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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMSNBC is a huge part of the problem
I'm going to piss some people off here so please, before you respond, read it again.
I've been a loyal MSNBC viewer back to the Countdown days. Too loyal.
I've bathed in the self-righteous glory of watching and defending the news network that doesn't lie to its viewers.
The bill of goods we've been sold is every bit as bullshit insulated as anything Fux news does.
Those of us that watch MSNBC as background during the day watched daily as reporters interviewed "Trump Voters" and it left us asking again and again, "How can these people be so out of touch?"
Another version is "How can they really believe the economy is that bad?" I'm at home really wondering "My God, they really have been brainwashed" etc...
There are really two trump voters out there. One is the selfish greedy voter who damn well knows rules like this, (Abortion bans, birth control) and who knows what else don't apply to people with money and two is the voter who has been outright ignored for DECADES now while us loyal MSNBC viewers pull our hair out because we've tried "everything" to reach them but in hindsight, most of them are "lost".
Everyone focuses on the word CULT when it's included in a sentence because it's a BAD word. As long as cults have been around, they've always had the same MO. Recruit members on the fringes of society, the outcasts, loners and here's the important ones, those suffering from insecurity and those disconnected from society. (loosely paraphrased from "The Psychology of Cults" UT Permian Basin).
We need to recognize, and I mean yesterday, that disconnected from society does not mean what it did 50 years ago. left behind or left out does not mean what it did 50 years ago.
Rural America is DYING and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Start there.
Rural America has been at the bottom end of technological priority for DECADES.
Rural America is supposed to be thrilled when they get the scraps of economic expansion that by policy decisions alone, have driven most economic advancement to urban centers with barely a crumb left for anyone else.
Guess who was running most states when the listening stopped cold?
MSNBC contributes NOTHING to the necessary discourse in this country. During the day, it repeats the same bullshit breaking news with the same "Politics of the story" focus that has become truly nauseating over the trump era as it's gotten worse with each outrage. Everybody has to be neutral, both-siderism alive and well.
Outside our rose colored outrage at trump denigrating the decline of America and much worse, the reason that attack has been so successful is because in 80% of territorial America, IT IS.
Are trump voters going to get shit on? You bet, but trump got these voters to be loyal because he knows how to sell. Most people buy on emotion. It really is as simple as that. In that arena he's an expert.
As long as our eyes are on MSNBC, we are essentially no better off than fox viewers because we're all on the same BULLSHIT TRAIN, just a different car.
I know that having stopped watching myself, my conversations and whole perspective has changed dramatically.
I cannot Vote Republican for countless reasons but that in no way obligates me to prop up a channel that with honest reflection has elicited ever increasing feelings of anger and outrage at the whole system, especially the old guard, who still believe it's best to fucking poll test a message instead of listening and talking to PEOPLE, not voters.
I'm also pissed at myself as having MSNBC on in the background because it made me as comfortable as spa music and therefore, I stopped listening, stopped talking to people and slowly but surely, became better than them.
Quitting MSNBC has been hard and that alone tells me I was right to.
Maybe I was in a cult too?

milestogo
(19,423 posts)JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)Respect my time enough to offer a little more detailed criticism please?
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)Can you please be more specific? It took some time to try and write this and I am by no means in any way a pro; as if that wasn't obvious.
I'm hoping in the interest of discourse you can do better than that?
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)and you might change your tone. Im not a fan of some of the talking heads they have but I have a brain that has critical thinking so I can determine whats BS and Im not going there.
JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)I have great admiration for all 4.
In the second sentence of the original post, I mentioned being a loyal viewer for a long time. (Countdown)
Your response doesn't address what you think is bs?
What does MSNBC actually cover? Other than politics and whatever the outrage of the day is?
JCMach1
(28,360 posts)That is what we will have if MSNBC goes.??
If anything, forget scruples. The next cycles will need our own MSM propaganda arm (like FOX) and we will actively need to game and manipulate social media to get the right not to vote.
Cult, no cult. I honestly don't care as long as we we can maintain freedom and democracy.
dchill
(41,308 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)that I couldn't have found among the divergent views here?
More specifically, what was I being informed about that really has to do with my little existence here in central Illinois?
Let me be clear, I love Rachel, Nicole, Lawrence and others but the wash rinse and repeat of whatever the news cycle/outrage machine is spewing is just as disconnected from my life as fux news coverage is from "theirs"
One last question is how many unique stories appear on MSNBC in a given day? On Fux? I doubt there's much variance in the averages.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)and tells you to wake the feck up because this is what happened and this is whats coming
William Seger
(11,379 posts)... especially issues I didn't know were issues and stories I'd never see on FOX. Also, I simply liked the perspective and presentation of several of their commentators. But I mainly depend on DU to be my news aggregator -- I should hope that everyone here knows that one should never depend on a single source for news, especially a source that isn't covering issues that are important to you.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)William Seger
(11,379 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)William Seger
(11,379 posts)JMCKUSICK said, "More specifically, what was I being informed about that really has to do with my little existence here in central Illinois?"
