[Mpls] Stadium: How Local Media Impoverishes Political Discourse (part 1)

[Gary Hoover]

The Sunday Strib on the stadium is a good example of how our local media impoverishes political discourse.

The Strib ran a May 1 story entitled "Few Want to Pay for Ball Park" by Rochelle Olson and also an editorial entitled "Twins and Sunshine/Hennepin County Steps Up."  Doug Grow took our Mayor to task for waffling on the stadium issue while praising Peter McLaughlin for his clear support of the deal.  Grow presents the Mayor's position as weak and worthy of scorn, while McLaughlin's salesmanship is praised as strong and noble.  McLaughlin's glib assertion that "shoppers from all over the world" will pay for the project is proffered as Solomonic wisdom. In contrast, Rybak is concerned about adding a regressive tax on all of us every-day "local" shoppers to line the pockets of the billionaires and millionaires of the professional sports entertainment industry.  Rybak's assertion that our schools, public safety, housing, and health care sectors are sorely in need of funding is glibly dismissed and characterized as "waffling."  

The poor and middle class folks of Minneapolis and Hennepin County will pay a huge portion of this new tax while "international shoppers" will pay a pittance. McLaughlin waffles as Dr. Political Pangloss: "On balance, in this imperfect world, this is a good deal. I think we can do some things to make it better, but this gets the ball rolling."  Wise words?  Pragmatic politician? Or waffling words offered on behalf of people with "deep pockets" who want their new playtoy?  This playtoy also happens to be an utterly unsustainable bit of urban infrastructure that will only serve to make traffic congestion worse while it slowly drains hundreds of millions of dollars from the pockets of the poor and middle class into the coffers of the wealthy.  Those who want this want it badly.  Surely they feel as entitled to this reverse welfare as the poor feel entitled to decent pay and basic health care.  But there is no stopping this project.  And once the toy is bought the terms of the deal can be changed over the years so that even more cost is shifted to taxpayers.

The Strib gives us "Dumb and Dumber Does News In Minneapolis."  Rochelle Olsen presents this as unneeded conflict. Slow, stodgy critics hinder brave, breathless proponents of the brilliant billionaire's bilk-the-poor plan. The news consumer will babble semi-coherently: "Who will win?  Golly, gee-whiz, there really are two sides to this, aren't there?  I sure hope they tell us if the poor underdog billionaires/millionaires get that little tiny bit of money from us for that cool new toy!  Oh dear, those people who believe that education, health care, and all that boring stuff are a priority may hurt this deal!"

Doug Grow does a double-Dr-Pangloss "best of all possible world's" jig with Peter McLaughlin.  Two Panglosses are better than one!  One is a politician and one a journalist -- perfect dance partners.  Sadly in our "best of all possible worlds" we must cut funds for schools, public safety, and healthcare for the poor while we impose a new regressive tax on the poor for the further enrichment of the already super-rich and the entertainment of the merely affluent.

The Strib editorial puts frosting on our "news" product cake. "For reasons that are political, cultural, and dysfunctional" ("Oh my God, no!" we shudder) the state and the Twins "have slumped miserably and perpetually on this matter." (Oh, God, not that -- not perpetual slumping!!"  we consumers of "news" product sag visibly.)  Ready with perky baseball metaphor, a shaming mention of our (a-hem) wayward referendum-crazy sister-state California, and a scary-sweet "sunshine in Pleasantville" twist, the consumers of "news" product are taught by the stern editorial father: we must serve these billionaires and millionaires or else all will be lost.  Will Minneapolis be perpetually shamed in darkness with our Mayor (that silly bleeding-heart) or will we be ushered into the sunshine by four gallant political knights who are champions of the downtrodden super-rich and are true heroes of the corporate-welfare state?

There it is. Never mind that we are loading even more debt on our children with a new regressive tax.  Schools, public safety, and healthcare are all brushed aside with airy ease as the Strib carefully positions the super-rich and the affluent as victims. The poor and middle class are painted as perpetrators of shameful crimes against democracy.  Only our elected officials can make "informed" decisions, after all.  The masses are not citizens, but mere consumers of politics and media and so cannot know enough to speak.

But wait, there's more!

--pedaling for peace and ecojustice from Lynnhurst, for now -- Gary Hoover