The sinister truth about Donald Trump: How American politics have been hijacked by cults of personal

[applegrove]

The sinister truth about Donald Trump: How American politics have been hijacked by cults of personality

by Conor Lynch at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/24/the_sinister_truth_about_donald_trump_how_american_politics_have_been_hijacked_by_cults_of_personality/

"SNIP..............



Partisan suspicions obviously play a big role in all of this, but a major factor may be attributed to the media’s unrelenting obsession with big personalities and trivial pseudo-events, as Daniel J. Boorstin called them, rather than actual issues. The rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders signifies this growing weariness with the media. The other day, after being pushed by a reporter to discuss his fellow candidate Hillary Clinton, he responded with the no-nonsense style that people have come to love:


“What I said is that corporate media talks about all kinds of issues except the most important issues, okay? And time after time, I’m being asked to criticize Hillary Clinton. That’s the sport that you guys like. The reason this campaign is doing well is because we’re talking about the issues that impact the American people. I’ve known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I like her, I respect her. I disagree with her on a number of issues. No big secret.”

Of course, American politics have for a long time been more about personalities than ideas, and the population is largely to blame for this. The mass media doesn’t treat politics like a sporting event because it gives them some kind of thrill, but because it attracts ratings and increases circulation. Just look at the first GOP debate, which, as Donald Trump has declared ad infinitum ever since, attracted massive ratings. Why did it have more that twenty million viewers? Because Donald Trump is a famous reality star, and the American people crave fame and entertainment. Trump is the antithesis of Sanders, in the sense that his entire campaign so far has been about his ego, rather than ideas. There can be no denying that he is entertaining to people across the political spectrum, and he has largely turned the GOP primaries into a reality show.

Is it any wonder that the mass media does its very best to create drama? It must be recalled that these news organizations do operate for a profit — they are, after all, corporately owned institutions. Ratings and clicks result in more advertisements and more advertisements result in more profit (at least that’s the idea, it doesn’t always work that way, especially in our digital age). Just as CNN craves missing airplanes and natural disasters, the media at large craves drama — most recently evinced by the disgraceful personal attack on Daily Kos columnist Shaun King and his family. Mainstream media outlets, most notably CNN, jumped on this pseudo-event like pirañas, juicy story that it was.



...............SNIP"

[Hydra]

1. Our Political parties are to blame for this as well

They actively push the idea that we are all about the personality, and then when we are "charmed," we just go along with whatever policies they put forward.

This is an actual goal of both parties, just so they can continue the gravy train.

[Shandris]

2. And the sites with those links.

What is this, the 714th Donald Trump link from Salon this week? We sure are making them good money for Mr. Trump. Lookie here DU'ers, be angry and be sure to CLICKCLICKCLICK! That'll teach that mean Donald Trump!

Don't reward clickbait. Archive that junk.

[Hydra]

3. Trump is making them money

No doubt about that. I'm not contributing however.

[Shandris]

4. I'm sorry Hydra, I didn't mean to insinuate that YOU were...

...clicking on the links (just as I'm not as well), I was making a general call (or intending to). But yeah, it's sad how that works with clickbait.

Ah well, best we can do is try to get people working against it.

[Hydra]

5. It's nice to point out for those not aware

But it's pretty much impossible to not see how much he is plastered everywhere. I was on a job the other day, and most of my customers don't talk politics in front of me...but I had at least three who were saying how much they hated seeing Trump everywhere.

That's gotta count for something :p

[applegrove]

6. Guilty. But I think it important that we know our enemy. We are afterall a political discussion

board. I suppose I could paraphrase and not give a link. But I never do. I don't think that is right. Transparency is important. And context. And footnoting.

[Shandris]

8. Nono, don't do that!

Use pastebin or an archiving site like archive.today, then post THAT link instead. It doesn't reward ad revenue, hence it doesn't reward clickbait articles.

I agree that it's important to know the enemy, and I wouldn't dream of trying to stop the flow of info about the enemy. I just don't want media rewarded for repeating the same things with 1,000 different tricky headlines; it disincentives actual content.

[applegrove]

9. And yet I don't post stuff from conservative sites. But do from lefty sites. I want them to thrive.

So that I can count on them to come up with multiple perspectives on the issues of the day. Sorry. I gotta stick to what I do.

[hifiguy]

11. It's loud and clear right here on DU.

Every day.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. We aren't supposed to hire Great Leaders in a representative democracy.

We supposed to elect representatives.