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I’ve been really annoyed at the media’s coverage of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Not only for the unending coverage of polls and speculation, and complete the absence of investigative journalism and coverage of the issues, which is a completely different issue that requires its own rant, but also at the focus on who was the “winner”.

It shouldn’t matter who wins or loses, but what is (or at least should be) more important is what percentage of the vote each of the candidates get, which is indicative of how many delegates to the national convention that they will get from that state.

This whole process is convoluted, so I’m not going to pretend to fully understand it, but here is my take: during the caucuses and primaries, voters not only cast a ballot for their candidate of choice, but also pick a delegate to represent them at the national convention ¹. The delegates are then expected to pledge and eventually cast their votes in line with the electorate, but aren’t required to.

Nothing in this process should be concerned with who is the “winner”. The media should be orgasmic about the fact that the race is so friggin’ close, not that Obama surprised us all and won Iowa or Hillary defied all odds to make an unprecedented comeback ².

Some argue that wining Iowa and New Hampshire means you’ll win the nomination, but even that is debatable. That has been the tendency in recent history, but we also haven’t had a race this close in 80 years. Or, as Jon Stewart puts it, “cold white people and colder white people” aren’t exactly representative of our entire country. The only “win” that the candidates are getting is the attention of the drooling media, thus sidestepping the democratic process.

1. Actually, in the Iowa caucuses, the voters select delegates to their respective county conventions, which then select delegates to their congressional district conventions, which finally pick the national delegates at the state convention.
2. What’s that? oh, she was ahead in the polls until Iowa and the media just blew it out of proportion? Never!

ig•no•rance |ˈignərəns| noun

lack of knowledge or information

After spending 6 weeks in Israel this past summer, one thing was very apparent: we are an ignorant people! We know very little about what is happening in the world and have no interest in understanding the complex and delicate histories of the people who’s lives we interfere with.

In an attempt to overcome ignorance, I believe I have found a cure: Avoid mainstream media. Not because they’re liberal or conservative, but because their primary motive is to make money. They have a legal obligation to their share holders to put the bottom line before the truth and the public’s interest. As long as that is the case, news will not be delivered based on worthiness¹ but on its entertainment value.

Instead, here a few of the news sources I have found extremely insightful:

• Democracy NOW!: though it lacks the luster of the news we’ve become accustomed to, this independent syndicated news program is superior to any I’ve seen. Amy Goodman and crew exercise a kind of journalism that the current generation has not seen.

• Al Jazeera: despite what US media and politicians would have you believe, Al Jazeera is not a terrorist group (or the journalists for the terrorist groups), but instead rivals BBC in number of viewers. Al Jazeera English provides a world perspective on bigger issues, especially those affecting the Middle East.

• OpenCongress.org: Understanding others requires knowing yourself. OpenCongress.org provides great resources for keeping up with what’s happening on the hill.

• The Daily Show: The alternative to ignorance is cynicism and hopeless. Jon Stewart, in embracing that cynicism and hopelessness, has a way of making it all seem not so bad. While the Daily Show’s primary motive is not to tell the truth, but to entertain, it doesn’t try to hide that identity (and there’s even evidence that despite its comedic intentions it is no less substantive).

How do you fight off ignorance?

1. “The truth is never sexy, so it’s not an easy sell” Derek Webb