I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. And every aunt, uncle, grandparent and distant third cousin has brought a gift just for me. Presents are stacked so high I can’t see the Christmas tree!
God Bless us every one!
And just a few days ago I was wondering what to blog about. Ha! Silly me.
Now I don’t know where to start.
The mechanisms of power are everywhere in an election. I thought I might explain the idea of authority and power by consent. But I could also go to town on the idea of information as a mechanism and its insidious nature when it comes to elections. Then I thought I might just tear the issues apart and show where the truth lies.
And of course the subtlety of Harper wearing a tie while Iggy goes with the open collar is begging to be dissected as a power dynamic. After all, there is a lot of money at stake here. Every detail is planned and calculated. I don’t want you to miss a thing.
Then came the epiphany…
I was sprawled on my couch in my post earth hour bliss considering the merits of my pillow when the always trustworthy Sandy Rinaldo popped her face on my TV and told me that she was about to fill me in on the first campaign day’s activities.
Oh Sandy you seductress…I thought I would at least hear her out.
Then she hooked me.
She told me that she was going to tell me all about the first day of the election campaign. But then she told me that I would hear about the Conservative, Liberal and NDP parties’ first day of pounding the pavement.
Whoa.
Last time I checked there are two other parties involved. One may be Quebec focused, but the other is a national party with over 1.5 million supporters.
Hmmm. Steven Lukes might call that the second and third dimensions of power.
The first dimension is simple “power over.” It is the ability to determine the choice being made. In this case – who you vote for. The politicians will do their best to influence your choice on election day.
However there is a second and third dimension that determine who should be considered when you make that choice and what the questions should be that determine how you make your choice. By actively excluding the Green Party and the Bloc Quebecois the CTV is telling you they are not an option. They are also making sure that you do not get to hear what those leaders are saying about issues.
Make no mistake; what we discuss as we try to make our choice will determine what choice we will make.
Mr. Harper has made it clear that he wants to talk about coalitions and politicians ignoring the will of the people. He is suggesting that this is the most important issue to consider and that you may want to cast a ballot to ensure such a coalition does not occur.
Mr. Ignatieff wants to talk about a Prime Minister in contempt of Parliament and how he is not trustworthy. You should cast your ballot to ensure that such a Prime Minister does not get to railroad Parliament.
Mr. Layton suggests that both Harper and Iggy are untrustworthy and that there is an alternative that will ensure that the aging population of Canada can retire in safety and security. He says reject those two and vote for me.
However, if you let Elizabeth May or Gilles Duceppe into the discussion, the discussion will change.
The Bloc and the Green Party are seen as vote splitters. They steal votes from the Conservatives, Liberals and the NDP.
If the Greens get into the discussion then the nearly one million votes they garnered in the last election could grow. And the Liberals and NDP might suffer.
If the Bloc gets a chance to join the discussion, the 1.3 million votes it received last time may grow. Liberals and Conservatives might see a shift. An unpredictable shift at that.
But if the Green are ignored and the Bloc are only discussed in Quebec, it is possible that the Liberals would form their own minority government.
If Harper wins his majority then we can expect his pro-American politic will facilitate a number of new things.
That is not good for CTV.
Make no mistake. Media is a business. That business of media has an agenda.
Recently Mr. Harper lobbied the CRTC to allow a FOX subsidiary news channel to enter the Canadian news market. Further he tried unsucessfully to have the cable companies mandated to carry it on their bands.
FOX is not known for its unbiased reporting. It has a pro right-wing editorial perspective.
Media in the USA have already gone to court to establish that it is not illegal to tell falsehoods on the news. It is why the American news media is seen as less credible around the world. And FOX was the named defendant in the case that established that telling a lie in the news is not illegal.
This is meaningful because news is not about truth. It is about viewers and advertising revenues.
In Canada the leader is CTV. But if FOX news came to town the people might be swayed. That would be good for Harper, but not for CTV.
Now don’t go painting me with the Mr. Conspiracy Theory label. That is just an attempt to malign my ideas without dealing with them – like the CTV is doing to the Green Party.
Why else does the major news media in Canada choose to ignore a party that one million Canadians voted for? (7% of the voters)
Why does an organization that has the potential to define the election issues with its reporting ignore real issues and focuses on entertaining people with name calling and finger pointing?
If it isn’t some exercise of their ability to decide what information gets out there so they can influence the choices people make on election day, then what is it?
Information is power, right? With power comes responsibility, right?
Why wouldn’t CTV want to see Canadians make choices based on the most pressing of practical issues? Why wouldn't they want to play a meaningful role?
Why wouldn’t they want to honour the words of Alexis de Tocqueville when he said that democracy cannot exist without a working free press?
Just asking…maybe you have a better answer...
In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.
Alexis de Tocqueville
No comments:
Post a Comment