I am not blaming the media. I am simply acknowledging the nature of the beast. Like the scorpion of the parable, it is their nature to drift toward the sensational and the bloody. Controversy, even artificial controversy, is like sex -- it sells. Hence, the media will, like moths near a bug-zapper, will drift towards the bright shiny object. It is the one thing that honestly overrides the individual biases of the various media outlets -- the smell of political blood in the water. As such, they will frenzy over the latest "-gate" issue, giving the latest bombastic utterings or verbal stilleto a megaphone, so long as it sells papers. A quiet week simply becomes an opportunity to look for the next fire-cracker.
Additionally, politics is a negative feed-back loop. With so many lawyers, they operate on precedent -- if side "a" thinks they're even, then side "b" thinks their one behind; when side "b" does their thing, the poles reverse, with side "a" casting about for a place to stick the knife. Like the French Army, the American political establishment is armed to the teeth in preparation for the last great conflict.
The problem is that the mid sixties to the early seventies *WAS* that last great political watershed and is, for good or for ill, the schwerpunkt for the current campaign. It was the last time that everything changed, traumatically in some cases. Like a pulled tooth, they keep coming back to it.
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timeasmymeasure
I'm not blaming the media.
Date: 2008-04-19 03:35 am (UTC)Additionally, politics is a negative feed-back loop. With so many lawyers, they operate on precedent -- if side "a" thinks they're even, then side "b" thinks their one behind; when side "b" does their thing, the poles reverse, with side "a" casting about for a place to stick the knife. Like the French Army, the American political establishment is armed to the teeth in preparation for the last great conflict.
The problem is that the mid sixties to the early seventies *WAS* that last great political watershed and is, for good or for ill, the schwerpunkt for the current campaign. It was the last time that everything changed, traumatically in some cases. Like a pulled tooth, they keep coming back to it.