The presidential election season is approaching halftime, when there will be a slight break before the respective party nominees launch full fledged attacks against each other. I’m already burnt out.
Normally, I don’t watch or read the news beyond the bare minimum of knowing what major events are going on around the world.
Back when I used to follow the news, I came to the conclusion that everything is simultaneously racist, not racist, good for the economy, bad for the economy, good for democracy, bad for democracy, something that everybody should be talking about, something that nobody should be talking about but we’ll talk about how we shouldn’t be talking about it, completely supported by statistics and completely disproved by statistics.
It was all quite stressful, so I stopped following petty politics. Now, I read academic and popular works written by accredited professionals. Politics identifies problems and fabricates causes while academia studies causes and identifies the resulting problem.
Once every four years, I break my abstinence and follow trending American national politics for the presidential election.
It’d be easy to say that petty politics and a media willing to make trivial matters a focal point are products of a people fed on vapid social media, but alas, that isn’t the case.
Just Google the Gold Spoon Oration.
Back in 1840, during the presidency of Martin Van Buren, U.S. Representative Charles Ogle, Whig-PA, gave a speech known as the Gold Spoon Oration: The Regal Splendor of the President’s Palace attacking the incumbent Democrat while praising Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
Ogle on Harrison:
“An old soldier Harrison, who, to rescue thousands of women and children from the scalping knife of the ruthless savage, freely abandoned all the endearments of home and family, endured the icy and piercing blasts of northwestern winters, wading through the deep and cold waters and black swamps of Michigan and upper Canada, sustaining, at times, an almost famished nature upon raw beef, without salt, and often periling life on the field of battle?”
Ogle on van Buren:
“The survey of smooth lawns and gently sloping meads, covered with rich coats of white and red clover and luxuriant orchard grass, made no delightful impression on their eyes. No, sir; mere meadows are too common to gratify the refined taste of an exquisite with sweet sandy whiskers. He must have undulations, beautiful mounds, and other contrivances, to ravish his exalted and ethereal soul.”
At least if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton talked like Charles Ogle, politics would be more entertaining.
What you consider “petty politics”, I consider “false narratives pushed by the media”.
The reason you are finding conflicting opinions in the media is because our news outlets nowadays do not report the news. Our news media is much more concerned with pushing their agenda. (i.e. Fox News = Trump Channel and MSNBC = Clinton Channel).
If one were to use what is between their own ears and think for themselves, they would be able to form opinions based on principle. I myself, perhaps like you, am completely sick of what is known as the “mainstream media”. They are nothing more than opinions disguised as “analysts”. Very little actual news reporting is taking place. “Fair and balanced” is actually “unfair and unbalanced”.
You mention you bypass all of this for “accredited professionals” in academia. What does that mean exactly? What makes one an “accredited professional”?
The obvious issue with academia is, like the mainstream media, tend to have their own agendas too. Academia is primarily hard leftists. The overwhelming majority of college professors tend to be liberal as opposed to conservative. What you end up with is liberal professors teaching students how to be liberal and not to actually think critically and for themselves. Take the average individual that is in our age bracket Jonathan, they sadly are not using their brain to come up with their own opinions. Most of the time, they regurgitate talking points from their professors. This is exactly the same faulty logic behind our current system of education (teach – temporarily memorize – regurgitate for test).
And for all of these academia experts you follow and read…..you ended up being a supporter of Bernie Sanders – an economic illiterate and an open socialist (which I would actually take farther). You ended up supporting a candidate that has not done a lick of anything with his life. An old man who has literally been in politics for his entire existence and has produced nothing of value. These so called professionals in academia (i.e. Paul Krugman) don’t know a lick about the field they proclaim to be experts in. The truly valuable economists and professionals like Milton Friedman are sadly a dying breed. Instead…..we are left with ideologues.
Good luck being influenced by academia Jonathan, I hope you will re-consider your education. Join us that decide to use our own brain and stick to our principles.