An End to Rational Public Discourse: Wasn't Politics a Dirty Word?

I seem to recall that claiming someone was "playing politics" used to be a common method of attack on elected officials so much so that the very word "politics" carried a negative connotation. Now it seems that times have changed. Major news organizations have decided they want to be known for "politics." MSNBC's proudly proclaiming itself as "the place for politics" with it's tagline often placed on the frame of it's programming. CNN joins in with "CNN = Politics" as it's frequent banner. Fox News, the ratings leader, uses no such tagline and seems to focus more on policy with a "fair and balanced" approach but compensates by incorporating the (feigned or sincere seems up for debate) fringe fanaticism of Beck and the unbridled, overly simplified partisan perspective of Hannity in it's lineup.

So what does MSNBC, for one, seem to mean by politics. With Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Ed, and Chris Matthews as evidence, MSNBC defines politics as viewing Washington as a soap opera where Democrats are the heroes and policies matter to the extent that they cause contention and personality and party conflict. They have become the reality soap opera shows.

While the lack of helpful information on policy debates from MSNBC (and all the most popular media for that matter) is troubling, particularly given the amount of time that issues like health reform have been center stage, Fox News Beck takes troubling to a whole new level. Beck seems to want to be the Art Bell of politics, with his penchant for conspiracy theories. At the same time, with his tone and perpetual and emphatic call to action, Beck seems to want to be the pastor of politics. That later would seem to be much more dangerous to a weary people searching for a purpose in life that should come far from tea parties, DC marches, and excessively charismatic pundits who know the ratings power of entertainment and intrigue. Such a purpose of course is found only in humbly seeking the will of our ever present and working Maker.

It's an interesting course of events that Fox's most absurd show host in Beck also happened to preside over one of the most helpful discussions on health care yet to make it to the mainstream media. Several days ago Beck filled a room with about 40 doctors and med students who he questioned about health reform. Surprisingly the diversity of their opinions and comments suggested they weren't preselected for conformity with Becks "health reform is Obama's way to subject the masses" perspective.

So there you have it. News organizations want to be the next Guiding Light and an American anti government version of Hugo Chavez, in terms of his concept of reason and truth, is the person to look at for a reasonable policy discussion on health care. That is, of course, in between his rants about a new fascism and how the president is a racist seeking to rule your existence.

Note: This article was written with it's own degree of simplifying slightly entertainment seeking rhetoric. In my mind, Beck and all other individuals mentioned are children of God and seem to be genuinely good people.