"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
-James Madison
While staring into the face of the deep, in the moments before plunging into the troubled waters, one simple and unassuming question should be asked: how important is the truth?
Most would give the same response: the truth is very important. Yet I would dispute their conviction.
Politics is any many ways a struggle for power: within government lie the means of control, and through control one exercises power. Politics is just the process through which this power is attained, and it's here that media plays its part. Mass media is a vital tool that can be used to either gain or detract from political/government support. Without votes, politicians cannot gain office, and against public outcry, the government cannot freely exercise their power. By spinning stories or using/dismissing particular facts/actualities, the media can help sway their massive audiences in one direction or another. This influence makes mass media and politics inseparable, but not to the public's benefit. In the never-ending chess match that is the United States political culture, the truth behind candidate's positions, government actions, and current events and their circumstances is left by the wayside. What is fed to us is a fabrication of the truth, adorned with the political trappings of whichever political party the news source supports. Please do not be mistaken, media institutions have just as much invested interest in politics as anyone else, and the reason why they are able to act on their desires is because of us.
Every person in this country has their own opinion on things, and knows how they would like to see things done. Though we may say that the truth is very important, what we are often more concerned about is being right. We like to see the media cover issues a certain way because it falls in line with our opinions, or don't like it because we disagree with their premise. We aren't looking for the truth, we are looking for someone to tell us what we what to here.
The purpose of this blog is to sort through all of that garbage. My endeavors will include looking at certain issues or current events objectively, and revealing how the media changes or distorts to get a certain message across. While I have my own biases just like anyone else, I will do my very best to be fair always, and set my sights on how, regardless of the position, it is we the people being hurt by the media's actions in the way they report the news. All we must do now is prepare for the plunge!
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