(no subject)
Something I got in an email today. Kinda scares me and kinda pisses me off more.
"In total, the two major parties' presidential campaigns have raised $1,875,000,000 this election season.
That number deserves to be written out: One billion, eight hundred and seventy-five million dollars. And this number does not include the spending by independent "dark money" Super PACs, which have been throwing money around during this election like drunken sailors on shore leave.
Want to know why the "mainstream" news media have such a vested interest in making it seem like elections are more tightly contested than they really are? That campaign money only comes to the media if people are watching, so the media make damned sure people watch.
The quaint term is "the horse race," but in fact, US elections are more like giant ATMs for advertisers who have no interest in informing you, or in keeping this nation's democratic processes from becoming a rapid plummet to the lowest common denominator."
"In total, the two major parties' presidential campaigns have raised $1,875,000,000 this election season.
That number deserves to be written out: One billion, eight hundred and seventy-five million dollars. And this number does not include the spending by independent "dark money" Super PACs, which have been throwing money around during this election like drunken sailors on shore leave.
Want to know why the "mainstream" news media have such a vested interest in making it seem like elections are more tightly contested than they really are? That campaign money only comes to the media if people are watching, so the media make damned sure people watch.
The quaint term is "the horse race," but in fact, US elections are more like giant ATMs for advertisers who have no interest in informing you, or in keeping this nation's democratic processes from becoming a rapid plummet to the lowest common denominator."