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)DU but also from some what I consider valuable news sources and that happens to be the names I have mentioned from MSNBC and from CNN Jim Ocasta.
RockRaven
(16,856 posts)but the shallowness, the thinness of useful true information, common to all partisan orientations of the various cable news channels. That media form is fundamentally garbage.
JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)mwooldri
(10,541 posts)The US news channels are funded by advertising. So they need eyeballs. More eyeballs more $$$. So whatever gets the viewers in I suppose.
If people really wanted harder news and more analysis and less opinion then channels like BBC News Channel would dominate the ratings in the US. It doesn't.
La Coliniere
(1,245 posts)that wont cut into their bottom line.
Where are the substantial discussions about the number one impediment to real political change, money in politics?
Where are the substantial discussions and analysis of the number one impediment to life on earth, climate change?
Where are the substantial discussions on how the health insurance and drug companies continue to hold hostage the health of the American people and why the reform of those industries is so difficult?
The broadcast and cable news networks rake in millions from political advertising on their platforms. They make millions on advertising that stems from the use of fossil fuels. And now their coffers are overflowing with money that comes from drug and Medicare Advantage plan advertising.
Biting the hand that feeds them is not the way these corporations operate. Its not that these topics are ignored completely, its just that theyre relegated to the periphery and never seriously addressed in any fundamental ways that would lead to discussions of how to truly tackle these problems in ways that would lead to any substantial change. The most important topics are not up for honest and thorough discussion and analysis because of their interest in maintaining their profits.
Fish700
(148 posts)It's a business and you gotta serve the customers what they want. If MSNBC just keeps letting people know that Pizzagate is crazy that is about as good as you can expect because OAN and Fox aren't going to do it. There are millions of droolers out there who think if a talking head on TV said something, it is true.
brush
(58,807 posts)JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)I seemed to forget to write that by watching MSNBC, I wouldn't hear any of these issues discussed in a productive way that actually respects the VAST differences between urban and rural America that keep driving more and more people away from the Democratic party and we should certainly be able to agree that MSNBC is a Dem mouthpiece yes?
Kaleva
(38,912 posts)Well over 200 million other adults in this country, do not watch MSNBC or any other cable news network
MSNBC might be a huge problem for a tiny segment of the population but I dare say that the vast majority of adults wouldn't care or even notice if that network went off the air .
JI7
(91,333 posts)would speak about black women being denied medical care and dying.
JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)Is exactly what we learn from MSNBC.
Even the R guests would denigrate the rural voters. Who exactly in the Democratic party or on MSNBC has any real connection with rural voters that rural republicans should reach out to? Oh damn, I meant who in the Dem party or on MSNBC is really reaching out earnestly to rural R's who used to be D's untie they were sold out by party and media.
JI7
(91,333 posts)consistent with what is important to them.
In Montana they voted out Tester and elected a wealthy out of state big business type.
JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)Up is down and down is up and calling me, and millions of other VOTERS shit because you must ASSUME all of us voted for trump can't possibly be deemed dismissive.
JI7
(91,333 posts)JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)12. Rural America is mostly White Christians and don't like it that Kamala Harris
would speak about black women being denied medical care and dying.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)JI7
(91,333 posts)we should stop pretending.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)kerry-is-my-prez
(9,566 posts)Then listen to For for a couple of hours every do often. Or listen to Joe Rogan show for a while.
SharonClark
(10,398 posts)from MSNBC? What nonsense.
No one is dismissive of rural America. In fact, the media loves talking to them at their local diners where they apparently all hang out.
They werent sold out by the (Democratic) party. They bought into conservative evangelical Christianity, Fox News, and right wing talk radio.
If you feel the Democratic Party has let you down or that youve become mesmerized by MSNBC then by all means watch less TV.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)Keepthesoulalive
(1,017 posts)They dont care, i thought no one drank moonshine, the stuff is possibly toxic.
Some of them drink stuff that might kill them because its over proof. They dont wear seatbelts and on these hills and mountains thats not a wise choice. Dont get me started on their using meth. They know what they know and thats enough for them . I dont have the answer to their self destructive habits but the republicans havent done jack for them and those that can or will vote will vote for people who havent delivered anything to help these communities. Stop blaming democrats for people who are angry at others but wont lift a finger to get out of the hole theyre digging. And I ask again what have republicans done for the poor and middle class. I wish all of you folks who know rural poverty would come down and help them.
