The Endorsement
After much deliberation, Blatherama has decided to endorse Barack Obama for President. Personally, I was worried about the fact that he's a secret Muslim and that he hangs around with terrorists and that he seems smarter than me, but then Diana pointed out that if I believed that, I would be a fucking idiot. So rather than look stupid, I decided to ignore my base fears about a black dude named after Saddam Hussein being President and go along with the trend. (In case you couldn't tell, that was sarcastic.)
What worries and disgusts me is that there still are a good number of people who believe that shit, and many of them are probably either not answering polls or lying about how they'll vote, but ultimately when it comes down to it, will either not vote or vote for Whitey McCrankypants. I read several articles in the last few days about that elusive white working-class electorate, and there are still a vast number of people who just can't bring themselves to vote for a black man because... well, I really don't know why, aside from plain, simple ignorance. Most try to justify it by saying they've heard stuff about his secret connections (from mass emails of all things) or they just don't like the way he talks, but some will just flat out say "I ain't votin' for no nigger". And there's far more that aren't saying that but sure think it.
I trust very few sources for my objective political news. The Daily Show is a surprisingly accurate source of information--yes, they make me howl with laughter, but the clips and stories they base their jokes on are almost always fairly taken and presented. Bill Maher's show, especially the panel discussions, are an excellent way to learn a bit more about things. The New Yorker and The NY Times, despite having a clear liberal bent, present their stories with the depth and thoroughness I appreciate. I read MSNBC.com every day but filter their stories through my own knowledge of how things get spun. And the Daily Kos, while again clearly in the tank for the blue side, presents a lot of relevant information. Aside from that, I trust no one. I don't read most emails that are forwarded to me (sorry K, I love you, but I just don't read 'em), I definitely put no stock whatsoever in cable news, and I think I've seen maybe two campaign ads all year (thank you Tivo).
What worries me is that there are a lot of people who cite a campaign TV ad as the source for their information, without recognizing that NOTHING in those ads is ever really true (including our guy Barry's ads). They're created by people whose sole purpose in life is to manipulate the viewer into feeling a certain way regardless of what the facts are. It could be the single worst way for someone to become informed about the election.
That is, if it weren't for email. The age of the group email forward is one of the most dangerous for the collective intelligence of our world. As people continue to press the forward button and pass along suspect information from sources they don't know or understand, we get dumber and dumber by the second. There's a reason journalists get paid--they spend lots of time doing research and tracing down sources and verifying information (if they're any good). But any ignorant asshole can write an email saying Barack Obama is a Muslim (and so what if he was?) or that Bush planned to blow up the World Trade Center and suddenly thousands of people are not only believing it but passing it around. I mean, I'm not sure how much dumber you could get. Why are people so opposed to reading, thinking and analyzing for themselves? Are we that lazy? I consider myself a remarkably lazy man, but I don't trust ANYONE to tell me what to think. Probably my elitist Stanford education. Yeah, that's it, I'm an elitist.
Please, for the love of Dog, STOP reading emails related to politics or frankly anything else that matters. Don't even believe what I say here, go research it for yourself. If you don't want to be bothered doing the homework, please do not talk or email anyone else about these subjects, and please do not vote. You're just dangerous to the rest of us when you do that. But pass this along to anyone you think may be inclined to believe that Michelle Obama is going to signal the terrorists to attack us when she fist-bumps Barack at the inauguration.
What worries and disgusts me is that there still are a good number of people who believe that shit, and many of them are probably either not answering polls or lying about how they'll vote, but ultimately when it comes down to it, will either not vote or vote for Whitey McCrankypants. I read several articles in the last few days about that elusive white working-class electorate, and there are still a vast number of people who just can't bring themselves to vote for a black man because... well, I really don't know why, aside from plain, simple ignorance. Most try to justify it by saying they've heard stuff about his secret connections (from mass emails of all things) or they just don't like the way he talks, but some will just flat out say "I ain't votin' for no nigger". And there's far more that aren't saying that but sure think it.
I trust very few sources for my objective political news. The Daily Show is a surprisingly accurate source of information--yes, they make me howl with laughter, but the clips and stories they base their jokes on are almost always fairly taken and presented. Bill Maher's show, especially the panel discussions, are an excellent way to learn a bit more about things. The New Yorker and The NY Times, despite having a clear liberal bent, present their stories with the depth and thoroughness I appreciate. I read MSNBC.com every day but filter their stories through my own knowledge of how things get spun. And the Daily Kos, while again clearly in the tank for the blue side, presents a lot of relevant information. Aside from that, I trust no one. I don't read most emails that are forwarded to me (sorry K, I love you, but I just don't read 'em), I definitely put no stock whatsoever in cable news, and I think I've seen maybe two campaign ads all year (thank you Tivo).
What worries me is that there are a lot of people who cite a campaign TV ad as the source for their information, without recognizing that NOTHING in those ads is ever really true (including our guy Barry's ads). They're created by people whose sole purpose in life is to manipulate the viewer into feeling a certain way regardless of what the facts are. It could be the single worst way for someone to become informed about the election.
That is, if it weren't for email. The age of the group email forward is one of the most dangerous for the collective intelligence of our world. As people continue to press the forward button and pass along suspect information from sources they don't know or understand, we get dumber and dumber by the second. There's a reason journalists get paid--they spend lots of time doing research and tracing down sources and verifying information (if they're any good). But any ignorant asshole can write an email saying Barack Obama is a Muslim (and so what if he was?) or that Bush planned to blow up the World Trade Center and suddenly thousands of people are not only believing it but passing it around. I mean, I'm not sure how much dumber you could get. Why are people so opposed to reading, thinking and analyzing for themselves? Are we that lazy? I consider myself a remarkably lazy man, but I don't trust ANYONE to tell me what to think. Probably my elitist Stanford education. Yeah, that's it, I'm an elitist.
Please, for the love of Dog, STOP reading emails related to politics or frankly anything else that matters. Don't even believe what I say here, go research it for yourself. If you don't want to be bothered doing the homework, please do not talk or email anyone else about these subjects, and please do not vote. You're just dangerous to the rest of us when you do that. But pass this along to anyone you think may be inclined to believe that Michelle Obama is going to signal the terrorists to attack us when she fist-bumps Barack at the inauguration.
1 Comments:
hahaha--s'ok M,
I'm usually sending you stuff from the NY Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and lolcatz anyway-- so no prob. ;)
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