One of my guilty pleasures with
which I partake is to peruse the news as Google sees it. Google being the tool of research for many is
also a place for viewing the real interest of users of the internet. It is safe to say that Google is one of the
dominant search engines on the web, and it is also reasonable to say that the
greatest access to the internet occurs in the first world.
Previous analysis of the 22,000+
people who viewed the blog of Evan’s journey might be interpreted as having an
origin bias. But that would place too
great an emphasis on the physical location when the internet is a tool open to
the world, even if politically restricted in some regions. That said, the political fallout of the
discussion of a dying child hardly warrant censorship. And so we see highest viewings in the first
world nations of North America, Western Europe and Oceana, although notably no
hits from Japan or Korea. The next level
of interaction was by persons in “second” world nations, et cetera, et
cetera. The blog service is even kind
enough to share this information in a color coded picture.
All of this is of course
foundation for the following Google News list (links remain embeded) of the most popular news items at 9:00 am on
this last Tuesday in November 2012.
So number 1 is a face
shot of a person who was on the wrong end of a fist fight. On this morning the entertainment headline
writers got their job done right, while the faceless masses give credibility to
one-on-one violence, a passion for seeking out the pain of others all in an
effort to undoubtedly disguise their own pain. People in the story are not
living well, the people covering the ‘story’ are lacking any sense of human
decency, and the people reading the story lack the good sense to move on in
their own lives and stop comparing their pain with those in the ’public’ eye.
Next. . .
Number 2 is an issue
worthy of coverage, worthy of being addressed by the involved parties and should
be a high priority item of interest for the huddled masses. Ideological intransigence between the two
biggest power broking groups in the United States has resulted in the sort of
gridlock that puts Los Angeles rush hour to shame. The political parties of the
Democrats and Republicans are nothing more than idea Ponzi schemes
regurgitating positions while doing nothing constructive, manufacturing no
products but sound bites, and are populated by people who are ideologically
fixed and intellectually dishonest while being led by people who only seek to
gain and retain power on the basis of keeping just enough people happy enough
to be re-elected.
And so these so called
political leaders at the elected Federal level are not seeking to do what is in
the best interests of the country, but in the self-interest of keeping their constituency
happy enough to vote for them in the next election. Compromise is seen as weakness and as the Tea
Party has shown, it does not take much for one organized group within a party
to upset the machine and cause both the ideology to lose credibility while
ensuring that the ‘other’ side wins. But
that is just representative of this election cycle, the Democrats had a similar
challenge in the John Anderson and later Ralph Nader, while Republicans have
had to deal with the likes of Ross Perot and the threat of a Michael Bloomberg
or Ron Paul third party. But I digress
not unlike the President or the news coverage.
Let us start with the
premise that few people liked Civics, fewer people like Economics, and the
number of people who enjoyed both can be fit in a phone booth. Civics is based on the principles that we
elect to office those people we believe are best suited to do the best job –
not to do what will get them reelected. Economics
is the study of values as expressed in purchasing power. So in our current system, the elected take
actions that will get them reelected, and place the highest value on those
items that are in their own best self-interest of reelection.
The President is
elected by an electorate who wants the office to present to the world the face
the people would like to have represent them.
Not for their leadership ability or skills in moving the country
forward. At best the ability to
manipulate the fifth estate to present the most important issues in the most
favorable light is perhaps the extent of day to day leadership. Please see Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton as
examples of this skill, while Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush never grasped
this skill. Our current President has
mastered the oratorical, but is average at best in bringing the populace to
common ground.
That he now wants to
take a leadership role in the ‘fiscal cliff’ budget talks is admirable, but
this is not a time or place for public appeal.
This is disingenuous and smacks of digging his feet in rather that communicating
and compromising. If ever there was a
time for a smoky back room deal, it is during the lame duck session of an
unchanged political landscape. Both
sides would take their PR lumps from their core constituencies, but there is another
22 months to heal those wounds. These
are the two months every two years when the government actually has an
opportunity to lead and make some difference.
But unfortunately it appears that the phone booth on Capitol Hill where
the Civics and Economics nerds used to live is a vacant property. Prediction – the Federal car is going off the
cliff with the hands of extremists at the wheel.
The people in the
story are you and me and we are not well people, the people covering the story
cannot do it the justice it deserves because they would have to compromise core
values to share opposing points of view in a palatable light, and the average
readers could care less about anything other than the fear mongering that the average
family will have to pay $2,200 more in taxes next year.
Story 3 is about a
snotty child actor, Story 4 is a tragedy of a family who decided to take their
dog on a walk at a beach with 10 foot waves – dog jumps in water and gets in
trouble, then the family goes in after the dog, everyone dies because of a ‘sneaker’
wave. Question of the day – what is
sneaky about a 10 foot wave? While the next set of questions about what was going
through the mind of the family outing leader go begging, let me ask a
follow-up, what makes this personal tragedy worthy of being in the top ten most
important stories in the world on any day?
Story 5 is politics,
chaos, mayhem and global warming/climate change all wrapped up in the Jersey
Shore, Story 6 is about sports
Stories 7 and 8 deal
in part with the world as a whole but are wrapped up in human intrigue angles. In Egypt the underlying story is whether
countries ruled by dictators are more prone to want to continue with dictators
or at what point does democracy/revolution reach a tipping point. Similarly the discussion must ensue: is it more
important to have a degree of freedom of speech or is it more important that
there exists a principle of one person one vote, and is this potential rabble
democracy in need of tempering by the principles of governance as a
republic. World Civics and World
Economics
Stories 9 and 10
delineate upon a dominant theme of the top ten.
The consuming public of the United States places more value in hiding
their heads in the clouds of entertainment news, gossip and scandal because
they can relate to seeing other people, even larger than life people suffering
through the challenges of every day. It
comforts many human souls to see others in more pain than themselves, rather
than facing the pain of educating themselves about who is leading them, why
they are travelling the path they are, and seeking to engage others in dialogue
about what is really important.
Listening to the
updates on the past weekends shopping sprees, people vote with their wallets
and many people do not see the government avoiding the cliff so they are
holding onto their money in anticipation of paying more to the government. This lack of confidence in the government leads
to a lack of confidence in the individual.
Unconfident individuals do not buy stuff, no stuff bought means the
economy suffers. If the US economy
suffers, so does the world as a whole.
Extremist viewpoints take hold and wars are fought because extremists cannot compromise.
A US government in
gridlock, interested only in meeting the needs of their own extremists leads
down a road to the rise of other extremists across the globe, most notably
among those whose agenda of aggressive behavior against the US is fomented by a
Capitol Hill more interested in getting reelected rather than doing what is in
the best interest of the country.
What might be taken
away from these observations on the most popular internet stories of today? Supermen(incl.) - true political leaders - love Civics and Economics; and they (both Supermen and C&E) are critical to
understanding the world in which we live.
Political Leadership is currently an oxymoron in our society. And finally that he US consumer believes that
ignorance is bliss.
My advice, decide to
participate in dialogue on the important issues that affect others, and by
dialogue I mean to say walk a mile in the other person’s shoes and engage them
with an open mind. Understand that
facts, like statistics never lie; but statisticians, politicians and spin
masters (No matter the news organization they work for) and don’t be afraid to
put your mind numbing fascination with celebrities in the same light as
alcohol, marijuana, heroin and crystal meth.
Any comments on today’s
observations might include your favorite news story of the day, and your
favorite politician and why. This should
be good.
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