Food for thought
Myrna Blithe pens an interesting column in today's NRO. It's highlights some of the issues raised at the annual conference held by market research gurus Daniel Yankelovich and Madelyn Hochstein, of DYG.
Blithe (mostly) refrains fom commenting on the trends and theories brought up at the conference in such a way as to make this an excellent conversation piece, a jumping off place for several different topics. She notes America's trend towards a more "child centered" society, the growing empowerment felt by young women, and (dovetailing with what I have observed, and written about here at Kadnine) the deleterious effects of our hyper-partisan media masquerading as "dispasionate" fourth-party actors dispensing "truth to power:"
Amen!
It's really NOT "strange and confusing" when you factor in the great media masquerade. As I've said before, I really don't mind a hyper-partisan media. I just wish they'd own up to it. Imagine a political reporter freed from the chains of a hopelessly unattainable standard of objectivity. Good gods! How refreshing would that be? I'm growing tired of relying on a complicated, unwritten, and ever-changing system of "code words" to decypher the news. And polls are suggesting I'm not alone.
This is, in my opinion, the single biggest insight recent polling has brought to light. Namely, that polling suggests media aren't doing their job, and nobody knows the full extent or the exact nature of the problem because it's media's job to report it! The mind boggles.
Blithe (mostly) refrains fom commenting on the trends and theories brought up at the conference in such a way as to make this an excellent conversation piece, a jumping off place for several different topics. She notes America's trend towards a more "child centered" society, the growing empowerment felt by young women, and (dovetailing with what I have observed, and written about here at Kadnine) the deleterious effects of our hyper-partisan media masquerading as "dispasionate" fourth-party actors dispensing "truth to power:"
Yankelovich and Hochstein say a couple of other recent findings are somewhat baffling, and are similar to what other pollsters are also seeing. Nowadays people complain, even in our 24/7 news cycles, that they are ill-informed. They also say that they feel voiceless and that today’s leaders are not listening to them. Yet at the same time, they are the most polled people ever, and our politicians are more sensitive than ever to the results of opinion polls. Maybe what they really want is less polling and more leadership.
Amen!
They also noted that in current polls over 70 percent of people say the country is going in the wrong direction. Rarely have they seen such negativity and gloom. And yet at the same time, in almost equal numbers, people are satisfied with their personal lives and optimistic about their own futures. It is a strange and confusing disconnect as if Americans do not associate themselves with the fate of their country.
It's really NOT "strange and confusing" when you factor in the great media masquerade. As I've said before, I really don't mind a hyper-partisan media. I just wish they'd own up to it. Imagine a political reporter freed from the chains of a hopelessly unattainable standard of objectivity. Good gods! How refreshing would that be? I'm growing tired of relying on a complicated, unwritten, and ever-changing system of "code words" to decypher the news. And polls are suggesting I'm not alone.
This is, in my opinion, the single biggest insight recent polling has brought to light. Namely, that polling suggests media aren't doing their job, and nobody knows the full extent or the exact nature of the problem because it's media's job to report it! The mind boggles.