Jack Gustafson
“And on the rulers turned I my back, when I saw what they now call ruling: to traffic and bargain for power--with the rabble!” - Friedrich Nietzsche
It is a given that most people have a negative view of Congress. As long as Congress has existed, with very few exceptions, the American population has held Congress with contempt. This contempt has manifested in the steady grumbling of catchphrases like “politics as usual”, “Washington insiders”, and a laundry list of abstract criticisms that have evolved since the foundation of our country. But if we are truly upset with the actions of Congress, then why don’t we throw the “bums” out? The fact is that we will never throw them out, because as much as we hate Congress we love our Congressmen. Congress always has a low rating, but a Congressman’s constituents will mostly give him or her a high rating; Former Senator Ted Stevens can testify to that. We hate “pork”, but we love it when our area gets government spending. For this reason, we can recognize the grumbling directed at Congress as nothing more than the cackling of the rabble.
The rabble-rousers in the news media and in Hollywood have recognized the will of the masses and have learned that people look for guidance in times of disorder. The media steps up as an orderly “objective” figure, and comforts the viewing public. Even when disorder is not present, the media will seek out a way to summon it and create fictitious problems. People like to get worked up over things, as people see issues as a way to define themselves. There is no way to eradicate this herd mentality as it is part of our human essence. Because of this, there will always be a platform for this anger to be directed towards. This manipulation of the public’s consciousness is self-defining and it will continue until the end of mankind.
The eternal nature of public criticism will be packaged, consumed, and recycled ad infinitive by Hollywood and other outlets. Besides, nobody wants to watch a movie without a conflict, and nobody will pay ten bucks to see a movie where everything is “nice” the whole time. For all of this, political conflicts will always have a place in a movie producer’s heart. As we recognize our inherent anger, and if we want to call ourselves patriots, then we can reason that Congress deserves the bad rap it gets from Hollywood. The reason I say patriot is because Congress benefits from Hollywood’s depiction. Yes, the media controls our minds, but the government controls the media. As long as there is distrust, there will be politicians promising to ease our pain, with no regard to the fact that they may or may not be the ones who created it. With this distrust, there will always be campaigns, there will always be hope, and there will always be money to be had.
