For the last several years, we have blamed the conservative media, if not for the active role in taking away your rights, at least for its passive acquiescence to this government’s agenda. Well, we were wrong. It’s not the conservative media that is responsible for the erosion of your rights, but rather the media in general.
Apparently, those who report the news believe that the American people are only able to focus in on one issue at a time to the exclusion of all others. This morning we opened up our local paper and were amazed to find out that apparently the war in Iraq is over and all is well in that country. Not one headline dealt with the war in Iraq. The first mention of the war in Iraq was on page 12. Rather, the entire front page was consumed with news involving Israel, Hezbollah, and the Gaza Strip.
Is the war in Iraq over? Obviously not. But from being headline news every day for years, a new story put it on the back burner. Are the deaths of American soldiers any less important? Of course not. However, now the deaths of American soldiers and the ongoing violence and tension in Iraq are just passing stories. And as these stories get pushed to the back pages they become less important. Apparently they mean less to us. And unfortunately apparently we forget about them.
So it comes as no surprise that most likely many of you do not even know about the testimony of the Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzalez, in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This article appeared on page 7 of our local paper. The story reports that Attorney General Gonzalez under oath admitted that the President personally ordered and blocked the Justice Department’s looking into the ethical and legal ramifications of the National Security Agency spying on American citizens. According to this article, Alberto Gonzalez acknowledged that George W. Bush thwarted this investigation citing national security concerns. However, the article revealed that George W. Bush allowed numerous Justice Department officials to look into the same records in order to find out who leaked these spying endeavors to the press. Therefore, according to your President, national security concerns fade away when he is trying capture those who reveal his illegal activity, but national security concerns are not implicated when an investigation would reveal his illegal behavior. To us, there can be no greater harbinger of fascism and totalitarianism then this President’s behavior.
Unfortunately, this story was buried on page 7 and in the television newscasts and radio shows hardly got a mention. This was on both conservative and moderate television and talk shows along with conservative and moderate press. There is no liberal press anymore.
When a story like this is relegated to page 7, it takes on little importance. When it’s a throw in for a moment on the nightly newscast, it gets little attention. Yet, on a not so news worthy day this story could have been the lead story. But because those editors and producers believe that the American people are only capable of focusing on one situation at a time, the story was basically buried and a shining example of how our freedoms are being taken away and how we are slipping into something less than a democracy becomes unimportant.
So for all of our attacks on the conservative rightwinged media, again we must acknowledge a new culprit and that is the media in general. For all of our distaste from the propaganda from the media right, it is the media in general that we fault. It would be better to have conservative spin on this story then no reporting of it at all. It would be better to have the fascists cheerleaders in the media explain it and agree with it then for it not to be put on the American radar. For all of you out there in the media give Americans more credit. Many of us are capable of focusing in on the war in Iraq, the Israel conflict, and the taking away of our civil rights. Many of us have more concerns then one issue at a time. To the American media, we say tell us the news and let us filter it out. Don’t be the censor of our thoughts, rather give us enough to make us think.