Ever since 9/11 the media has been floundering to determine exactly who it is. This week big media came into its own. It presented the situation in the best way it could. Without the media attention given to Katrina, things would likely still be languishing.
In a Democracy the people dictate policy. But the only way we can do that is if we are given a very blunt, in-your-face presentation of the world. We can make our own decisions as to how we will react. But we must know the truth.
Every leader must be held to the highest level of expectation in our greatest times of need. I believe President Bush has a greater sense of urgency because the media, and ultimately the people, demanded more of him. When you are in a leadership role in a Democracy the only way you know how to react is to hear the desires of the public in the current situation and in past situations. Our government – all of them – know exactly how we feel. And consequently, they are acting strongly now.
I suspect that in future American tragedies there will be a much quicker, shock-and-awe spectacle to save Americans. There will likely be polictical fall out from the initial slow response of Katrina. The lessons learned here will not be forgotten any time soon.
All of this I attribute to the response of American media. The musical montages and yelling at officials could probably be toned down a bit in our next inevitable American tragedy. But the idea is right. I realized, and I suspect the media realized, that ultimately it’s not your elected official that’s on your side. It’s your media that’s on your side. Even if you don’t agree with their presentation of a situation, they are the people investigating and digging to find as much truth as they can. You can determine at that point if you agree or disagree with what they find. You can determine if their findings are credible and actionable.
Even if you disagree with the media, they are truly the people who are your workhorse. Without them, the people who you respect and have placed in elected positions get free reign. It hurts when the media finds something that puts your elected official in a negative light. But you need to know. You need to know the truth so you can decide what to do about it.
The truth is, the landscape is less like “Democtrats versus Republicans” and more like, “the people, with the help of the media, versus the government”.
9/11 made me stronger, more aware, and societally mature. Katrina made me realize that the entire government, Republicans and Democrats, with their polorization, back stabbing, political-speak are all playing us. They are all intentionally keeping us off balance and divided. They do that to make their lives easier come election time. By dividing us we all just vote down party lines. In truth, we the people are a single body and our media is our tool to constantly inspect our elected officials. Once we realize that the separation, the us versus them, is really the people versus the government then we will get a much great, honest response from all of our officials.
Kartina made me realize that we need to come together. “Democrats versus Republicans” is just a illusion to control us. The media is truly on our side. They have been all along. They’ll do anything we tell them to. This week they hunted down the Katrina relief effort, we saw it, and it got better.
Here is to the start of the new uniting… The people and the media. Nice work Akron Beacon Journal. Nice work New York Times. Nice work CNN. Thank you Tim Russert. Thank you all of you for your tireless effort this week.