Cecilie1200
Diamond Member
Calm down, Trumpster.Yeah, it seems to me that the media and the public just have an ongoing symbiotic relationship. One feeds into the other and the cycle just keeps repeating. Also, unfortunately, I think it also means that the quality of reporting is decaying over time, as the media fulfills its top priority of ratings and clicks with the spectacular stuff, rather than digging and probing the less exciting stuff.Thanks for adding an important factor that I missed, that the brightest and most stable types among us have absolutely zero interest in being president due to the incessant public bashing, led (imo) by the US media that controls the message and partly decides how we devolve or evolve. Now, for some reason I see you shaking your head thinking I have it backwards about who exactly is leading the cart. I've given this a lot of thought, and am still basically clueless about whether the media does the leading or the viewers. It's a safe bet to claim that it's both, so I'm going with thatWell, two thoughts on this.The indirect premise that Americans deserve better candidates is spot-on. Although I maintain respect for what the founding fathers accomplished, considering the time period and having little to go by in the way of forming a democratic republic, there were of course things they had no way of foreseeing.Hell, I was ashamed WHEN I voted for him. But the alternative is so ugly that it didn't matter, and still doesn't.
One thing that's not changed: elected officials are those who tend to sell themselves the best to the most voters, however they can. These are by far not the best people for the job, regardless of party. What denies the best people from running? The REQUIREMENT to have access to multi-millions (which will soon be billions) narrows it down to only the wealthy, or having donors who are wealthy being able to run. Do I envy those who are wealthy? Absolutely not, if they're honest as hard work should pay off. Should it be a requirement to have millions or billions to run for office or does this level of wealth ensure that he or she is an exceptional candidate? Absolutely not.
As most know, corruption has infiltrated and ingrained itself in various political arenas (the perfect word for it-arenas). If we humans can't get it right there is another race going on globally that could soon become a factor. The use of AI replacing humans in key positions to "get things right" is no longer "sci-fi". As it stands, our constant political divisions (no longer a decent system of checks and balances but chaotic), one-upping, and all the other futile tactics are not working for us.
The way forward: candidates should be given a battery of tests including: IQ, personality, ethical decision making assessment, emotional IQ, and knowledge tests about the country and the world. Now there's something many would fail, including me! The results would be known by all voters, however, the individual names left out of it until the winner is declared based upon the results. Of course, we humans would still likely screw it up, bickering over the way the questions were worded or claiming that certain candidates didn't score as high as their backers assumed they would so it must have been rigged somehow. It's often wearing to be human
Can you imagine a country that actually decides to select the smartest, most globally informed, most emotionally stable, and most sane individual as its leader? I'm not sure which past president would have fared well given those screening measures as most of us do our best with limited skill sets, so upping the requirements for leadership seems quite reasonable. If and when Americans come together collectively to demand better representation, it can happen.
First, we treat national-level candidates like dogs, and that's an understatement. I can certainly understand why our REAL Best & Brightest have ZERO interest in running for office in these conditions. And We The People don't hold these people accountable for this -- in FACT, we CELEBRATE them for it -- and only enable them to do more of it.
And second, we deserve the "leaders" we choose. If we're willing to drop our standards into the mud as we have, then we damn sure deserve what we get. We can't blame anyone else for the fact that we know more about who won Dancing With The Stars than we do about the thugs, grifters and liars who have so much influence over our lives.
This is ENTIRELY a self-inflicted wound.
You're right that we voters get what we get. Many people have accepted that it's "just the way things are" and fall for the divisive tactics that maintain the status quo. Those who make major profit because of the continued divisions and violence are suspect to say the least. Over 90% of all US media is controlled (used that word intentionally instead of owned) by about 6 to 8 individuals who happen to own the mega corporations following various takeovers, buyouts, and mergers. A few of these corps are acting like monopolies. In a fair world, these corps that devalue free enterprise would have paid the piper already at some point, but the mega payoffs err donations must be stalling that process.
The media "shows" emerged years ago when audience values changed. Ratings must have indicated that people would only tune in if a certain level of entertainment was added. Gone are the days of good journalists who captivated audiences with the news and equally as important played fair with both sides. The following link is a great piece about Walter Cronkite's life: When The Media Gave Both Sides a Hard Time: The Walter Cronkite Era
So we get the predictable result: Instead of TV shows, radio shows and internet shows where there is left/right balance (like the old "Crossfire") that challenge the consumer to THINK, we mostly have one person screaming into the microphone or the camera, and their loyal fans buying it as "The Truth". Well, that's clearly bullshit, it's clearly going to produce distortions and outright lies, but we've gone too far down that path now.
Screaming? You mean like that TDS afflicted dingbat modertor that was screaming at Trump during the townhall?
Get over yourself, rapist-lover.