Thought Experiment: The Political/Media Complex

[Marauder06]

We haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes.

@AWP 's post in this thread about the military-industrial complex got me thinking about a topic I have been mulling over for a while now.

My hypothesis is that the political-media complex currently gripping our country is FAR more of a danger to our Republic than the military-industrial complex is, or ever was.

1) do you agree or disagree with this concept? (if you agree, how do you define the political-military complex)

2) here is a link to Eisenhower's military-industrial complex speech (part IV of the link). What part(s) of it would you re-write to reflect the danger of the pol-med threat?

full disclosure: I'm most likely going to write an article about this, and will include some of this (not attributed) conversation in the piece.

 

[Locksteady]

We haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes.

@AWP 's post in this thread about the military-industrial complex got me thinking about a topic I have been mulling over for a while now.

My hypothesis is that the political-media complex currently gripping our country is FAR more of a danger to our Republic than the military-industrial complex is, or ever was.

1) do you agree or disagree with this concept? (if you agree, how do you define the political-military complex)

2) here is a link to Eisenhower's military-industrial complex speech (part IV of the link). What part(s) of it would you re-write to reflect the danger of the pol-med threat?

full disclosure: I'm most likely going to write an article about this, and will include some of this (not attributed) conversation in the piece.

I think a good starting point for your article is in showing how they're disparate enough from each other to treat as separate problems in the first place, i.e. establishing to what extent (if at all) the academic idea of a division between two distinct "complexes" vice something more intertwined effectively describes the working reality.

 

[CQB]

I’d agree that the political-media complex is a threat. We’ve had cases here with strong media coverage leading to the jailing of a Cardinal, (overturned on appeal), the resignation of an attorney-general over impossible to prove rape allegations & recently another rape allegation which was skillfully used during the last election campaign to assist the change of government.
Some young guys I spoke to recently said they don’t know what to believe anymore, they don’t trust media generally, or if they do they’re seemingly confused by a counter argument.
I would define it as the skillful use of media, traditional & SOCMED, to articulate a view which will lead to a planned or defined outcome.

 

[Gunz]

.

 

[Box]

Politics is an industry; it has always been an industry - so is the media.

The Military, Industrial, Political, and Media Complex is just a 'circle of friends. Everything else is just a matter of semantics.
...but I'm a cynical prick so who knows.

 

[Topkick]

Eisenhower's potentially dangerous military/industrial complex has been supplanted by the bloated political/media complex, a decidedly Leftist alliance that's boosted beyond reason the propaganda power of one political party over another. The explosion of social media, combined with the vast number of professional media conduits has created a media monster unknown and undreamed of in Eisenhower's day.

The combined media has become the main facilitator of the socialist/leftist agenda and is a weaponized entity for forced social engineering.

Our education system is part of the complex

 

[x SF med]

Politics is an industry; it has always been an industry - so is the media.

The Military, Industrial, Political, and Media Complex is just a 'circle of friends. Everything else is just a matter of semantics.
...but I'm a cynical prick so who knows.

^^^^this.

 

[Devildoc]

This would be a great academic paper, too: 'Compare and contrast the politico-media complex with the military-industrial complex.' That could be a book.

 

[Box]

My hypothesis is that the political-media complex currently gripping our country is FAR more of a danger to our Republic than the military-industrial complex is, or ever was.

1) do you agree or disagree with this concept?

I had to think about a “real” answer to your questions instead of my usual biased uninformed snark and it really requires a separate post for each question.
- Short answer, I agree; adding politics and the media into the mix is bad for all of us. The longer answer is that I think it is far more nuanced than just “political-media complex” VS “military-industrial complex”

In my opinion they are one in the same. Like my earlier post; I think politics and media are both crucial components of global industry. Politicians command the military, industry feeds the military, and the media markets the military. When they are ALL working together to advance nefarious goals, “we the people” are sure to get fucked on multiple levels. It could be through higher taxes to pay for frivolous military spending, it could be through higher consumer costs due to disruption of international trade, or it could be through the loss of blood and treasure while the entitled class sits back and plays checkers with the lives of our loved ones.

