“I’m an old black man who votes Democrat and watches MSNBC a
lot,” Wally recently told friends. “But
were I an old white man, I’d probably vote Republican and watch FOX News. It’s not that Republicans and Fox news are
all that great, but they do talk to America’s darker and most intolerant side. And they do this by involving their viewers.
“I imagine that people who both hate and fear those of us
who aren’t white, love their FOX News as much as I love my MSNBC. Mostly
what Republicans and FOX are doing right now, is ragging on our first black
president and they seem to love calling him “incompetent” and insisting that he
doesn’t have the same authority as his predecessors. I don’t know what most white folk think of
that kind of talk, but to me it’s obvious.”
Having said that, Wally admits that both Democrats and MSNBC
are on a losing streak right now, “And it’s their own damn fault,” he said. “And I can’t help but wonder if there is a
correlation between progressive television’s loss of viewers and the failure
Democrats to turn out their base.”
Wally says, both network and party took the easy way
out. When you don’t have a nest of
hateful, fearful and angry viewers to depend on, you’ve got to find some relevant
issues to stand on and make them interesting enough for people to understand
and care about. Democrats and MSNBC did
neither.
Perhaps, if MSNBC did more investigative reporting and a lot
less talking head stuff, they might manage to up their ratings. Meanwhile, FOX News doesn’t have to do much
of anything except be able to come as close as possible to using the N-word
without actually using it. “For a lot of
older white people watching FOX is pretty much like attending a KKK rally in
the privacy and comfort of their living rooms,” a close friend of Wally
said. “And they seem to find it very satisfying.”
Democrats and MSNBC, meanwhile, Instead of appealing to
everyday middleclass “voters” who may have lost a home, seen their children’s
education suffer, experienced wage stagnation or haveing to pay back high interest
student loans, went for the low hanging fruit and pretty much left the big
banks and Wall Street alone.
Right now, most everyone is pissed at big banks and Wall
Street. And if some of those corrupt
bankers and big money people on Wall Street were actually charged and went to
jail for their crimes, instead of paying huge, tax deductible and easily
afforded fines, the Dems may have had a better turnout. And imagine if MSNBC were able to report on the
big bank/Wall Street corruption and how the Obama administration was kicking
ass and taking names. We may well be in
a different place today. "And not until the rest of us can deduct our traffic tickets and court imposed fines," said another of Wally's friends, "should J.P. Morgan Chase be able to deduct theirs.
“And while Democrats and MSNBC were telling and showing their
base, FOX News and Republicans were involving their base, and that,” says Wally,
“makes all the difference in the world.”
Tell me, I’ll forget
Show me, I’ll remember
Involve me, I’ll understand
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