Joe Bageant: Media shit storms and heartland reality

[babylonsister]

Media shit storms and heartland reality
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
by Joe Bageant



There seems to be no end to the media mediocrity we must suffer in this country. Now we have the Obama Guns, God and Bitterness shit storm, with the shit pouring forth from the same media scuppers (scuppers are outlet sewage blowholes on the sides of ships) as usual: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, CNN.com, the Associated Press, Fox News, Reuters, Politico, the Lou Dobbs Show, Hardball, Olbermann's Countdown, The Atlantic.com, The DailyKos, TalkingPointsMemo…

And all because Obama mentioned something we've known for at least a couple of decades now: That the government has been fucking over the nation's heartland towns and the "little guy" Americans inhabiting them.

To quote Obama:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. ... And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not."

So what the hell else is new?

Then Obama adds:

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

While not precisely correct, it's a good enough generalization for an American audience not really listening anyway. Obama's remarks were not in the least controversial and just plain boring in terms of content. Certainly not newsworthy.

Yet he had no sooner closed his mouth than this media manufactured hell broke loose. "Oh my gawd," they screamed. This guy has the unmitigated gall to suggest that their might be some bitterness out here in the lily white realms of Grant Wood, grange halls and Methodist church suppers! Right here in River City!" … where the combination of God rhetoric and Chamber of Commerce boosterism have managed to ban the word from public discourse. Even the mention of it can be explosive, simply because there is so much if it stuffed inside working folks, inside the lockbox of denial that comes with being the citizen of a culture in collapse.

Put more simply, the self-serving "blogger-reporters" and Hillary Clinton media machine had managed to kick Obama in the balls from behind.

more...

http://atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3725/81/

[razors edge]

1. Joe is awsome.

Gotta find time to finish Dear Hunting with Jesus.

[Miss Authoritiva]

2. Joe, I love you

the government has been fucking over the nation's heartland towns and the "little guy" Americans inhabiting them.

I would make this statement much more inclusive, though: The government -- more precisely, the people we keep electing to serve as our government -- has been fucking over the entire nation and almost all the citizens inhabiting it.

[bbgrunt]

3. Great. And I now know what scuppers are--a perfect description of our media.

[The River]

4. Excellent Article

He has dozens more just like it on his web site; www.joebageant.com

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. his is the 2nd website I read daily, after DU

[bemildred]

6. There is nothing funnier than watching a bobblehead pundit talking about "elitism". nt