THEO VAN GOGH SOCIETY : POLITICAL-MEDIA-BIG TECH LACK OF COMPETITION OVERSHADOWS AMERICA

January 23, 2022 · by Seth Frantzman

In the US there has been a tendency over the years for the two large political parties to collaborate to create non-competitive districts for Congressional elections.

That often means drawing electoral lines on a map in a complex manner that means they circle around neighborhoods where one party gets a high number of votes, taking only areas where another party does well. Cities and counties are carved up in a method called Gerrymandering that doesn’t appear very democratic. It is meant to make sure each party can run almost unopposed and both parties profit. While the citizens are told that they are supposed to be angry everyday about something political, the two parties relax and profit and golf and toast eachother at vacation homes or hanging out with folk like Jeffrey Epstein types.

Now…that go me thinking. While the US has been divided geographically so there is a myth of political competition…the same thing has happened to media. Where once there was mainstream media, where if a report appeared or a scandal was mentioned it was seen as a bellwether of the national consensus…today the parties have encouraged more politisization of media. That means there is not just “left” and “right” media, but we often see that the stars on these channels will come from various political parties or even advise those parties. In some cases former hosts of one channel advised the former US administration (January 6 records reveal that)…and in another the NY governor was advised by his brother who hosted a show on a channel. Today media is increasingly an arm of the two political parties, and the public is encouraged not to trust anything from the “other” party’s media. This polarization is similar to the congressional districts. You carve out two media sides that are not competitive.

The lack of competition means that from politics to media the public is given one view, and pushed into their corner, given an illusion of political competition

The lack of competition means that from politics to media the public is given one view, and pushed into their corner, given an illusion of political competition…while only being fed one view. This is incredibly profitable and media and politicians know this. That is why despite MORE polarization in media and politics and LESS competition….there is more being spent on political “campaigns” and more intense viewership of partisan media. In essence the public is given spectacle, like the Roman Gladiators, so that the rulers can profit…the public is told there is competition…but the leaders that supposedly “compete” are all friends, just like Clinton and Trump were friends with Epstein and all enjoyed hanging out and jetting off together…because at the top everyone is friends.

The average person is told to hate one another, and told that they should even stop speaking with their own families over politics…over masks for Covid or whatever illusion is created regarding politics. Every week a new crisis…a new thing to be “angry” about. Social media and big tech’s rise is closely tied to this…as part of the non-competitive process of gerrymandering and polarized media and “fake news”…also big tech social media is there to increase the extremism, move people via algorithm so they only see things they agree with.

The non-competitive issue is one that causes people to become less intelligent critical thinkers, less skeptical, more dogmatic…and much like lack of competition in any industry causes lethargy and failure…so lack of competition in big tech, in media and politics, is causing the US to be less competitive globally…and causing the US to sink into failure…hence the endless slogans of “build back” or “make America”…or “shovel ready” or whatever…all packaged and sold like McDonalds…all of its into merchandise…none of it rooted in reality. Big tech’s tendency from the 1990s and early 2000s when there was competition is toward a new gilded age of the 1880s types in the US…before the Trust busting…but with more dangerous ramifications due to the 24 hour news cycle. It’s pure idiocracy, like the film…but since so many benefit from this situation, there’s no desire to have consensus media, or competitive ideas in politics….or let users choose what they see on social media.