I've heard that an intentional strategy of the GOP is to keep its party loyalists as uneducated as possible. That's because only the uneducated don't see through their shenanigans. In 2008 that ridicule of intelligence was on display with praise of folksy appeal and derision of arugula-eating liberals.
I guess I've known for a long time that mainstream media has been aiding that effort towards dumbness. Which is why I don't watch TV news (of any stripe) and only get radio news from NPR (and even sputter at them at times). So it is good to see someone catalog the sinking of journalism. Some of the signs:
* "News sources" no longer spend much effort pursuing facts, understanding the truth, and coming to an independent conclusion and explaining it all to the public.
* What we get instead is a moderator letting two screaming heads have at it as they repeat spin and talking points in an effort to be impartial to both sides. Example: discussing the gay military ban by putting a gay ex-soldier on with a Fundie who can't get past "gay is gross".
* Those in the news business simply pull information from celebrity Facebook and Twitter feeds, which allows the speaker to say something without a follow-up question or challenge from the other side. Palin gets to be a conservative leader without proving she knows what she is talking about.
* They simply create an idea -- one with enough conflict -- and run with it. The current crop of such ideas include: The Tea Party will wipe out incumbents. There is a huge controversy over gays in the military. Is either true? Who can find the facts?
The result is a push towards conflict, fear, and ignorance for the sake of entertainment. This is war on intellectualism and they are winning.
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