As next year’s election gears up it seems our politicians are at it again, feeding us lies and misinformation so they are not painted as being negative. Just ask Howard Dean how well telling the truth helped his campaign for president? It seemed the more Dean talked truthful about the problems facing America, the more the media painted him as negative. In fact leading up to the Iowa Caucus, 70% of columns written about Dean contained negative language to describe him, according to a study done by FAIR magazine. But this isn’t about Dean, but a bigger problem we have in our country; fearing the truth. Take for instance the run up to the Iraq war, only one American news source, Knight Ridder, was saying the WMD’s do not exist. And where did they get this information? Right off of the US government’s own website that outlined the UN weapons inspections. So many people in the media were ignoring the truth about WMD’s even the Knight Ridder journalists covering the story started to doubt themselves.
Why do we paint people who tell the truth as negative? Have we become a society that can no longer handle the truth? Are we so thin-skinned and apathetic that we just don’t want to be bothered by it?
I want you to know that sometimes my cartoons will show the ‘ugly truth’ about an issue, and that’s not being negative, that’s be honest. We need more of it in America.
I’m really jaded and disheartened by our media. More time and press is dedicated to a Code Pink person heckling Hillary Clinton than to some really excellent speaking points made by Edwards and Kucinich at a Global Warming debate. CNN planting the “diamonds and pearls” question — ugh. More time is spent on Lindsey, Brittney, and Anna Nicole (whose death was caused by stupidity) than on Iraq or the men and women serving over there and the impact at home.
I’m disappointed in both parties, which pledged to uphold the Constitution but fold like lawn chairs when it comes to looking very seriously at Impeachable offenses of our upper Admin. Media, corporations, politicians are all in bed with each other. I imagine Sibel Edmonds has “negative” things to shed light on and the impact on both parties and wide spread, but the story won’t be cracked in the US.
Streaming daylight is the best disinfectant. It’s the bacteria, germs, and scum that try to paint that as negative.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Well stated – and sadly the truth. The only truth I don’t need to search for is that most people are sheepish. Baaaaahhhhh