Obama and the Intra-net
I think that if Dubya Bush spent some time during his very busy terrorist-ass-kicking presidency reading any of thousands of blogs and bloggers who hate his stupid ass then he wouldn't have been too surprised when he received boos from two million Americans upon departing from DC. Hell, even the thought of Bush on the internet is hilarious. Truth of the matter is, bloggers aren't as polite as the Times and CNN because we represent the plebeians. We aren't, as Sarah Palin puts it, the "Liberal Media Elite." We are rude, crass, and lack silly rhetoric (unless we're hating on some damn fool).
Although the mainstream media did raise public favor for Obama in some respects, such as representing Sarah Palin as though she had fried eggs for brains (Which, for the record, she does not), they failed to cover all the obvious paradoxes of the McCain/Palin run for office, such as McCain's claim to support women while conveniently missing the senate vote on the Liddy Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would enable people with vaginas to sue the millions of companies which regularly do a one-over on them by paying them less then people with penises, and Palin's claims to be a feminist in light of the fact that one of the only, or the only, shelter for pregnant teens in Alaska was shut down during her governorship. And remember when Palin said that she had gay friends and that we would be "very tolerant" of gays, as if we were living in Iran or something. The gays were like "No she don't and no she ain't." Probably the only person giggling in the CNN Newsroom was Anderson Cooper.
Blogs and bloggers continue to pick up where mainstream media is lacking. Such as when the BradBlog covered the very suspicious death of Michal Connel, a very key witness in Ohio's 2004 presidential race voter fraud case, after being threatened by Karl Rove. What was on CNN that day? JonBennet Ramsay. OMGZ! She died like a million years ago and the only people who care are white soccer moms from NJ.
That said, young people voted overwhelmingly for Obama, young people don't read CNN or the Times we read blogs and facebook, and the blogs and facebook were all up for Obama.
It isn't that we don't read CNN and the Times because they are a snorefest, we don't read them because they have News titles such as these:
"Freezing woman 'felt my soul leaving'"
"Deliver pizzas: wife tells laid-off hubby"
"Cheney upset with Bush decision"
Let me spell it out for you CNN: No one. Effing. Cares. PS: The soul is a social construction.
As it turns out, Obama has recognized the importance of non-mainstream and diversified media outlets and has set aside an entire page on technology. One underpaid whitehouse intern (probably) typed this point of the Obama agenda up:
"Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership: Encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum."
Two points come to mind as I read this: 1) Hopefully now mainstream media, such as z100 (you know, "today's hit music station"), will be more socially responsible and stop airing commercials that exploit people by stimulating their distresses such as that miserable ad about how men need to buy liquid formula that will increase the girth of their penis because, you know, women contemplate nothing other than penis size all day long.
2) If this means that young people will have a stake in mainstream media then I am putting a stake in that shit like I was Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
But why, you ask, am I so concerned about mainstream media? Well, the truth is that bloggers are only plebeian to a finite degree. Most bloggers who report and discuss the political are college educated. We have been trained to be quite critical of sources of information and processes of thought. We are equipped with the language of sociology that makes in easy to communicate instances of discrimination, oppression, abuse, and other social injustices. Meanwhile, most people get their information from...well...Z100. Brad Friedman at the BradBlog verbalizes this point well:
"One of the reasons I was most looking forward to the likely-victory of John Kerry back in 2004, was so that I could begin to make his life a living hell in regards to Media Reform, the most important --- in my opinion --- reform of all at this particular point in the 21st Century. While the Supreme Court has declared many times that the right to vote is protective of all other rights, I'd suggest that the right to be informed, accurately, via our nation's publicly owned airwaves, is the right that ensures our right to vote is ultimately protective of anything. With our current hard right-leaning corporate media landscape, every attempted reform, including Election Reform, by any Democratic administration, must overcome a nearly impossible crucible of rightwing opposition --- and more disturbingly, propaganda --- across the nation's public airwaves."
If you are considering organizing for young people representation in mainstream media, now is the time. Trust me, we can do much better than the marketing interns are doing at Z100.
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