You've come a long way baby

We don’t have a TV.

That’s right -- you heard me right. We don’t have a TV. Now, I know a lot of you have gotten rid of the old boob tube too, but, judging from the glistening line of drool running down most peoples’ chins when we mention this fact, it’s not all that common. Of course, we still have the actual box hooked up to a DVD player, but lacking cable in the big city is a de facto lack of television.

Now, my wife and I are news junkies. We used to watch hours of news a day. It was always on in the background. Being conservatives, Fox was our favorite, though we watched all kinds of stuff. Then it began to change (cue ominous music), seemed to fall into the same spiral most news networks do. It became almost pure entertainment. We were disgusted. What were good conservatives to do?

The other networks just seemed to be going through the motions. Yes, I saw liberal bias, but so what? I’m intelligent enough to sift though the bilge. It just seemed that they sighed wearily whenever asked to do the heavy work of say…reporting.

We live in Chicago, so the papers range from mildly to wildly liberal. The national papers have Paul Bunyan-sized axes to grind, and seem to have forgotten that their primary function is to report the news. Not to edumacate a new breed of nitwit socialists.

The news magazines are simply an embarrassment. Any objectivity they lay claim to was thoroughly and soundly relinquished in the last presidential cycle. They covered themselves in embarrassment in an orgy of partisan sniping reminiscent of Pravda on a vodka break. I would like to recount some examples for you, but there are just too many.

It’s not that media bias raised its ugly head for the first time in this election. I guess it was the first time it really bothered me.

During the Vietnam war TV news stepped into the foreground. It made an indelible impression, bringing the war into our homes. Suddenly wars were no longer fought over there. People could see the war being fought right in front of their eyes AND get unbelievably biased reporting, almost real time.

During the Gulf war cable news found its niche, bringing us the war in real time and breathless close-up. No longer would we have to wait even a couple of hours to learn that we were floundering in a quagmire several minutes before we soundly whacked Iraq or whoever the baddie was that week. Lucky for us this same technology has allowed us to sit spellbound (bored to %$#@ tears) watching the latest California idiot drag police on yet another high speed car chase.

Which leads us inexorably to Katrina.

There’s always a tipping point for any new medium. A point when the question of utility and functionality get answered.

It seems every time we have a milestone event, a war or major disaster, some new communication technology finds vindication. During Katrina we saw the major networks, the major newspapers, the major magazines, reporters on the ground, attempt to mercilessly pin every occurrence on Bush, facts notwithstanding. They would have blamed him for the Schlitz malt liquor not being icy if they thought they could get away with it and it might achieve the overarching purpose of getting Dennis Kucinich elected.

Enter the Blogosphere. Since relinquishing our Electrified Box Of Stalinistic Wonder And Information™ we have been getting the bulk of our news via the blogs.

Every time Shep Smith opened his oversized pie hole, the blogs were there. As Anderson Cooper got grimier and loopier, the blogs responded magnificently, refuting every point and shooting down the screeching liberal pantywaist convention with facts.

With facts. Huh. I’ll be damned. Imagine that. No longer must I trust some pompous airhead with a J-school degree to explain to me things he or she has not a clue about. Now, thanks to the samizdat media, I will hear from someone who is an expert in their field. They will have more than ten seconds to make their point. They won’t be interrupted by a commercial or the shrill accusing tones of a self-righteous yet dangerously uninformed anchor.

The weekend after Katrina hit we were scheduled to attend the Take Back the Memorial rally in Manhattan. Obviously, we stayed in a hotel with an Electrified Box Of Stalinistic Wonder And Information™ conveniently located right in our room for our viewing pleasure. I sense you snickering already.

Yeah, like idiots we switched on the news. First CNN decided in a bold journalistic move that -- wait for it -- It’s All Bush’s Fault. I gasped in shock.

No.

Oh God.

No.

Dirty, pinhead reporters shouted from the screen on every channel we turned to.

Click-screaming. Click-shouting. Click-John Stossel. Huh, I always kinda liked the Stossel. I’m sure he’s as much of a liberal weenie as the rest of them, but I still enjoyed his reports for the most part.

We were busily preparing our signs for the next day’s rally as he proceeded to dip his mouth into the dung trough that modern journalism has become and regurgitate canned DNC talking points. My lovely wife and I shared a dark look. She asked me if I was as irritated as she. I responded in the affirmative. The only fight was over who could grab the remote and change the channel first. As I recall, she won, but it was a close thing.

Thank God for the samizdat media. Every time the Stossel opened his gaping lie hole I could refute his obnoxious statements with truth. Actual, non-partisan truth. And it felt good…real good.

Because you know what? I don’t care about ideology at a time like this. I do not want anyone to profit politically in the aftermath. I just want to know what happened and then I will assign blame later. This is the priceless gift these pajama-clad, quiet heroes have given us. No longer must we toil in the fields of partisan journalism parsing every word. Wondering if we’ve correctly divined the truth hidden like a shiny gem in the swill.

So thank you, blogs. Thank you pajama clad hordes of illegitimate media. Katrina was the tipping point. When I need to know about Iraq, I will turn to people like Michael Yon. When I need to know about immigration and national security, I will turn to Michelle Malkin, Barking Moonbat Early Warning System, Captain’s Quarters, and so on. Hopefully one day the “legitimate” media will serve as grist mills for those who actually care about the truth.

It was well said in the seventies, so I won’t presume to improve on it:

“You’ve come a long way, baby!” Blog on!