Chinese water torture
Posted by Richard on May 17, 2006
Instapundit linked to a compelling, bitter, and important post at Instapunk which argued that the bloggers and new media are merely the "foam on the whitecaps stirred up by the vast currents and movements in the ocean below" — the mainstream media.
Instapunk concluded that the MSM are winning the war of ideas via something akin to Chinese water torture, repeating the same message over and over again:
It doesn’t have to be true, it doesn’t have to be fair, it doesn’t have to be consistent in its terms. All that matters is that it is repeated with uniform constancy: drip, drip, drip. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. Change the headlines, seem to change the subject. Abu Ghraib. European disdain. Tom Delay. Katrina. Deficits. Valerie Plame. Gas prices. Karl Rove. Death in Iraq. Angry mothers. NSA wiretaps. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, the lede is always the same. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. George W. Bush is no good. …
I think he’s onto something. As Glenn said, read the whole thing.
Glenn observed that:
It’s an interesting perspective, though it assumes a shocking degree of cynicism, partisanship and commitment on the part of Big Media.
Umm, Glenn … so, what’s your point?
Anonymous said
I think that’s they way they’ve always operated. Besides the endless recitation, the drip-drip-drip, they also have the ocean of distribution that covers the United States – the endless recitation, repeated everywhere. You can’t escape except by turning it off and cancelling the paper – and if you do that you’re suspected (or accused) of being anti-intellectual, a willful know-nothing.
So what? I have a College degree and part of that was based on studying and analysing how Culture transmits Information – I cancelled the paper and change stations frequently.