Watch ANY major news outlet including FAUX-NEWS and ask yourself – when that retired general isn’t making a few bucks as a news contributor, who do they really work for? More often than not, you will find that it isn’t “General Schmuckatelli, private citizen” that we are listening to. It’s almost always, “General Schmuckatelli, Board of Directors for ‘WeKillemNow’ Defense Contractor" – and they are almost certainly moonlighting as a contracted military advisor for the same service they retired from – but at close to ten times the salary.
Instead of being a general officer that remains at war until acted on by an external force (Newton’s First Law) that gets paid 150,000 dollars a year they BECOME the external force getting paid a contract wage of 1.2 million per year.
…great work if you can get it.

So now we have a retired Military Officer, working for the Defense Industry, lobbying Politicians, and using the Media to convince us that we really need to send more tanks to Ukraine…
…tanks that by some strange coincidence, are built by the Defense Contractor that put him to work as a military consultant to the DoD. It’s not just a trifecta - it’s a mother fucking SUPERFECTA of corruption prosecuted by men that should know better – but they sold their souls to the machine.

But hey, we all have our price – amiright?

 

[Devildoc]

Media is a strange animal because it has evolved so much. Historically there was a very real, uneasy relationship between the media and both the political world and the military world. With all of the social media and different forms, the once-distinct entities have kind of melted together, and the media generally has become an instrument of the democrats/leftist pols.

 

[Box]

...the media generally has become an instrument

Its been that way since propaganda disguised as Yellow Journalism disguised as propaganda helped start the Spanish American War

 

[Devildoc]

Its been that way since propaganda disguised as Yellow Journalism disguised as propaganda helped start the Spanish American War

Yes. I guess my (poorly made) point was that the evolution of "journalism" and media now makes it damn near impossible to tell friend from foe. Instead of having a dozen newspapers in which you knew the political angle pretty easily, now they are shadows and shells of corporate entities and money used to influence society and politics. Some were known and willing accomplices to politicians; some, unwitting, being manipulated. Now it's worse if only because the form and number have exploded, and what was once supposed to be an instrument of sharing the news has largely become an instrument of the system, editorializing and creating the news.

 

[Archangel27]

I’d personally define it as the media and politicians being a part of a self-reinforcing feedback loop that leads to performative actions that are designed to incentivize positive feedback loops for both sides of the equation. IMO this is NOT limited to one party over another.

Politician says outrageous thing —> Media covers it —> Media coverage gets clicks/ad revenue/viewers —> Enough of those who read/tune in are motivated to action via donations/positive word of mouth coverage via social media /attention—> Politician says another outrageous thing —> ad infinitem

By incentivizing this kind of behavior, it ensures that substantive discussion or reasonable disagreement is disincentivized and means that things become more like sports teams with rabid fans for Team Blue or Team Red rather than engaged citizens. Those who don’t feel so strongly one way or another become disengaged and/or disenchanted, further reinforcing Team Blue or Team Red’s supporters disproportionately loud voices.

The rotating cast of cable news pundits that suspiciously revolve door also incentives attention grabbing behavior (e.g. Jen Psaki going from press secretary to MSNBC being one of the most recent examples).

 

[ThunderHorse]

So, the left wing hates Portnoy. So much so that the WaPo food writers had to attack him to pressure his sponsors to quit his Pizza fest. At times I'm no fan of Stool Presidente...but he in unapologetically himself and when they employed a true sexist dirt bag at Barstool, he got rid of him faster than you wipe your bum.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705322338189705308

https://twitter.com/x/status/1704574353415823411

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705558780765782366

Weather for the One Bite Festival? Absolute trash. Well guess what, they're coming with umbrellas.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705644913923178759