Daily Show Interview 6/12/08 with Rick Shenkman

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Daily Show Interview 6/12/08 with Rick Shenkman

Friday, 13 June 2008, 1:17 | Category : Film & TV
Tags : American Voter, Congress, Daily Show, Democracy, Governmental Policies, Liberty And Justice, Rick Shenkman, War Effort

After watching an interview with the author of “Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter”, it appears that the Government and the Media have come up with a solution for all of the missteps that have occurred within the last 7 years. It seemed to me that the argument presented by Rick Shenkman in this interview is that we can’t sit around blaming the Media or Government - because after all - if we just weren’t so stupid none of this would happen.

Rather than dwelling on whether or not the Media has any responsibility to broadcast anything more then empty unsupported opinions of random unknown people that have titles after their names or if our Government should be held accountable after it has been proven that they lied to us about going to war; we as a people should sit around and blame ourselves because we should have known better.

This is NOT an exceptionable solution to what has transpired in the last 7 years.

Yes, I do think that people need to take the time to learn about the issues and take initiative and vote if they feel like there is some point in participating in this system. But to actually go around acting like your average voter has any control or say in what is going on in our Governmental policies is quite frankly absurd. The fact that the disapproval for the war has continued to grow to eclipse the support for the war effort and that the last election for Congress overturned the Republican controlling trend and yet nothing has happened to change policy is clear proof of the absurdity of the statement that “the people” really have a say.

(This is another point to be discussed at another time - but it is only a mythology that “democracy” of America is such that people actually influence the policy they live under - and while I could go on and on about what a sham our claims of “liberty and justice for all” are - this is not really the point I want to focus on.)

IT seems to me that if the Government is not responsible for anything that has happened in the last 7 years because it is the people who should have been smarter - well then what exactly is the point of Government? It doesn’t serve our best interest - see if we are stupid for supporting the war initially - then the “smarter” Government should have saved us by not entering the war - since they didn’t do that - they aren’t any smarter than us and they don’t save us from ourselves - so what is it exactly that they do?

Now clearly - I don’t think Government is necessary having nothing to do with these last 7 years, seeing them only as further proof of the destructiveness of allowing others to control one’s life

- BUT -

for those that do - Then isn’t the Government supposed to protect you and help you prosper? This war is costing trillions and killing American citizens, and its all based on lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction, Sadaam wasn’t behind 9/11, and ultimately America is less popular and seen as weaker by the International community so now more vulnerable to attack. So it seems to me for those that believe in Government that one would want to hold this administration accountable. Since for whatever reason you feel you need to be governed, then that Government should be required to NOT LIE. And to say that voters are at fault because those they elected to them lied is just scapegoating. Sure perhaps they elect the wrong person, but that doesn’t give the office of the President the authority to lie with impunity. What I am saying, is regardless of the average IQ in America, there simply is no excuse for the lies that have been told. The fact that illegal activities, outright violations of the UN Charter and International Law have occured without any penalty proves that we don’t live in this ideal world with checks and balances and equal access to power. I am a voter, I want Bush Impeached, I want our solider’s and high ranking public officials who committed war crimes brought to justice and punished! But this isn’t happening - not because I as a voter am stupid - but because this system does not provide power to voters! Why don’t we have a vote of confidence if our democracy is so advanced? Or proportional representation? They system is broken, this war proves it - but no one wants to admit it - and that is why has turned to blaming the populous for being “stupid” rather than criminally prosecuting the guilty.

Another institution that has proven itself to be out of date and out of touch is the Media. I remember being a kid and watching the news and they used to do this think call investigative reports, it was were a journalist would go out and research a story and find out all the facts and then present them to the public. While clearly spin and bias has always existed, the pitiful performance of the Media in the last 7 years prove the need for more Independent Media Sources being available to the masses. And the Media has continually made the choice to not face up to its mistakes. For example, with Hillary Clinton running for President, the actions of President Bill Clinton during the Monica affair were often mentioned as evidence he would hurt her in a general election. And each time I wondered why the press felt so justified still in judging Clinton as a “liar” but still feel we need to use soft cuddly words like “unclear communication” when discussing how it was that Bush said things like “Iraq has weapons of Mass Destruction”. In fact their obsessive coverage of the democatic primary seems to me to be a way to fill the 24 hour news stations with fluff instead of covering the wars we are involved in throughout the world.