It’s really not a ‘game’

By JOHN M. FISHER
Published: May 20, 2008

It was probably one of the best examples of television as an art form that I have seen for some time. Rarely does truth conquer theatrics these days.
The show is called “Hardball,” and host Chris Matthews is known for not letting up on his guests. Last week, Matthews let one guest have it with both barrels — and he deserved it.
The guest, little-known radio talk show host Kevin James, was lambasting Barack Obama for his apparent willingness to sit down and talk with some of America’s enemies. James said it was appeasement, just like Neville Chamberlain did with Hitler before World War II.
An irritated Matthews asked him, “OK, What did Chamberlain do?” James had no clue. All he could do was continue to say the word “appeaser.”
Matthews repeatedly pressed the question before the guy finally admitted that he did not know what Chamberlain actually did wrong.
It was then that a frustrated Matthews said, “You have no idea what you are talking about.”
I share this with you to illustrate a trend that I have noticed with more and more frequency in this election — political coverage involves very little hard fact, but plenty of ill-informed loudmouths.
I suppose it is a lot easier for the radio, television and newspaper enterprises to just get someone from the opposing sides and let them have it out than actually get their own facts and then present them objectively. But that would be too much like actual reporting, something seldom done these days.
There is, of course, a reason for this lack of real journalism — and it has more to do with profit than integrity.
Radio and television sell advertising based on their audiences. Newspapers gauge their results on circulation. Somewhere along the way, we Americans decided that we would rather be entertained than informed. Sadly, controversy and public shouting matches are more entertaining — at least for some of us.
The folks who manage the news take their cue from you folks and give you what you want, not what you really need. They boost their profits at the expense of your knowledge base, but a lot of you don’t seem to really care about any of that.
Add to that a growing tendency to cover this election like a horse race or a football game and you have a real recipe for disaster.
Some of you folks still don’t seem to get it. We are choosing someone to lead this nation for the next four years, someone that will determine how the economy will operate, whether or not we will continue to be bogged down in an unpopular war and dozens of other critical challenges facing this nation.
Instead of giving you real positions from the candidates, what you get is a lot of silly nonsense destined to confuse and distract you. History has shown the political kingmakers that if you are kept in the dark, you can be manipulated. Such things often mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Based on what is happening now, I would not be surprised if we started to choose our presidents in much the same fashion that we select winners on “American Idol.” But that would be ridiculous now, wouldn’t it?
November will be here before you know it, and many of you will still be trying to select your next president based on such superficial factors as race, religion and perceived political ideology. How many outright lies will you have been told before this election is over?
There is too much at stake not to wake up and pay attention this time around. How many more things have to go wrong in this nation before we start to realize that what we have been doing, at least for the past eight years, has brought us nothing but trouble?
We need real solutions to real issues, not the circus sideshow that will be presented between now and November. For a change, let us not be as stupid as some in Washington think we are.
For a change, let us once again become the informed electorate that this nation once was, instead of a herd of blind sheep being lead to an eventual slaughter.
Not again, this time.
• John M. Fisher of Danville is a businessman, documentary filmmaker and freelance writer, and is the former bureau chief for KDFW, a CBS affiliate in Fort Worth, Texas. You may contact him at .