The Voice of Merrill

Few things are more engaging to view than conflict.  Howard Stern used to say that conflict is music to his ears.  Reality shows deliberately create conflict and film the reactions.  Shows like Wife Swap or Big Brother or anything on MTV is intentionally crafted to be as volatile as possible.  Without conflict, the worst program on television, Jersey Shore, would never have seen the light of the boardwalk.  When media pros recognize an opportunity to exploit conflict, they pounce.  Such was the case in a media round table conversation this morning.

The Voice of Merrill had a chance to sit in on a forum with a sports talk host from a Kansas City sports radio station.  The forum covered a wide array of topics, from Mark McGuire’s confession to Sarah Palin’s addition to the Fox News lineup.  This particular sports talk host had well defined and divisive opinions, as any good talk show host would.  He was confident that Mark McGuire had been doing steroids all along and didn’t see the confession as necessary, knew Sarah Palin to be the buffoon the media painted her as and left no room for countering opinions.  His execution of his points was flawless and there is no doubt why he is a valuable asset to Kansas City sports talk radio.  This gentleman left an impression on both the listeners and the other round table panelists.  His arguments, however, are indicative of a cultural demon that is gaining more and more strength: the presumption of guilt.

In today’s culture, the mainstream media has become the legislature, law enforcement, judge, jury and executioner.  Richard Jewel, the alleged Atlanta Olympics bomber, was convicted in the media before the ink was dry on his FBI fingerprinting card.  Low and behold, the media was mistaken.  Public perception had already destroyed Jewel’s life and he later died at the young age of 44 due to heart disease and complications from a host of other medical ailments, none of which were well served by 15 years of fighting for one’s name.  The Trial by Media had proven to be such a circus that most people associate Jewel with the Atlanta Olympics bombing before they are able to conjure up the name of the convicted bomber, Eric Rudolph.  Similarly, waiting for a jury to rule on cases ranging from OJ Simpson to Barry Bonds has become passé.  If the media, late night comedians, Hollywood elitists and Saturday Night Live determine someone to be guilty or incompetent or evil, then logic and process be damned. 

“Common Sense” is the argument most often used to support one’s prejudicial opinion.  Common Sense is also used when no other evidence is present.  Is it common sense to assume that OJ killed Nicole Brown Simpson?  A jury of his peers was unable to come to a unified opinion of guilt.  The ruling doesn’t prove that OJ was innocent, but it did prove him to be not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The system isn’t perfect, but it’s the best one available. 

Sarah Palin has been determined by the mainstream media to be a fool, incompetent and uniformed, much in the same way the msm portrayed President Bush and yet, Palin has been the governor of the largest State in the union, a Presidential running mate and has now begun a new career as an author, pundit and news magazine host.  President Bush’s list of credits is even more extensive and now he is being asked by his successor, the same one that blames him for all of America’s turmoil and status in the international community, to represent America as an ambassador for the United States in the wake of the most devastating natural disaster in mankind’s history.  Are these two conservative Republicans really the class dunces or has the mainstream media unduly convicted them as such?  The evidence is clear and abundant, regardless of what mainstream lemmings declare to be “Common Sense.”

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