Don't Be A Sheep!!!

[touched up on 11/12/07 for grammatical errors and clarity]

So I have been putting a lot of thought lately into how our political system + our media work together. Basically we mainly get our news from just a handful of sources: Fox, CBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, AP, Reuters, etc. So if the news does not come from these sources, very few folks take the time to go and research the issues in any more depth.

This is a very powerful and scary setup. For example, the news media have reported that this may be the most expensive campaign ever. Well surprise, surprise, who is the lucky beneficiary of these new found millions of dollars? That would be the Main Stream Media (or MSM for short).

The MSM also wants to see the most interesting stories. What is more interesting than a Clinton vs Giuliani race. So that is how they are steering these elections. I saw a CNN quote that said (I'll dig it up and reference it), that said during a certain time frame, John McCain was mentioned 90,000 times while Ron Paul was only mentioned 4,000. It gets even worse when they use words like "last place", "dead last", "unelectable", "kook", or "flake". How do you expect people to look beyond this in the current "sound bit" culture of 30 second news stories. (Just ask Richard Jewel how fairly the media painted him).

So when it came to Ron Paul, it did not take long for the MSM to completely sideline him and ridicule him. Well his supporters (including myself) finally got fed up, decided to setup a Money Bomb. (http://www.thisNovember5th.com) This is where, we all gave in one day. The campaign has nothing to do with this at all. Think about that. The campaign did not lift one finger. All they had to so was keep the servers running. Well at the end of the day, we set a new record for Republicans: $4.2 Million!!!!! Ron Paul's campaign raised more money in one day, than Mike Huckabee raised all year! [wikipedia] Well, after that one day, now all the sudden the MSM all want to talk with him.

So what now? Well we keep the momentum rolling. More and more folks are signing up at the meetup groups (http://ronpaul.meetup.com). He has actually brought in another $500,000 in the following 5 days after the money bomb, and he is getting much more attention by the MSM that seem to make or break candidates. So the kind folks who setup the initial Money Bomb are now setting their sights even higher. On the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, they are setting up a second Money Bomb: http://www.teaparty07.com

So you can see for yourselves, here is a phenomenally well done video on the three stages of the MSM in regards to Ron Paul:

Stage 1: Belittle and Sideline him
Satge 2: Coverage of the Money Bomb
Stage 3: Positive Interviews with him now

Take a look at see for your self.



So in conclusion, I guess what I'm saying is, the MSM serves its purpose, but folks, with the power of the internet, when deciding which person is best to run our country, please please please, please, Don't Be A Sheep!!! Don't just follow the herd, take the time to go through and read about the candidates (in both parties!), understand their positions. Then vote. If you have not taken the time to do any research, then let me give you a thought "Don't Vote". Seriously, because if you don't take the time to research the issues, then you could very well, be putting us on the path to danger (both fiscally and physically) that so many of us are trying desperately to get us out of....