The Media's Ignorance of History Works Against Sanders and For Hillary

[TheSarcastinator]

Turn on cable news and listen to the description of Bernie's campaign: it is "unprecedented" and "unheard of" that a "self-proclaimed" socialist would EVER run for US President. Americans don't know socialism, they claim, they are scared by it and will not vote for it, and the young people who support it really don't understand it at all, they are simply naive dreamers.

Has no one ever heard of Eugene Debs? The dude ran for President five damn times and gathered a million votes -- six percent of the electorate at the time -- and helped create the labor movement that led to a better world for all working class Americans. It's simply shameful that Debs has been left out of the dialogue, and doing so makes Sanders' campaign falsely seem a completely a-historic lark or frivolous bit of future trivia. It lends false credence to Hillary's "no we can't" approach and serves to frame the national dialogue in a way designed to perpetuate the horrific status quo. Debs has been scrubbed from both history and contemporary political analysis and it is shameful.

"While there is a lower class, I am in it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

"The man who seeks to arouse prejudice among workingmen is not their friend. He who advises the white wage-worker to look down upon the black wage-worker is the enemy of both."

"The African is here and to stay. How came he to our shores? Ask your grandfathers, Mr. Anonymous, and if they will tell the truth you will or should blush for the crimes."

"For myself, I want no advantage over my fellow man, and if he is weaker than I, all the more is it my duty to help him."

[pangaia]

1. "Has no one ever heard of Eugene Debs?"

Unfortunately, 99.9% of Americans have not.

As for TV 'news," these are just actors hired to read a script.

[tech3149]

2. To me the biggest problem we face is corporate media

If it's not trashing Clinton for one supposed scandal or the other it's dismissing or denigrating Sanders without ever engaging in a serious discussion on policy.
And don't hang it all on TV, even the print media is trying to sell us a shit sandwich.
I thank my luck stars that independent and foreign media give us a broader understanding of what's going on in the world.

[frazzled]

3. I don't get your point

Of course we've heard of Debs. He ran five times (more than 100 years ago, when socialism was in fact more popular) and lost dramatically five times, gaining no electoral votes. Debs gathered enormous crowds around the nation with his fiery speeches, but never exceeded 6% of the vote.

You might attend to history as well: Debs was running as a third-party candidate, not as a Democrat. So that would be why Sanders would be "historic" if he were to become the Democratic nominee. Debs had no use for the major parties. Sanders learned that such third-party runs have no success, so he became a Potemkin Democrat for the purposes of this campaign. Succeeding in that endeavor would be what the media is calling historic.

[DanTex]

4. I don't think the media would be doing Bernie a favor by associating him with Debs.