Kaleva
(38,912 posts)In 2020, as many people in Wayne County (metro Detroit area) voted for Trump as did in almost all of the upper 2/3rds of the state
JI7
(91,333 posts)SharonClark
(10,398 posts)Biden won 68% of Wayne County and 51% of Michigan.
Kaleva
(38,912 posts)If one looks at the votes Trump got in each county in Michigan, one will find that he got 70% of his votes from counties classified as urban by the Census Bureau.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)BeyondGeography
(40,175 posts)And like all PR it can be evasive, introspection-free and freighted with wishful thinking. The coverage on the difficult issues that really sunk us this time around, ie Bidens initial decision to run, the economic realities of living in America and immigration, was so minimal as to be negligent.
I dont really blame them; they take their cues from the Party and youre only as good as your sources.
Ive watched a lot of it too. And like many I am taking a break. Once the midterms heat up maybe Ill return. More likely Ill wait until after the midterms when the 28 race heats up. If theyre still around.
arthritisR_US
(7,732 posts)you more than ever.
Jit423
(906 posts)Startint
(4 posts)With you. I cant bear to watch tv anymore since the election. But if you turn the channel off and actually go out and about it makes you realize what you have in common with people. At least thats what I felt.
These news channels operate by forcing us to think in very narrow ways - be it right or left. After a while our thinking becomes constrained and very channelized.
But Ill go you one better. Turn off MSNBC and FOX too, and everyone go outside and just mingle. Then we may have something to work with.
JMCKUSICK
(970 posts)Ever
Henry203
(331 posts)I sold cash registers all over north Georgia including MTGs district. You should read Tomaskys article in the New Republic. You should also listen to David Frenchs discussion on rural Americas hate for democrats. He lives in Farnklin, TN and has been extradited from his church because of his views. He was a writer at National Review and now the NY times.
Unfortunately, rural America has a single news source and it is more than Fox. It is radio and social media.
Most people on the left will view traditional media while rural america will not view contradictory views.
The hatred exhibited by rural america is not normal. This did not exist before the onslaught of RW media.
hlthe2b
(107,846 posts)I can be grateful you didn't post in all caps, so there is that...
These posts are so minimally readable that I just tune out. If you had a point, the unreadable nature of your post ensures I don't give a damn and it is a waste of time. While others did manage to read the whole tome, if you want a wider audience, kindly apply what we all learned as mere children to make writings readable. 'Sorry if you or anyone else dislikes me pointing it out, but it is second only to those who write only in caps, or lower case-- and sans any punctuation whatsoever.
Respect your readers. Please.
ThePartyThatListens
(340 posts)SamKnause
(14,012 posts)MSNBC is not.
How can any other channel compete with that ???
City Lights
(25,554 posts)I will continue to watch Nicolle Wallace and some of their evening shows. The morning stuff is trash, with Mourning Joe being the worst. I haven't watched that show in years.
CrispyQ
(39,047 posts)
kerouac2
(1,011 posts)I have mentioned some of that lately here as well. Personally similar of having MSNBC on in the back ground during the day and watching Rachael and the last word many nights. I do like most of them. Though I cringed thru Andrea Mitchell a lot over the past couple years. I liked Brian williams late night but still caught 11th hour enough.
After the election, I felt like I was more in a bubble and wanted to break out of it.
Partially because it is like fox and rw bubble with the obvious exception of MSNBC being truthful. The problem with a bubble is that you don't see what others are seeing. And you also can become complacent. I don't think anyone who watches MSNBC often could support trump. But it's intelligent. Rw is not. It's simple, is without ethics and pushes buttons.
I haven't watched any MSNBC since election day. Turned it off election night when it started going south for us and I realized how awful and foolish so many Americans are.
I am reading news instead. And of course coming here. Seeing this train wreck on TV is too much right now.
watching msnbc several years ago and never really missed it.
Fichefinder
(278 posts)I have missed exactly zero. Nothing.
stillcool
(33,166 posts)is the issue. I read the same article from paper to paper, see it being commentated on from one tv station to another...unless it's local news, and even then, if the story goes national I'll pick up the same vibe. I remember one day I read where MSNBC had labeled Matt Gaetz as a "firebrand". I then noticed the label being used to describe him from one article to the next across the internet, whether it be AP, Washington Post, USA etc. I think it was at most a matter of days, before the label was being applied from one magat to another. So polite. It used to be newspapers were the only avenue of different takes on a news stories, but no more. Must be very difficult to get, and keep the job of a journalist these days.
I_UndergroundPanther
(13,023 posts)Try it. Lots of in depth on issues.
GusBob
(7,729 posts)Is addicted and in a cult
or Donald Trump