Sorting through the news

Politics are so loaded with argument and rhetoric right now between the Iraq war strategy and the ’08 presidential election that you have to go behind the headlines to figure out what politicians…and media…are up to, and why. That’s what we did on The Drew Mariani Show this afternoon on Relevant Radio for a couple of fleeting segments, when Drew and I ran through some of the stories — and candidacies — of the day. Audio is archived there for this, and other conversations we’ve been having about the news. Same for Morning Air on that network.

It’s important to talk about the issues that are central to the republic, which come down to the core issue of the human person and how life and dignity are regarded. Because that determines the focal point for every other issue. Most of the folks in elite media have talking points and use them predictably, with the purpose of forming opinions. We need to develop questioning points, to actually form opinions based on more complete knowledge than we’re getting from the Bigs.

Why are the media in constant spin mode on the ’08 presidential race — in February of ’07? Why are they running nearly daily polls analyzing who’s ahead in each party and over what issues? I mean, why such a daily drumbeat now? They joke about how early they’re having to report all this, but then go on to report all this, and with such urgency. Several states have now changed their election laws to move up their primaries, so they’re counted more seriously by the candidates and certainly the media. This is getting to be a trend, so next year ought to be a real feeding frenzy for the media.

Speaking of which, I’m worried that our country is sick. Or at least, the media that reflects the state of our culture every day, on screens and in newsprint. For the past two weeks, the incessant coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith story has been bizarre and seriously disturbing. Does it reflect our country’s real interest, or does it create the interest in order to feed it? Why this insatiable appetite for the most personal, intimate, humiliating, tragic, shocking pieces of information anybody can dig up? Pray for these people…

Then there’s American Idol. I haven’t paid attention to this before, but you can’t actually escape it. Plenty of that shows popularity is fine, and I do like the ability of unknown talent getting a chance to perform for a vast audience. But that same vast audience is watching plenty of other common folks paraded on stage and humiliated in the early part of the season. Why? Ratings? Who enjoys watching that, really? And why is Simon so mean sometimes? Why do audiences like to see people thrown off islands, and rejected as the loose link, among other public put downs?

We should be elevating human dignity.

Which brings up the really disturbing trend of girls going wild and tv news shows covering it. Why are girls going wild in so many mean and ugly ways? There’s a lot of anger, hostility, rage and immorality in the rampages. But at bottom, I think there’s a lot of fear, low self-esteem and need for affection underlying it.

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus has a piece over at First Things that loosely ties in with this little tirade, though his is as reasoned and erudite as always. It’s mostly about same-sex marriage and media articles on that issue, but it’s also about the pop culture that fosters the issues above.

Defining deviancy down, defining normalcy up, and we are at last prepared to embrace Norman O. Brown’s proposal of polymorphous perversity.

Low standards, low expectations, deviancy made normal. We’re out of whack, out of order. But like water seeks a level, human nature seeks balance and natural order. We’re entering the penitential season of Lent with as great a need as ever for its spiritual rigor.