Obamacare Repeal – Why the PB Post Doesn't Report DC Squabbling

You may note the headlines in mainstream media with regard to the repeal of Obamacare the various lines of thought.  Trump failed, Ryan failed, Trump is unscathed, Freedom conference heroes, Obama smiling, Democrats celebrating, etc.

We don’t report this. Why? Because in our mission statement we promised not to publish propaganda.

Let’s examine this just a bit.

First of all, look at the mainstream media and their record for getting things straight. They almost never do. They certainly don’t have access to the Trump inner circle, and they are perfectly willing to take an offhand remark, change the context, and make a story out of it. This is becoming more and more true.

The bottom line, the mainstream media is publishing sensational headlines based on rumor and innuendo, written in such a way no one can question it.

When I was an intelligence officer traveling around the world, I frequently had access to the locals, the locations, the State, military and CIA analysis, and “ground truth” for newsworthy situations. And then I would return home and read the Washington Post’s writeup of the situation I had witnessed. In countless circumstances, at least 50% of their story was misquoted, misinterpreted or just plain wrong. Often their whole vision was off, yet they persisted in reporting the story the same way thereafter (in psych terms this is called “commitment/consisteny” meaning if you committed to it once your brain makes you travel the same errant path). 

In the 1980’s I traveled to Beirut. I expected, based on media reports, the whole city to be in ruins. This was not the case. At that time, we drove past one bombing site, then 15 minutes later drove past another. The rest of the city was still hustling and bustling, everyone trying to make a living. 

But around the world, the media constantly plastered these images on television and newspapers, no one considered the area to be safe. Consequently, the major banks pulled out of what was considered the major banking center for the entire region. The local economy tanked and the media’s reporting on Beirut became a self-fulfilling prophecy. With the deteriorated economy and commensurately weak government, the insurgents took over, and the city was effectively destroyed. If the media had reported truthfully, the city may never have fallen.

Secondly, let’s talk about the behavior of politicians. They love attention, they love declaring victory, they love making shockingly partisan statements (like “so and so should resign”). Their statements rarely have anything to do with reality. They are not telling “truth,” they are attempting to reshape reality to influence the future. And increasingly, they are lying.

The most basic definition of propaganda is persuasive rhetoric designed to affect the future.  At the PB Post, we endeavor to report substantial issues and tell our audience why they are importannt.  So we will normally not cover the antics of politicians and the spin of commentators and the media unless we believe they go beyond the propaganda stage and have real impact (after all in many cases perception becomes reality!).

Our summary of the repeal Obamacare fight?

It was too complex to do in a short period of time. Congress will start over, and it will eventually get this done. You may remember the Democrats sqabbled this way when they were passing the original bill, and it wasn’t passed for a year. Trump and the Republican Congress have plenty of time.

The infighting is a necessary political process, after all these people are elected to look after the interests of their constituents. We will let you know if any of that is important…