Half-truths and zingers Friday September 5, 2008 By: Ralph Benmergui I've just returned from two weeks in the United States, putting together a six-part documentary series on religion and politics in America. We wrapped in Denver and the Democratic Party love-in. Over the past few days back in Canada, I've been watching the Republicans lathering up in Minnesota during their soap-operatic hoedown. As a result, I find myself painfully aware of the vacuity of the great American discourse. The demagoguery, propaganda and political legerdemain practised by the central characters - that I have come to expect. As an audience, we go in believing and seldom, if ever do we change our minds. What I find sad, however, is what the journalists and producers bring to us afterward - the dearth of thoughtful, "independent" commentary and analysis. And herein lies the cautionary tale for Canadians as we enter our own national election. On both sides of the border, we are often reduced to watching partisans spout half-truths, misrepresentations and manipulative message tracks, while reporters and hosts ask questions that appear tough while revealing nothing, perpetuating the same binary arguments without adequate context. We have replaced intelligent discourse with nonsense tied in a bow and delivered by dogs and ponies from the "left" and "right." This is a triumph for our society's true elites, who control capital, lobby for influence and remain in the shadows as we passively digest the passing political parade. Those who could cast a cold light through research, consultation and analysis - real analysis - are packaged and neutered by so-called plain-talking folks as ivory-tower types who have only contempt for the good-hearted plebes making an honest living. Americans are being told that hostile "elitists" have hijacked their country - elitists who tell no one in particular the truth. Terms such as "so-called experts" have entered the lexicon. In fact, most of the people denigrated by this term have, in face, earned their stripes by studying, weighing and analyzing the best available data and being rigorously tested in their conclusions. One of the people I spoke to in the United States was Michael Weinstein, a lawyer and former military man who served in Ronald Reagan's White House. Mr. Weinstein is fighting a pitched battle with the U.S. military, which he believes is being controlled by far-right evangelicals. When I asked him about Americans' fetish-like obsession with free speech, he shot back. There is no free speech in this country, he said - there's an auction, and those with the most money win. What's lost in this partisan and perverted discourse is context, societal memory and the tools that Americans and Canadians can use to decide what's in their best interest. Forget your "gut" - use your brains, and leave the chattering propagandists to feed off each other. There is too much at stake now. Our children are choking on the garbage we spew while we content ourselves with "zingers" and character assassination. Pity. Ralph Benmergui is a broadcaster and producer based in Toronto.
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