Friday, July 25, 2008

Media Hyperbole Versus Reality

In the course of this election, I've been musing actively upon the controversies that the media has sought to exploit to attract attention, sell papers, and attract the attention of the increasingly distracted electorate. Slate's video reducing the recent Democratic primary fight to night minutes has reminded me of the proportion between actual controversies and the numerous nontroversies which are created out of thin air. I would estimate no more than one in ten of these stories really have any meat or heft to them.

Back to the Presidential Race-- what can't be argued is that the media clearly salivated over the prospect of being able to capture the photogenic Obama looking Presidential at a variety of campaign stops. Nothing appeals to theatrics more than a well-received 200,000 strong speech. Obama has won over the media, now, as to whether or not the American electorate will respond in kind is anyone's guess. I openly admit to not being able to understand people who make up their minds at the last minute about elections or anything. That there would be any undecideds now, roughly 100 days from the election is completely beyond me.

As I've mentioned before, fatigue has set in, both here in the blogosphere and in the world. An exciting primary fight grew wearying about a month before Hillary's concession at the first part of June. Most people I talk to just want this to be all over. And truthfully, I've been hard pressed to find anything original or interesting to write about, scraping the bottom of the metaphorical barrel for nearly two months.

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