I think I understand the cause of our discord [View All]

[burythehatchet]

This election, and the two preceding it, have been unique in terms of the role of the internet in advancing the debate. The remarkable trend is that with each election cycle the magnitude of the effect that online debate has had becomes geometrically greater.

I know I am not alone in stating that I have been completely weaned off of all the talking head BS infotainment crap. I haven't watched a consecutive 10 minutes of CNN et al for about 5 or months. (This was my intent, and I succeeded).

The result of this has been that the informational inputs that I have established for myself - DU, Think Progress, HuffPo, among many others - do not include any lamestream media.

There are two debates that are occurring

Two debates are occurring simultaneously, but the participants are generally unaware of this fact. I would suggest that there is the "normal" debate occurring in the media. This consists of absolutely nothing but the racehorse. Who's ahead, which poll has who within what margin of error blah blah blah. Many of us, including me, decided that there is an alternative. We found it out. The result is the genuine debate that many of us have engaged in for the past 6 years. Many opinions have been formed by virtue of knowledgeable analysis and commentary. We managed to escape the "normal" election process. And therein lies the rub.

There is a complete disconnect between the two debates, and what is reported for the consumption of the CNN viewer has nothing to do with the debate on policy and governance that has been occurring here at DU, among many other places.

Our internal conflicts are arising, I believe, because of this dynamic. I believe that a certain group of DU members relies quite heavily upon the corp. media for their cues and guidance. Personally, I find that really disappointing. In fact, I think many of us are reacting with such ferocity because we don't want to eat the soylent green anymore. But it is constantly pushed in our faces. If I wanted to know what the pollsters were saying I know what channel to turn to. But I'll be dammed if I'm going to let those clowns ever influence my opinions again.

I think this is worth fighting for. I'm going to fight as hard I need to in order to help prevent us from losing our way. I'm not going back to the old ways again.