The American media has an amazing grasp of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. For those of you who took an introductory Psych course, this may mean something. If not, bear with me.

The United States of America is a representative democracy. This means select individuals of a state may pay close attention to the government so the rest of us don't have to. Who wants to spend an entire day discussing a labor bill concerning migrant workers in Alaska? No one. That's what we pay our representatives for.

Unfortunately, this puts the citizens of America and their representatives in a tight position. The reps are supposed to read all the information and make an informed decision about it. The thing is they can't in the modern world. Every decision made may be scrutinized and then presented by the oposition to the citizenry as evidence that the current rep has not acted in their best interests.

Which is problematic. Remember, the citizenry specifically elected reps so THE CITIZENS CAN PAY ATTENTION TO OTHER THINGS!! As such, when it comes to politics, the citizens simply aren't going to be motivated to pay attention, except as a form of entertainment and/or idleness. Ultimately, this means all political messages to the citizenry must be in a form that better fits the peripheral route, which means scary music, grainy colors, and angry actors can change votes. This also means the reasons behind a reps actions are ignored for what is called "the sound byte."

Not many people really understand this. I know about it. People who spend a great deal of time reading the news and paying attention to politics seem to know this. In years past, Americans didn't seem to get it.

Now let us return to my ascertation that the media (specifically television media) has a powerful grasp of the ELM. The 2000 presidential elections were decided on sighs, stiffness, "liar" soundbytes, and archetypes. In the present day this is all called spin. Spin, according to the ELM, is how you absolutely dominate the peripheral route. You use one-liners "I invented the internet." You repeat simple messages over and over, "The Vice-President sighed a lot." You pay little attention to real stories in favor of "The Governor seemed real folksy." That is the peripheral route.

American elections are based upon this route, by the manner in which the constitution was drafted. The drafters said, "Hey people, elect other people to do your central processing. Work in your law firms. Farm your fields. Operate your smithies. The professionals will take care of things." This is great, except every two, four, and six years, we are all forced to return from our real jobs to pay attention to matters that we simply haven't been concerning ourselves with. We don't want to deal with this political crap. We want to get back to our lives. Through conditioning and desire, we simply don't process centrally.

The news media knows this. But they don't know that we know they know. As such, pay attention to the spin. Notice who the media is calling "stiff." Listen for mentions of slouching and wrinkled suits. These are the tell-tale signs that let us know EXACTLY who the media wants to win.

In 2000 it was, without question, Bush. In 2004, it seems to be shifting back and forth. Two weeks ago, Kerry kept shifting stances. He was wishy-washy. Bush was steadfast. Does anyone know what the hell these words mean? I'm a graduate student, and I don't think I know. Suddenly, after the debate, Bush seemed uncomfortable and scowled a lot.

I'm a liberal guy, but it really pisses me off that Kerry might win because Bush "scowled a lot." I want Kerry to win because I think he is simply the better candidate with better ideas and a willingness concede faults. I don't want him to win because he seemed "relaxed."

Yet that is how presidential debates are won. The citizenry wants to do the right thing, but they don't want to spend a great deal of time doing it.

You know what I think? I don't think there is a liberal bias or a conservative bias in the media. In think there's an entertainment bias. I think there's a "keep the viewers glued" bias. People prefer to watch and read what they agree with. I'll bet not a single mention of relaxed vs. detached was made until AFTER the insta-polls were finished and the media knew which way to spin the results.

Cater to the public. Show the right peripherals. Screw the world.