Posted by
Juwar74 on Friday, September 05, 2008 7:44:07 PM
This is the first part of a series on how conservative media convince its listeners, readers, and viewers that they are a legitimate news source by using an old rhetorical trick--mudding an argument. This series will also analyze the demographics of the conservative audience: how they are easily persuaded, what types of comments they make on blogs, and what influence they have on each other. So let's begin. Any comments are welcome.
Before I dig deeper, it is always important to understand where conservatives are coming from with respect to their relationship with mainstream media. Since the 60's and 70's when the social fabric of America changed dramatically, many conservatives and Republicans felt as if their voices were being stifled by ABC, NBC, and CBS at the time. The key word is "felt". They didn't feel their voices were stifled, per se. What really happened was that they became bitter and upset when they constantly saw on network television debating shows conservatives being eviscerated by either a liberal or an independent strictly on the facts of an argument rather than ideologue. (This squarely happened in the eighties when I was younger. During this time, Republicans and conservatives were lumped as one, just as liberals and Democrats are lumped as one. Now we know people are not cut out precisely as such when it comes to political views.)
But it should also be pointed out that the person who usually represented the conservative point of view were, in essence, on the far-right religious fringe: they were strict ideologues, and after hearing that particular conservative viewpoint awhile, it appeared to the general audience that the conservative view in general was outdated, racist, anti-semitic and intolerable. On top of that, the eighties introduced sitcoms and television programming that heavily promoted liberal viewpoints, particularly in the areas of child rearing (it's not okay to smack Johnny if he backtalks, whereas in previous decades it would have been okay), sex education (It's typically okay for teens to have sex, as long as they have condoms), race relations (if you are white and criticize the behavior of certain blacks you were branded a Klansman), gender equality (Women were being held back in society because their drunk husbands and boyfriends victimized them by giving them a punch in the pie-hole), and attitudes coming out of the public schools (think Fast times at Ridgemont High, the Breakfast Club, etc...). To the conservative living in America during this time, you definitely would have felt irrelevant, the punchline at parties, or trailer trash if you didn't espouse to these mainstream ideas and values.
Even in the eighties, with the rise of the religious right, and Reagan in power, conservative values were pretty much dismissed by the media world. Some felt Hollywood celebrities were setting the standard for moral behavior with many of them having children out of wedlock, having three to four marriages and divorcing at the drop of a hat. These conservatives were starting to see that their daughters wanted to be these people, and that was a serious problem...
The mainstream media during this time was about dollars (and still is). They put on television what most Americans wanted to watch. Unfortunately, that was sex, violence, and more sex.
So where was the conservative to turn? To talk radio, and that was the beginning of the decline of the intellectual debate in America...