Trying to understand the American body politic is difficult without understanding the move from disagreement to contempt apparent in the discourse today. Instead of answering questions or offering solutions during public debate, talking points and factiods are thrown out as if they were meaningful, correct or deeply held beliefs. If today's talking point doesn't catch on, not to worry, "they" will have a new spin on the same point tomorrow...
Scott Walker and the Republican machine backing him are the most egregious examples of this contempt at the moment; however, the whole "Right Wing" echo chamber from Rush Limbaugh to Fox News has been sewing the seeds of contempt for all views not shared by the "Right" for over twenty years now.
The effect on public discourse would be laugable if it hadn't infiltrated every level of media discussion and political debate in the country. Obvious liars spreading false equivalencies and unfounded assertions are show cased on news outlets and talk shows as if their statements only context was the moment of utterance.
Challenges to prove a point or put a statment in its verifiable historical context are dismissed as "gotcha moments" or the ineffable "blame game." Donald Rumsfield, G "W" Bush, Sarah Palin, Dick Morris, Dick Cheney et al, give the words "contemptible narcissist buffoon" a new meaning. Not to mention the host of lunatics from Michele Bachman to Rand Paul currently serving in the US Congress, who concurrently hold such contradictory views with the main stream of historically creditable facts, that the "Founding Fathers" they supposedly adore would cringe at hearing their names being associated with any of the propositions put forth by these ignorant and self serving "public servants."
On MSNBC's line up tonight, remember these are the supposedly liberal "political news shows", we were treated to Matthews devoting his first segment to the "Oscars", Lawrence O'Donnell opining about Charlie Sheen's "career suicide" and Maddow doing her best to keep on track with Ed Schultz bringing up the rear still focusing on Wisconsin. The major networks were split between the Oscars and Libya and Fox News was all about the treacherous union bosses and their destruction of America (still on message) although they also were trying their "Glenn Beck best" to link the "Caliphate" to the Oscars? The absurd, mundane, horrific and irrelevant thrown together in some sort of brain salad puree to be consumed as "reporting."
Outrageousness and bluster, slick manipulation and disingenuousness are the current stock in trade of the political class and have always been with us; however, balancing those currents in American politics is supposed to be the job of the "4th estate" not show-casing misinformation as serious discussion. Holding a position does not justify it, simply stating that you are "for" or "against" a proposition does not reinforce or demolish it, reality does have a say and the public debate, as reported in the United States, often simply ignores the context of any position in favor of the "personality" delivering the proposition. More outrageous is the general assumption that people are more interested in Charlie Sheen's personality problems or the winner of the next Oscar nomination than the plight of real Americans or people in the world generally.
There is some good reporting on the "Tee Vee machine" as Rachel Maddow calls it and in the print media, there is even some thoughtful discussion and information on radio, although very hard to find; however, the false equivalencies injected into these discussions by the apparent fear of the "Right" has clearly distorted the lens of media in general.
Contempt, contempt for the general intelligence and memory of the American people, contempt for the processes of a Democratic society and contempt for facts, truth and each other characterize the polity today. It is time to rebalance the debate, refuse to cater to the "personalities" and demand truthful and fact based discourse from politicians and the people who report on them or we risk an Orwellian nightmare with no escape into thoughtful wakefulness.