Story-telling...

Tonight, John McCain must be asking himself a question before the second presidential debate due to take place in Mississipi :
Debating : what for ?

What is the use of a second presidential debate ?

A presidential debate takes place in real democracies : the different candidates can express their opinions, can confront their propositions, their programs, their respective vision of their country.
Journalists are here to ask them questions, to moderate the debate, and then on the following day, to analyze objectively how the debate went on, and who won it - if there is a winner.

But in today's America, why should John McCain bother to debate  ?

The winner of this presidential election is already known.
The winner of this election has already been chosen by journalists and pundits.

Whatever John McCain may say about Barack Obama, it will be criticized as a desperate attempt.
Whatever Sarah Palin may say, she is only going negative, trying to hide the real stakes of this election.
Whatever both Republicans may say, nobody even tries to find out if it is true : for example, William Ayers' connection is being dismissed as losers' bitterness. No matter the facts : no matter what really happened between Obama and McCain, the media already knows it is false, because Barack Obama has no flaw. He is perfect. He is honest. He is their modern hero, and a hero cannot have done something wrong...

Whatever Obama may say about John McCain, it is being immediately investigated upon, and the verdict is : yes, Obama is right : John McCain is dishonest. He has been involved in the Keating scandal : what a shame !
Whatever Obama replies to McCain's attack, he is immediately praised as a political genius.

Whatever happens in this race, all journalists have already chosen their camp : they are not moderators anymore. They have become propagandists. They are here to sell the books they write which speak about their hero :


Whatever happens tonight in the debate, tomorrow's headlines will be : "Obama won !"
Like the vice-presidential debate, journalists know beforehand that tonight's debate will end up in a victory for the Democratic camp.

Whatever McCain may say to Obama tonight, the press will write : "McCain did not change the course of the race."
Yes, my dear friends, I can make a prediction, although I am not a fortune-teller :
Obama is the winner of the debate. No matter if the debate has not started yet !

For journalists are powerful enough to manage to influence TV viewers (who are also voters) and to make them say what they want to hear :




The media have decided to tell America a story.

This is called "story-telling".

And in today's shallow, superficial world, it perfectly works.

The planet is facing a severe crisis that is maybe going to engulf millions of citizens all over the world, and plunge many countries in the worst recession they have ever known...

But the media has decided to let the dream continue.

The media has decided to tell Americans and the rest of the world a FAIRY-TALE :

once upon a time, there was a poor African-American boy who lived in a country which had known centuries of slavery and racial divisions.

This boy was so smart, so wonderful, so brilliant that he managed to climb the social ladder, embodying perfectly the famous American Dream.

And one day a miracle happened : this boy, when he grew old, became president of this country.

This boy became the leader of the entire world...

So, what do you think of such a beautiful story ?