UP Ibalon Bicol: America is as plural and diverse as ever

America is as plural and diverse as ever

9/06/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

It’s really exciting to see reactions on issues about the US presidential election in real time. The power of the media has somehow provided an avenue of understanding (or misunderstanding,) but as I pointed out, the partisanship makes it hard for ordinary Americans to make their choices. The public is now compelled to winnow the chaffs from the grains as the political fight comes closer to the election. Hoping that the saturation of information will reach the inattentive, I think by and large, a good number of Americans will decide based on their guts.

From my perspective, I can say majority of the media outfits favor the Democrats---there are more liberals than conservatives in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Washington Post, LA Times, Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Herald, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, New Orleans-Picayune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Minneapolis Star, San Francisco Chronicle,…...They complement the secular progressives in the MSNBC, CNN, and CBS. And almost all comedians in American late-night TV are liberals as much as movie-director Michael Moore and his stars in Hollywood.

Academics in many learning institutions, like the traditional UP professors, are generally known as liberals too, many left-leaning and socialistic; majority is anti-establishment. Whether they do that because many of them do not find a lucrative niche in society (as much as the flashy entrepreneurs in business and government) is subject to debate. In spite of the preponderance of Democratic support, they still have to win the electorate to their side.

On the rightist and conservative front, I notice Fox News leans towards the Republicans in spite of their claim of being “fair and balanced.” Talk radios which have gained popularity in recent years, have broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’ Reilly, Laura Schlessinger, Michael Savage, and few more lending support to conservatives.

Partisan programming could be the result of the repeal of the FCC Fairness Doctrine which required that stations give free air time for answers to controversial opinions. Now, it gives more burden on busy citizens to be informed lest they only listen to what they want to hear. There's a price to pay for missing the views of the opposite side.

The American heartland is as plural and diverse as the birds of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. One cannot be all the way supportive of one party without missing the goodies of the other. Put it in another way, one can't brush aside a party without seeing the folly of the other. That's why Ron Paul, an eccentric hardworking American who didn't get the presidential nomination in the Republican ticket also wages his own political battle on the side. So let’s look what happens on the day of election. (Photo Credits: Pierre Marcel; Mark Berry; photobyrich)=0=