving him free support in what they print and air, both inside and outside the US.

But who wins is a matter for the American people, and while journalists are often these days overly infected by a sense of their own importance, further eroding the standards of their craft, it is doubtful Webb or any other reporter on his or her own can make or break the election. The cumulative toxic effect of all the crap that’s been written, however, is undeniably helping to shape the future of the US and the world. Too many people read but don’t think—which is kind of like eating but never pausing to actually taste what’s in your mouth and slipping down into your guts.

If they did stop to taste, they might find it sour, not sweet—and the biggest cause of their apparent discontent being not their finances, not their mortgages, not the kids on the street corners wearing hoodies, but instead the run of manipulative headlines and editorials which pass for reportage in the 21st Century.

If you don’t know you’re unhappy or angry or worried until you’ve read the paper or switched on the TV, you really are plugged into, and hugely dependent upon, the Matrix. Sadly, the votes of two-legged sheep carry as much weight as those of free-thinkers (okay, more weight because there’s more of them and less of us).

The planet suffers from an absence of real thought being accompanied by real power, the two of which together could result in real change. As is, it’s business as usual, for the most part, but expect a little window dressing whenever you get a change of leadership.

It’s important, you see, to give a sense of change without actually bringing anything significant to the table.