Posted on 01/03/2002 12:29:24 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Wartime changes the way we view the world. For many Americans, Sept. 11 was their first inkling that America had enemies in the world. For others, it was a long overdue comeuppance – although discretion being the better part of valor, they are not about to say so just now.
America has been at war for a long time, of course, but the war has been a civil one, and few noncombatants have noticed. Many commentators suggest this internal war is one of the haves against the have-nots – or perhaps vice versa. Others suggest the war has racial overtones. Some view it as an ideological conflict. I think they're wrong – it's really a war by our self-appointed elites being waged against the American middle class.
It is the middle class, after all, that has made America – paid its bills, provided its offspring and fought its wars. America became a place where – with even a modest education – anyone who was willing to work hard could lift themselves from poverty. But elites despise the attitude of personal responsibility that makes this possible; which is why they peddle the attitudes of class envy and cultural guilt that – once they have permeated society – create a permanent underclass requiring constant attention.
One of the elite's most prized weapons in its war against America is control of the media. A new book I've just read ("Life at the Bottom," by Theodore Dalrymple, Ivan R. Dee publisher, Chicago, 2001 – which will be reviewed in an upcoming column) has opened my eyes as to why control of the media matters so much to America's hateful elites. It's not what we've thought.
Conservatives have been waging war against media bias for at least a generation. Numerous polls have shown that bias is undeniable, with reporters and editors of major news organizations voting majorities in the 70 to 90 percent range for liberal Democratic candidates. Conservatives have therefore seen victories in the social arena, such as welfare reform downplayed by the media, while utopian schemes like nationalized health care and federal education steal the headlines and influence voters leftward in the next election.
The media also exploits the propaganda value of framing quotations by those with whom they disagree as "right-wing" or "conservative," while individuals and organizations on the left are never characterized with "far left" or "liberal" labels. The cumulative effect of this false labeling is to picture the left as center or mainstream, while opponents become "reactionary" and "dangerous."
Yet as valuable as rosy editorial glasses and propaganda are in the elite's war against America, they are not the most crucial function of the media. A more sinister game is being played. It's the reason that news outlets like WorldNetDaily, FOX News, The Drudge Report, and a host of conservative talk radio shows, with audiences in the millions, have made such a tiny dent in the liberal elite culture that permeates government – especially at the national level.
It is not even the number of liberal news outlets that is crucial, or the size of the audience they reach. No, it's something else. It plays on one of our most basic and human needs. Every child craves it, every husband and wife, every employee, every entrepreneur, every newspaper columnist, reporter, government bureaucrat and elected official.
We crave approval – especially from those in positions of power and influence. Prestigious universities. Hollywood celebrities. The New York Times. The Washington Post. Every other major city newspaper is second-tier, for it is geographically distant from Washington, D.C., although it may fulfill a similar function in the city or region where it lives: the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
When voters send Mr. Smith from Real America to Washington, D.C., to represent them, he suddenly discovers a very different culture from the "folks back home." Here phony elitism and big-government liberalism rule the day, and if Mr. Smith wants any appreciation for all his hard work in his new home, well, he better begin towing the line.
Soon, the folks back home become a distant memory, one best left to advertising consultants, political campaign managers, and staff members in the home district who provide constituent service. And if Mr. Smith has enough charisma, and collects enough "atta-boys" for correct/left-thinking from the media elite, he's well on his way to an advancing national career. Without them, his career, while it may last until retirement, has reached the elitist glass ceiling.
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There's no secret. The media both give visibility to leftis figures and ideas, and coordinate leftist movement through announcing it. Without that, rhe left would whither.
Perhaps it is this ... the view ... the flip side of the view that the ordinary citizen has of the celebrity or the wealthy, the view from the big house on top of the hill of the huddled masses (that's us ;) below. The hopeless feelings of the under class noted in the reviews for the above book, the lack of responsibility and opportunity for self advancement, these reflect the view of the newly famous, wealthy and powerful of the rest of us poor slobs.
Just as ordinary folks look up to the rich and famous, the powerful and beautiful, so do those on top look down. It's not, as some would say that the liberals invoke class warfare to weaken and divide, but rather that's how their sponsors think (er well ... perceive).
The natural instinct of humans, and other social animals, to follow the leader becomes the liberal poison of great civilizations, when expressed on the national level.
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