[ale] Off topic - And now, Arizona (and now, BEYOND)

[wolf at wolfhalton.info]

I think the right wing is also fragmented, but the the right wing echo
chambers work because they choose a small set of points and hammer them.
Somebody could do the same thing for the left as well, but they have to
choose their own topics and titles rather than look through the rights
talking points and choosing which to be against.
We on the left have let the right lead the conversation for far too
long, and it has led to a codependent left, who like a beaten wife say
"listen to your father, dear. He loves you."
Let's choose some small set of topics and hire a talking head to echo
those over and over.

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Johnson <larryfeltonjohnson at gmail.com>
Reply-to: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
Subject: Re: [ale] Off topic - And now, Arizona (and now, BEYOND)
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:34:46 -0500



On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 5:03 AM, Paul Cartwright <ale at pcartwright.com>
wrote: 

        On Fri July 9 2010, Greg Freemyer wrote:
        > If your right wing friends spend all their time watching
        Hannity you
        > need a different selection of freinds.
        
        
        what do your friends listen to, Air America?


There isn't really any equivalent mass media noise machine on the Left.
One thing to realize is that the core of the Right in this country is
relatively homogenous (mostly consisting of whites in the South, West,
and Midwest -- supplemented by a small contingent of Libertarians) ,
while the Left is a fragmented set of small interest groups.  You do get
crossovers (I'm a good example of that, an older white southerner from a
working class background) but region, background, race, and income are
pretty decent predictors of political beliefs.

Limbaugh has a built-in mass audience.  It's like a huge echo chamber in
that most of what he's saying are just repetitions of what they already
believe.  This sort of thing isn't just a right wing foible.  The Left
listens to self-reinforcing stuff too, but it's really scattered all
over the map.  So I can't tell you what the Left as a whole listens too,
but I can point to my own habits, modest fellow that I am.

I get most of my information by reading, not by listening to the radio
or watching TV, but I enjoy NPR.  I also listen to the right wing
entertainers (Boortz, Hannity, Medved, et al) when I'm forced to drive.
As for reading, aside from professional development stuff and manuals I
read the New Yorker, and online I read FiveThirtyEight.com, Wonkette
(because it's funny),  

and the Huffington Post (in that order).

Things like Air America are doomed, because they make the mistake of
assuming that success in the media consists of a series of techniques,
rather than an evaluation of exactly what medium is suited for one's
audience.

Hence Limbaugh, Beck, and Drudge work for the right.
FiveThirtyEight.com and Jon Stewart are more appropriate for the Left.

Larry


-- 
"I see design standards that don't tell you how to come up with a good
design (only how to write it down), employee evaluation standards that
don't help you build meaningful long-term relationships with staff,
testing standards that don't tell you how to invent a test that is worth
running."

                                     Tom DeMarco
                                      Slack 

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