You
know the feeling when you wipe the smirk off the face of an arrogant
know-it-all? This is precisely the feeling the American public probably had,
particularly the Trump supporters, when every media expert was proven
absolutely wrong and put in his and her place.
The
election result shattered the myth of the media’s omnipotency whose astounding self-absorbed
attitude, armed with their 21st century statistical righteousness,
failed to predict one of the greatest election upsets in US history. The media
failed to provide the necessary journalistic balance required in a free press
society because by fawning over the so-called political experts and pundits who
themselves were blinded by the pollster data, they couldn’t see the forest from
the trees. This blind faith in big data held up until Election Day when there
was nary any serious consideration by the media of a Trump victory.
Big
media often provides their audience with the illusion of diverse and
independent news reporting focusing on the extremes, the fringes such as the
racial, ethnic, economic and political divisiveness while grossly
under-reporting many communities throughout the US which have held together
peacefully through tolerance and mutual respect.
During
the election campaign the media provoked and then matched an hysterical
atmosphere during expert panel discussion by mirroring the shrilling, shouting
and lambasting which undermines everyone’s credibility. This tactic resulted in
nothing more than a war of decibels - whoever was the loudest won.
Big
media failed miserably to take seriously the powerful yet subtle undercurrent of
building in American society for years – the resentment against governmental
leadership in cahoots at the beck & call of the business elite. Instead of
serving as a de facto informational center
of checks & balances between Big Brother and Big Business, it became increasingly
more part of an alliance – conflicting alliances at that.
A
brutal example of these conflicting alliances has been the gentrification of
American cities for almost two decades. The common man – the working “salt of
the earth” class and middle class - could no longer afford to rent or buy a
decent abode, secure a decent job as blue and white collar jobs were vanishing.
This
is one of many parallel trends that the media had been reporting for years yet
never considered the voters’ most powerful weapon – the ballot box. Either no
one saw the revolution unfolding before them or took it seriously. Occupy Wall
Street (OWS) was portrayed as nothing more than a group of bedraggled punks
with nothing better to do yet their message indeed invigorated and sparked the
subconscious of American society. A key red flag was that during OWS’ heyday
there was no outrage by the general public, a profound silence which was
misinterpreted by the media as indifference.
Big
Media is owned by major corporations whose business is profits and
entertainment dependent on an intellectually sedentary and compliant audience.
Big Media’s public image has become ever more as a parasitic public relations
lap dog serving Big Brother and Big Business, part of a tyrannical troika of
surveillance and mind control. Big Media has become just another corporate
entity whose sole purpose is entertainment and profits over independent news
reporting.
To
paraphrase the infamous line brilliantly delivered by Keyser Soze played by Kevin
Spacey in the movie “The Usual Suspects” with a subtle twist, the American
people literally told media, “The greatest trick the [undecided American voter]
ever pulled was convincing the media that he didn’t exist.” The huge block of undecided
voters were master chameleons who told the polltakers exactly what they wanted
to hear and then took their anger to the ballot box and voted for a candidate
who was not even a member of the entrenched political establishment.
Additionally
there are two other factors how the voters masked their intentions. Firstly, those
voters who admitted to voting for Trump could negatively brand them resulting
in being verbally assaulted and ostracized by friends and family. Secondly,
because many companies appear to dictate for whom their workers should vote and
“punish” those who don’t comply, they simply lied when pressured. At this point
in time the ballot box is one of the few remaining inviolable areas where a
citizen can exert power anonymously.
The
shocking election results prove that the pollsters’ failure to correctly
project the Brexit result wasn’t a one-off fluke. In other words not only can
Black Swan events can occur at the grass roots level but it can percolate and
emerge.
From
the media’s perspective, their credibility and possibly independent news
coverage has sustained a serious blow. The greatest fear is how much of the
audience they lost in never taking them seriously beyond an entertainment
vehicle. For the moment they’ve lost the ability to persuade or influence, at
least not in the direction that they forecast, because American are fed up with
being told what to do and will justifiably lie, like Keyser Soze, to conceal
their intentions.
The
unofficial theory is that revolutions take place during notable periods of obvious
extreme stress – war, economic collapse, etc. Yet it’s been proven via Brexit
and Trump’s triumph that they occur unexpectedly at the ballot box not on the
streets or on the battlefield when there are powerful undercurrents.
Big
Media like Big Business and Big Government proved that they’re nothing more
than lemmings unwilling to break ranks and take risks especially in high stakes
events. For this reason the media’s
challenge, like the Democrats, is to adapt and learn quickly with the upcoming
2018 midterm elections how to better gauge public sentiment and how it will
translate to action.
For
additional perspectives on Trump's stunning ascendancy including a series of
published articles dating back to 2015 projecting his victory well before his
GOP nomination, refer to our special website link The Men in the Trump Tower.
Copyright Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC 2016. All rights reserved.
Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC is a NYC-based global advisory service and think tank with connections at the highest levels specializing in international investment, political and security risk assessments. International business is increasingly complex featuring a highly mobile professional class in all corners of the globe. We provide you the tools to successfully negotiate cross-culturally in your global business endeavors. Tell us about your challenges. We'll get you on the "Short List".
We provide executive coaching, speaking engagements, speechwriting and workshops. Contact us at www.indobrazilian.com
Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC is a NYC-based global advisory service and think tank with connections at the highest levels specializing in international investment, political and security risk assessments. International business is increasingly complex featuring a highly mobile professional class in all corners of the globe. We provide you the tools to successfully negotiate cross-culturally in your global business endeavors. Tell us about your challenges. We'll get you on the "Short List".
We provide executive coaching, speaking engagements, speechwriting and workshops. Contact us at www.indobrazilian.com
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