GLS - Special Comment - Politics in the Media
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Today, Dale takes on the state of politics in the media and his personal views on the topic.
Skip the preamble: 0:33
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Transcript:
Since covering the news in greater detail, I discovered some trends that a rather disturbing and wow we are kind of in the worst of it at the moment. In 2016...or at least what 2016 should be, we are deciding on where the world should be going next - with all of the assorted elections taking place that might be the case. But the media paints a different picture of how 2016 is actually panning out - we’ll get to that. And as many of you have asked I thought this week would be a great excuse for me to get all of my cards out on the table. In saying that the media has decided to take a back seat on 2016 rather early so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity period
So here's the thing, since the beginning of time there has been leaders in all aspects of life - people would go on ships - these ships would have captains - whether they're really good or bad morally is another story that I quite frankly I don't really have the time or the expertise to go into - And they would lead these ships to other nations. Except if you’re European, which magically everyone was born there and didn't actually have to get transported anywhere. Morals and standards drove these ships to better places like this one country - in which I have my birthplace in. And before you ask - yes I went straight to convicts because they are good basis for fundamental principles.
And again it goes right back to whether you think they are good or bad people...morally of course. But despite that stuff, you have to give these captains one thing - they certainly knew how to direct a particular culture of people, which you could argue there is a skill that politicians need in this day and age. And don't get me wrong - I'm not poo pooing on the skills you need to be a politician - hell even a leader or the captain of a ship for that matter. In the latter case you would need exceptional skill set drive the ship in the right direction and as sure as hell that I cannot do that.
Have you ever heard the expression - not all leaders are politicians and not all politicians are leaders - I would agree with this to a certain extent. While when you are a politician, you need to leave a group of people - whether it's in the right direction or in the wrong direction - that is a matter of the people's opinions and quite frankly people who voted you in the office are going to be like a favour to you and people who didn't like you aren’t going to favor you so much. I don't know why I'm explaining politics 101 but here on my couch in my suit jacket explaining politics 101. But I am because it is important to explain politics 101 because we tend to forget the basics when were talking about the 2016 mediafire.
And trust me, I'm not asking for a perfect world - but I'm asking for more realistic world because it's not that. And when you're making loud noises - staring at you Donald Trump don’t think you're not off the firing line and I'll get back to you, makes the actual content of the news hard to find And trust me as much as I find entertaining to cover the mediafire of 2016 it makes actually finding the news rather hard and with a show like mine while covering the spin and providing analysis on that spin and arguing with myself is rather something I take pride in doing something that doesn't make good news.
So some fun facts about me, As many of you know, I host GLS, which is predominantly a news program, but what you need take into consideration when thinking about me is I also have a full time/ part-time job working in a rather large multinational organisation, which gets interesting when talking to politics because you get lots of views at once, which it's gets interesting to see other people's opinions rather extremist. They're still pretty much three topics that are banned at my workplace; religion, politics and interesting homosexuality - which I don't have I don’t have any time to deal with on any week on any show as a white, Caucasian, homosexual, male and those who know me well personally would come as no surprise to anyone. Which is a good introduction to me because the last category I already checked off. I’m a born again Anglican and my politics is interesting. I consider myself a moderate person - not because I have to be to cover the news objectively but because that's just how my voting habitats have happened in the last several years. Those habits come out when I covered the local elections here a couple of weeks ago.
So with that in mind, let's get to the real meat of the day and why we're all here - well at least why I'm here. 2016 has been an interesting development itself. With the rise of basically calendar events coming up, we've had to elect new leaders around the world and that's when politics gets popular and oh my god everyone is vying for space. As a marketing student, I understand what it is like to try and get the space and attention that a company needs to get their message and product heard and yes politics and candidates are indeed products and companies whether you like it or not and that might be a pessimistic view of the world but it’s kinda the truth. With the rise of super Pacs and grassroot campaigns and have no belief to know otherwise. And I might tick off a lot of people just about statement alone but if we allow ourselves to get caught up in all of this hyperbole and hype - we don't get to the real issue at hand and the 2016 quote unquote mediafire has allowed herself to get wrapped up in the spin of it all.
And again I understand the importance of trying to get a message out there. In reference to the American election that are going on currently - which is the main reason why I'm doing this - there have have even been candidates that have done that - run on messages alone but let me tell you they have been burnt hard against a lot of noise of the mediafire. And a person like me are even willing to acknowledge their my voting habits would be slightly amended if I was voting in a different election - Mainly because I different candidates to choose from. As a moderate kind of guy, that's just who I am. I look at candidates as menu options - if I don't like the restaurant - then I go to the different different restaurant. I'm not like that to deny that. Because that's whats candidates are. And they might have to push certain policies at the restaurant. And many people tune out the restaurant policies for most part yes there are a segment of people who do turn into that sort of thing - thank you conservative morning talk show for that. Which off-the-beaten-path for a second, I actually do listen to a right wing conservative morning talk show - which might surprise people but I do I listen to it for the news aspect - for the most part and I like having a arguing with myself Bird back on track we have C Restaurant policy person can do that and then we have people like Donald Trump Which surprisingly I don't have that much of an opinion on
Yes, he is single handedly responsible for the mediafire the 2016 has turned into the and it has crashed it burn really really far down the pipe at this point but as a guy, I'm not really that informed when that comes down to him and the restaurant analogy. He says stuff that the media clings itself on too and two seconds later decides to change his mind then yes it might be too conservative morning talk show this morning me coming out here but dear lord. The main reason why I have focused in on Donald Trump in particular is so have the media and as a budding newsreader it makes it hard not do so myself as I couldn't ever bring myself to talk about Donald Trump because you have to break it apart and things like that - which I have zero interest in doing right now because quite frankly I don't have the research to do so how to make an informed opinion about me before making a statement. If I was to talk about people in fact actually would vote for apposed to just giving attention the noise.
As a matter of fact, if I was to go vote in the US primaries, I would more than likely go for a moderate person, because that's just who I am. And while yes - I understand that voting and elections mean more then just getting someone into an office - I acknowledge there are principles, morals and the actual human aspect of it all to it. And here is where we get to tie back to the preamble...oooh hurrah.
While captains on convict ships weren’t exactly popular people - even to this day - some of them are acknowledged by history because they at least lead people to a great place and a great life than what they before - just look at Captain Cook for example. Unfortunately - or fortunately - depending of where you land on this issue, politicians are expected to do the same - Driving the ship for better or worse. And it’s hard to tell which “Captain” will be best for diving the “ship”. On one hand, you have real people pushing messages and trying for that top spot but being over shadowed but on the other hand but the mediafire that 2016 has turned into. And don’t get me wrong - I am NOT knocking anyone’s choice for who you might choose to run the restaurant of the world but really, the state of the media and how off the rails it has gotten in the last 4 months since the turn of the new year, you might want to start learning to cut through the spin.
Where to now - Well, the choice is all yours...all yours. No one elses. Again, influences play a part sure but you're the one walking into the booth. You have the choice and popular opinion (aka the circus) might help you it shouldn’t be your choice.