Back to the Basics (Mass Media Culture is Dead)

The takeaway result of the last election was that the mainstream (mass) media went so overboard in their partisan advocacy that they destroyed whatever illusions they still maintained as an impartial and objective function in society, and revealed themselves as just another vested self-interest (if not even more so) -- to be wary of like all the others.

It’s not the trusted friend it would like everybody to believe they are and have been since the earliest days of the founding of American civilization. They want to be first in the hearts and minds of the people -- above all the others, even to the highest public offices of trust and respect -- even willing to destroy that trust and respect to their advantage. It might have worked if the object of their contempt was not one of a much higher level of proven integrity and irreproachable conduct -- that they worked so tirelessly to undermine. But the truth always outs in the end.

It was the mass media that was the “man behind the curtain,” and not the man under unrelenting scrutiny until the very end. His saving grace was that he was a man of his faith and convictions that would not be abandoned. But that persecution too, would pass.

It is the mass media that still has to get up each morning, without George W. Bush to bash, blame and abuse because he would not return in kind that treatment he would tolerate from those who identified themselves in this way. The ultimate anonymity was to become one of a pack -- of unrelenting pack dogs nipping at his heels without surcease. Under such an attack, would he crack before his term ended, or would he cross the finish line before he could be crushed and confounded?

So another achievement on top of all the others, is that George W. Bush withstood the unmerciful onslaught of his critics -- and remained unbroken and unbowed -- to the great rage of his tormenters, and yes, torturers. They were the modern day versions of the “Scribes” who teamed up with the “Pharisees,” to provide that harassment to its final and inevitable conclusion.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the crucifixion; not everyone was convinced that he was rightfully scorned -- and abused. A few could recognize that this was a person unjustly persecuted -- and stood their own convictions, even if it meant losing their own jobs and reputations.

There are always a few who will remain unscathed in this way -- of not being overwhelmed by the lynch mob, the witch hunt, the Inquisition -- and can hold their ground, and that is the true march of progress and civilization in all times, in every culture and society. They are the true children of the faith -- and maintain it through the outrageous injustices and pressures to abandon their steadfastness.

So when the mass media culture thought everybody had to be aboard their own bandwagon, their own wheels started to come off, causing their own abandonment and despair.