Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836

A Year Away And It’s Already Started

The 2020 election is more than a year away. Time and distance doesn’t stop the predictions about who’s running. Even more, who’s going to win. Time to come back to Earth in Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836.

Sorry State Of Politics

One of the themes of my podcasts is the sorry state of politics in the United States. First of all our politics these days are driven completely by media. Social media. Cable News Channels. YouTube. Podcasting. All partisan. Usually owned by rich political operators.

Don’t Trust Everything You Read

Moreover it’s all about persuasion. Nothing we see or hear can be trusted.

Confirmation Bias

Tell us what they want to hear.

Make us feel good about it.

What I Won’t Do

Due to advocacy media, seems like the best thing I can do is tell you what I won’t do when it comes to coverage of election 2020. This kind of coverage is a great opportunity for independent voices.

Manipulation Is The Media’s Business

Certainly all the commentators and talking heads are busy convincing us of a point of view. Predicting the future, making assumptions on rumor and innuendo are the tools they use to manipulate viewers. Learn more in Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836.

The Borg

Meanwhile local, state and the federal government take in huge sums of money and we don’t seem to have any control over how it’s spent. Consequently more of us feel government is the Borg. We can’t understand it, much less control it. And increasingly we don’t like this feeling.

No Predictions

Therefore with over 25 candidates for the presidency the best service I can provide is to steadfastly avoid predictions and identify my own biases.

Can’t Stand Any of Them

Finally, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate political skill. campaign wins and losses, political brinkmanship or propaganda. I just refuse to jump in on one side or another. I also refuse to predict the future and predict outcomes. Especially outcomes based on polls.

See It For What It Is

In conclusion, I have found the best way to learn what “The American People” might be thinking, is travel and actually covering these political events.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors and WhiteTail Builders of Andover Minnesota

Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836

 

 

Political Dealignment-Culture Shock-Bob-Davis-Podcast-750

I find it harder these days to make sense of politics. We’ll talk about it in Political Dealignment-Culture Shock-Bob-Davis-Podcast-750.

Role Of Podcasting

Moreover it’s time to talk about the unique role of podcasting in sorting out the noise. Especially since our day to day news coverage has become a reality TV drama. A minstrel through the lens of Cable TV News and Social Media.

News Is A Reality Show

What will it be this week? A reveal in court that has to be walked back? A trade deal touted as the greatest thing ever that closer examination turns out to be just ok? An economy that is the ‘best ever‘? Diplomacy and policy discussion conducted via twitter?

Sorting Out The Noise

Especially relevant to me is the role of podcasting in this political realignment. How do podcasters help listeners navigate these times? More opinion disguised as news? Or worse, opinion disguised as ‘truth‘.

Let Politicians Defend Themselves

Most noteworthy is the idea that the ‘little people‘ need media to defend and interpret everything politicians say and do, when those politicians should be able to defend themselves. Find out more in Political Dealignment-Culture Shock-Bob-Davis-Podcast-750.

Tuning Out

Finally I am beginning to get the impression people are turning away and tuning out the noise anyway. Should podcasters rush to cover stories in depth that will be forgotten in twenty four hours?

Mean Discourse

I spent a weekend delving into the last one hundred years of history for Podcast 749. Our country and the world has changed so much over the last century. We have exchanged the industrial revolution for a technical revolution. Technology has made our discourse meaner.

An Invisible America

There is an America where people share their passions and help each other out regardless of their political opinions. That America just isn’t always visible on social media and definitely not visible in news coverage of every breath taken in Washington DC.

Maybe that’s the problem.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul, Reliafund Payment Processors and John D Scott Personal Injury Lawyer

Political Dealignment-Culture Shock-Bob-Davis-Podcast-750

Warning! Media BS Reaching Dangerous Levels-Podcast 641

Back in the studio after a long trip. When you drive over long distances there’s lots to think about. Of course, just because I am on the road doesn’t mean I disconnect from day to day news. Fact is, I would much rather talk about travel and adventure. Sharing some stories from the road and looking at some of the latest news in Warning! Media BS Reaching Dangerous Levels-Podcast 641.

Gasoline on The Fire

That’s right. Warning! Danger Will Robinson! We’re going to talk about the latest news in this podcast. Especially relevant, the stuff people share on social media. Charlatans and paid agents blowing on the already hot conflagration that is supposedly our body politic in this country.

Join Us For The Congressional Baseball Game

Last month I didn’t even know there was a congressional baseball game. Nor did I care. In the wake of a tragic shooting we’re still being treated to commentary and articles that simply rehash the same things written and said about every shooting. Next, they’ll be televising the congressional baseball game like it’s the All Star game. Time to call them all out in Warning! Media BS Reaching Dangerous Levels-Podcast 641.

Feeling Sorry For Day To Day Commentators Who Have To Fill The Airwaves With Nonsense

These days I get the feeling most of what we see and hear that passes for ‘news’ isn’t memorable at all. More commentary written by people who don’t know anything, telling you what to think and what to do. Once these articles are shared all they do is fan the flames of discord, serving none of us and no purpose.

Civil War? Really?

Not content analyzing the latest mass shooting event, commentators are now telling Americans to be prepared for an inevitable civil war. I just came from touring Missouri and Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio. These are all states where small towns proudly display highway markers denoting deaths and destruction dating back to the Civil War from 1860 to 1865. Seems like every southern town has memorial parks and places of remembrance, well maintained and marked. Considering the bloodletting of the civil war years, it is irresponsible to compare these times to those dark days.

Who’s Fault Is it?

We’re responsible for this, because we’re the ones that keep reading, liking and sharing this crap. The right thinks anything not written and posted by their favorite sites is fake news, and the left thinks anything from the right’s favorite sites is fake news. While people actually know very little about the issues, they’re up on all the latest agitprop from their favorite mouthpiece.

Maybe There Is A Planet Out There To Collide With Earth

Considering all this, sometimes I wonder whether some event will intervene and somehow bring us all back down to earth. Or not. A pandemic, perhaps a visit from aliens. The United States is in trouble, and we’d better wake up from this slumber pretty soon or it will turn into a nightmare of biblical proportions. (Editor’s Note: I refer to the Governor of New York being killed in the 1930’s in an Attempt on FDR’s life. It was Anton Cermak the Mayor of Chicago.)

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Warning! Media BS Reaching Dangerous Levels-Podcast 641