While I Was Away!

Okay, so I go on vacation, and in a grand experiment I left the internets behind, and while I am sitting on the veranda with my leg elevated, naturally, shit happens. The Financial Meltdown (totally expected), Abu (who will stand in front of that closet filled with skeletons) resigns and Senator Craig (can you say hypocrite?) cruising public bathrooms are just some of the myriad stories out there. Then I come home and my very own intertubes breakdown and I can’t get online and get all of the skinny out there and what is a girl to do?

Well I can’t really do catch up as all I have to rely on is cable and tree versions of the latest dirt and you know how dry and limited they can be. At work I don’t really have time to surf as I have to catch-up on all the work that came in over the transom while I was on “vacation” plus the work that comes in under the transom everyday. I must have about three hundred personal emails waiting to be culled. And I still haven’t gotten through all of my work related emails yet!

So, really, what is a girl to do? The answer is: FREAK OUT!

Now, I have to say that being away from the internet, and information central, was actually in some ways very comforting. I felt like the world was just meandering along and not completely out of control. It was like I was the average American. I read the NYT’s cover to cover, okay so that isn’t exactly like the average American, and I have become very good at reading between the lines, but not reading the WAPO definitely put me out of the loop (finally at work I did take time to download all the Froomkin Columns I missed as a day without Froomkin is like a day without avocado and sunshine). Not to mention what insights Andrew Cohen has on the Abu resignation and the snark which is usually supplied by his commentators. And let’s not forget that there is some background on the whole Senator Craig story. And I missed what Max had to say about the Fed and the Financial Meltdown and what was Dave Johnson’s take on the Housing Bubble Burst? So, for a couple of weeks I was living in the America that most folks live in and it felt very comfortable except that underneath it all I knew what I was missing.

When I commented on my little experiment of being without the intertubes one of my fellow vacationers was perplexed about my need for information. I said that it was necessary as I was a citizen and it was my duty to be informed. We then got into a discussion of Abu and I said something about the U.S. Constitution and my fellow vacationer said in a very dismissive way, “Oh, yah, the Constitution.” And there you have it folks: the U.S. Constitution is dismissed!

Now, this fellow vacationer is not stupid, nor is she retarded or mentally challenged, she is merely a typical and average American and is dismissive of the United States Constitution and the rule of law. And lest you think that she is one the younger folks that didn’t have Civics Classes in school, think again. When she was a public school student she did have Civics Classes. She then went to great lengths to explain to me that she didn’t get involved with politics. I told here that of course she did politics. She watches FOX News and nothing is more political than watching FOX News. Her retort was that she also watches CNN. Well, what can one say? Watching CNN and Wolf Blitzer, who never had a follow up question to an out right Administration Lie, is definitely the antidote for FOX, wouldn’t you say?

So, there I was without the internet, due to my experiment, with only the information that the average American gets and with average Americans and I have to tell you it was on one level very comforting and on another level so disconcerting that it made me crazier than I usually am. Then I come home to my own personal intertubes desirous of the back story and everything that I had missed and discovered that my very own intertubes were unavailable for some reason (yet to be diagnosed.) Well, needless to say I FREAKED OUT!

As a result of my little experiment and my interchanges with “Average Americans” I can say that if you are a New Yorker and are limited to reading the NYT’s, the Daily News and the NY Post and television for News you are limited period. I am not sure which is worse FOX’s Commission (you know identifying scurrilous Republicans as Democrats) or the Networks’ Omission, but both have an effect on democracy. If this is how you get your news you are definitely uninformed at the best and misinformed at the very least. You will be lulled into the misguided belief that the world is meandering along and all is not as bad as many of us think.

I had always been one of those who thought that FOX’s commissions were the problem, along with the NYT’s commissions and the WAPO commissions, but I may have been wrong. The commissions of the MSM were so transparent and often easily discernable, especially in the PR campaign in the run up to the War in Iraq and the current PR campaign against Iran, the MSM’s omissions, however, are far more subtle and insidious.

While in Saratoga I had an epiphany on Omission. There was a blackout on the evening of the Travers. Now the “All News” local station in Saratoga is a Clear Channel station. You know the national station that does “Local News” (without local coverage) and is a big supporter of the status quo and the Republican Party. Well these folks, when reporting on the storm conditions in Saratoga, never mentioned the blackout of the National Grid. The closest they came was in an interview about the storm when an interviewee said that the storm “didn’t pose a problem to them as they all hung around in a café on Broadway with candles and that it was quite romantic.” The Clear Channel folks cut away from the interview and made no mention of the fact that the entire region was without power and with no discussion as to when power might be restored.

We had a power pack so we were able to connect it to our TV and watch this because we wanted to know if there was any information on when power would be restored. Not only was there no information about when power would be restored, there was no information about the fact that there was no power period. Clear Channel, the national information power, had omitted that there was no power. Every news cast that evening and on to the early morning on the storm situation in the region omitted the power situation and the blackout.

Now this may seem small to many, but to me it was an epiphany of sorts. If you can omit the facts of reality how are folks to judge reality? It was clear that we were in a blackout with no end in sight. Yet it wasn’t being reported. Not one word was spoken about the Blackout! How can that be? Now if something so obvious can be eliminated from the news what else is being omitted?

Do our 4^th Estate folks know about a nascent strike on Iran and aren’t reporting on that?

What other information does the “Average American” lack and what has been omitted from the news that might actually inform us as to what is really going on?

Oh, and why does the “Average American” disdain the U. S. Constitution? Going on “Vacation” has many advantages and lessons. And being FREAKED OUT is only one.

So, my grand experiment on vacation and being without the internets was a very interesting experiment that left me with the worry that democracy in its fullest meaning is endangered not just by the media but also by the citizenry.

I am once again bereft!

Update: Lucky for me I have my very own Computer Geek and he helped me fix the intertube problem. And I just want to say thank you to my baby boy, a true man, because he helps me learn something new everyday, as Martha would say, and it is a good thing.

And as a result of his tutoring the intertubes have divulged that Senator Craig is going to step down. I personally feel that he is being screwed as Vitters is still in place and he also broke the law. Craig has very little chance of having his plea reversed, but any defense attorney knows that. Vitters hasn’t been charged and he hasn’t plead to anything but he has admitted to breaking the law with prostitution, albeit heterosexual encounters. Of course, Craig’s Governor is a Republican and can be assured of appointing a Republican replacement while Vitter’s Governor is a Democrat and would most likely appoint a Democrat as a replacement. But it isn’t about politics is it, it’s all about the crime? So, I have to tell you that I think that Craig is getting screwed by the RNC and all of his other “Family Values” supporters out there and he should be outraged at what is happening to him whether he is “Gay” or not.

But then after spending a couple of weeks among “Average Americans” I have come to the conclusion that I am not an “Average American” and I am comforted by that thought! I also found out that Max is hanging it up and as the not “Average American” I am once again bereft! What is an eco junkie to do?

And what are the Republicans to do?

I am thankful to be home and not hanging out with “Average Americans” and I will not be leaving the intertubes behind again. Information and Democracy are too important to experiment with.

JMHO!