Blow up your TVs & Throw Away Your Papers

Go to the country and build yourself a home. - John Prine.

Obama's historic speech was a challenge to strive to be the best Americans we can be, and to hold ourselves to a higher level of political discourse. We should not accept looped video of Wright -- or Ferraro -- as real discussion about the issues facing this country, but as distractions from the real root causes hurting us.

I'm throwing down as a challenge to myself (and you're welcome to join me) to go the rest of the week without watching the pundits, or reading the "horse race" columns, and instead investing in reading an eco-diary, writing a diary on an issue, doing something good in the world, or just talking to ordinary folks at the neighborhood coffee shop or bar.

I tried taking a day off yesterday, and couldn't believe how much better I felt...

(Ok, I cheated and tuned into KO today, and listened to some comments after Obama's speech, but it's a special day).

We need to realize that many of us (myself included) are complicit in how this race has become negative, and how the pundit class is not only surviving, but thriving as a result. Not only do we watch CNN & MSNBC, but we give up valuable space at Kos commenting as if they are relevant -- as if they are doing real analysis that is somehow useful. This is a station they haven't earned or deserved.

If one of my friends tried to get away saying what these so-called experts say each night, I'd say that they're not even following the election and need to go get informed. It's funny to think of how much higher the standard is in something like the sports world. If someone got on the air in sports radio and displayed such a lack of basic grasp on the facts -- like Hillary's chance to win or the details of Obama's religious background (c'mon there are not 1 but 2 books on it), they would get fired or laughed off the air. Yet, we give award them with our attention.

Consider for a second, the best two commentators on air today. Chuck Todd's analysis, as noted, has been stellar. But is it really much behyond what should be basic analysis? It is still a far cry from Pocketnine's diaries. This isn't to knock Chuck -- but maybe he's operating at a level that should be absolutely required of any professional. Similarly, I love Keith's commentaries and thank him for at least paying attention. But at the same time, isn't he just doing his job? Calling Hillary out on "kitchen sink" approach should be a **minimal** sort of level of analysis. Compare this for a second, to the kind of commentary that Al Giordano's the field is doing. And these are the only two who are in the same league as some of the posters here and on friendly sites.

What's even worse is that I fear that we're allowing these blowhards to affect the level of discourse here -- and the kinds of things we talk about.  Locally, many have noted the relative dominance of the political cycle over real content -- which of course is partly a typical "remember when this site used to be good" kind of thing. But still, I and I suspect a few others spend waaay too much time and energy on this crap.

Pause and think for a second about all of that that is wasted on these bozos. Think of how many better ways you could spend that time -- and how many other causes are worthy of your time , attention, and eyeball dollars.

So, I want to argue that if you want to honor the sentiments behind Obama's speech, let's lay off the endless discussion of MSM or flame baiting  the Hillaryis44 crowd (which I'm also guilty of), and do something to move this country forward.  Instead, read a diary on a topic you're uninformed on. Maybe even do some research and write one of your own. Heck, you might even do something crazy like volunteer somewhere -- go do something useful.  

Either way, a good starting spot might be taking 72 hours away from MSM media and seeing how it feels. It's been 24 for me, and so far I'm enjoying it.