The Frankfurter School

I have been completely unable to write a single sentence for most of the summer, and I’ve barely been able to read anything anyone else has written either.  The sheer inanity of the public discourse and the crushing disappointments that are the Democratic Nominee and the Democratic-led Congress, have dealt a serious blow to the Hope [TM] that I had this spring that our country might repair the damage done to our democracy over the past eight years.   

If you have been paying attention at all, you’ve probably been consumed with the John Edwards’ affair, the exciting sweepstakes of the Vice Presidential pick, whether the Olympics in Beijing were “good” or “bad,” and figuring out what to make of that weird, quick invasion of peaceful, democratic Georgia by those still-kinda-evil Russians.  There are interesting stories behind each of these issues, but it has been next to impossible to find any intelligent discussion about them anywhere in the mainstream media or even the blogosphere.  

I’m going to re-state an opinion that annoys nearly everyone I know: if you are relying on your television for any of your information about what’s happening in the world, you are ignorant and misinformed.  It really makes no difference whether you prefer CNN, MSNBC or FOX, if you like Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, or if you just think you are “keeping up” with what the rest of America is watching, you are ingesting junk media which is the informational equivalent of eating McDonald’s for every meal.  

What has been so depressing to me over the summer is that many of my usual sources of information have been victims of the same silliness that afflicts the corporate media.  The columns of The Huffington Post (to pick the most disappointing example) have been rehashing the same shrill litany of non-topics as the corporate media, bereft of any truly intelligent critical analysis.  

There has been one standout news source, that I must publicly thank for its uncompromising and unbending fidelity to news, information and critical analysis:  Democracy Now!  hosted by Amy Goodman and carried on Pacifica Radio and many cable stations, and available by podcast from iTunes or at DemocracyNow.org.  I challenge anyone to carefully examine the breadth and depth of its coverage side-by-side with your favorite television cable channel or Sunday talk show.  In a mere five hours a week, it manages to be more informative, balanced, comprehensive, and critical than any of the channels that purport to do the same thing and waste 24 hours each day not trying.  This show is not funded by, nor should it be confused with, National Public Radio, although it is often broadcast on public radio stations which also carry NPR content.  It is truly independent media, completely reliant on listener support with no corporate or government funding.  [NPR has been largely destroyed by the Bush Administration, which has appointed right-wing ideologues to its board and management, and it has been cited in several nonpartisan studies to favor conservative voices by hefty margins and is a frequent repeat-offender on Media Matters watchdog list for misinformation.]  

As Labor Day next week marks the end of the frivolous summer season, I hold out hope that the Serious Campaign Season will bring a discourse of some substance, or at the very least generate topics that merit real discussion and analysis.  But I will not hold my breath.  

I am rousing myself from the despair and cynicism brought on by our bankrupt public discourse.  While I believe that everyone deserves to be able to bury his head in the sand occasionally as a coping mechanism, I am reminded that it is a privilege to do so.  Things may be about to get better for this country, but they also may be about to get worse.  The election of John McCain to the Presidency will represent a defining and permanently-altering moment in the history of our republic, and perhaps our planet.  The election of Barack Obama to the Presidency will represent not a solution to the problems that we face, but only the opportunity to begin to address them.  Those of us who will play a role in deciding this election, as voters, consumers of the public discourse, and sometimes opinion-leaders, have a responsibility to not sit idly by, discouraged and quiet, but to change the conversation and the terms of the debate.  It’s going to be ugly and we’re going to need to be impolite.   The times demand it.