A Middle Earth Journal Reality Check, 527's

Bush and Kerry have both come out with insincere half hearted criticism of 527's. Can they be banned? The answer is no. Should they be banned? The answer is no. Members of both political parties know this and anything else they say is so much hot air. The real problem with 527's is the media, especially the cable tabloid networks. The Swift Boat Liars ads were run in three or four states and would have had little impact on the national level if it were not for their constant airing on cable TV. They were aired with, at best, half hearted comments about their questionable validity. With few exceptions the swift boat liars like Thurlow and O'Niel were allowed to spout their lies freely.

Why was this so? Because they are so outrageous. Make no mistake, MSNBC, CNN and Fox call themselves "news" networks, they are not. They are tabloids in the finest tradition of National Enquirer et.al.. As the print tabloids found out long ago, outrageous sells. The Swift Boat 527 succeeded because it was outrageous. Of course the fact that the corporate media leans to the right was also a factor. The accurate but sedate anti Bush 527 ads receive no air time for the simple reason they are not outrageous. The tabloid fodder of the Scott Peterson trial still gets at least two hours of air time on the cable networks a day. With all that is going on in the world that is outrageous.

Democracy requires truth and information to survive. The fact that the American People get most of their information from tabloids leads me to believe Democracy won't survive long in the United States.