Two Worlds Forcibly Converging?

Last night, the film producer John Ziegler graced our campus.  He showed his most recent film, How Obama Won the Election.  He made many valuable points, but the one that keeps rising to the front of my mind is this: our country is made up two distinct groups of people, who gain their information from two distinct sources.  One group watches MSNBC, CNN, and other mainstream media outlets.  The other group looks to Fox, talk radio, and non-mainstream Internet sources.

Having steeped themselves in such differing sources of information, their conclusions are often very different.  (And, I would add, their initial worldviews are likely the defining quality that determines which news outlets they seek out, and then influences every idea presented.  People tend to find out people who will confirm what they already believe.)

That's one of the reasons why there's such a disconnect between areas of our culture.  One crowd is drinking in CNN, and the other is drinking in Rush.

The word that came to my mind over and over as I watched Ziegler's documentary was "manipulation."  I saw newscaster after newscaster delivering their worldview full strength with no apologies.  It must make a person feel powerful to see the effects of their unbridled indoctrination: the election of the integrity-lacking, unachieving Obama.

But here's the point that struck me today.  How long can we stay divided as two different choirs?  Aren't we ripe for a despot to crack down on alternative sources of information?  We've seen how successful the mainstream media was in singing a song, and getting their viewers to join in.  But the victory was not as decisive as many would have liked it to be.  52.0% versus 44.4%?  C'mon!  What kind of national haromony is that?  The rest of us who don't rely on the mainstream media are singing discordant notes.  How long will those singing with the mainstream media put up with this?  How long will the president the mainstream media worships put up with this?

Unless we conservatives recognize that this is war and fight back, I firmly believe that the days of the alternative media are numbered.  As Ziegler said last night, "We've got to protect our warriors."