It is worth asking if conservative or progressive media gives right-wing insanity--from the extreme townhall protesters to the more outrageous "death panel" type statements--more free coverage. It is also worth wondering if it is a good thing.
Online, at Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, and the Huffington Post, discussions of birthers, townhall protests, and Sarah Palin statements dominate. On television, the same content can be found in abundance from Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and the Daily Show. It dominates conversations I have with friends and colleagues, too. Despite what seems like an equal, if not greater, amount of pro-health care reform activism taking place around the country, the right-wingers are completely dominating the activism. This is due, at least in part, to a major assist from progressive media.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Political organizing 101 tells you that a key to driving activism in your own base, and to winning favorable media coverage, is to make your opponent appear unbalanced and dangerous. From that perspective, the extremity of conservative protests is an opportunity we are being handed on a silver platter. Of course we want to make conservatives appear crazy, and these days they are certainly making it easy for us to do so.
Further, this also feels a lot like the health care debate back in 1993-1994, when there was no progressive media to speak of that could combat this sort of insanity. Republicans and conservatives are spewing many of the same lies they made 16 years ago. Given how frustrating many progressives found that back then, we are eagerly using our new media apparatus to combat it this time.
However, there is still a major problem with the progressive obsession with right-wing extremity. The health care reform debate narrative should be about average Americans struggling against a powerful, for-profit health care financing industry. Instead, it has become a narrative about grassroots conservatives (no matter who funds them) against Democratic politicians. While this is still a people vs. the powerful debate, it is not exactly the people vs. the powerful debate we want to be having.
The human focus of health care reform has shifted from Americans in need of a better health care system to conservatives yelling crazy things at Democratic members of Congress. This may be a good way for Democratic members of Congress to get free media play, and thus appear to be champions of health care reform simply by appearing to be the strongest targets of the right-wing (which would benefit those Democrats gearing up for primary elections). However, it isn't helping us win the overall argument as well as an average American vs. for-profit health care company narrative would be. The current narrative has its advantages, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that it is as useful as it was during the Terry Schiavo incident. Republicans are attacking Democratic politicians in this case, not the grieving husband of a single, powerless, vegetative woman hooked up to a feeding tube.
As tempting as it may be for progressive media to focus on conservative insanity, and as rewarding as it might be in terms of audience size, to win the health care reform debate we need to focus on more than what wingnuts are saying. The narrative of the average American versus a for profit health care reform industry needs to be cultivated to a much greater degree. |
