How exactly important was the debate earlier this week, and who won and who lost? What exactly is the meaning of winning and losing? Who decides the definitions and parameters of winning or losing in this type of a political debate?
Why was the debate aired on CNN in the first place? Why is big media with highly exposed connections to corporate America and the one percent so important to influence the minds of the ordinary people — to make their decisions?
There should be another debate on just that.
A noted intellectual, film actor, and highly respected man from India — who has lived in USA for a long time too — made a remark that my Facebook observations on the first Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday were “not as earthshaking” as I was making them out to be. I take his comments seriously. So, without wasting too much of your time, I will try to explain what my observations were.
I watched the entire debate. And here is what I thought. (Other than the fact that nobody mentioned Hillary’s connections with Wal-Mart, Monsanto, and Goldman Sachs — the real, global axis of evil.)
The Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders debate was historic for two reasons.
(1) that Hillary with help from CNN was able to flip from her longstanding pro-1% position to flop into a new, populist position. She knew she was lying.
And (2) Because of Bernie Sanders, for the first time, the average American men and women heard (a) how the Glass-Stegall Act was abolished [by Bill Clinton] that caused the 2007-2008 meltdown, (b) how corporate America controls U.S. Congress, (c) how private prison industries keep countless in American jails, how Sandra Bland was murdered, and how ALL of us are being spied on, (d) how Citizens United undermines the basic principles of democracy, (e) the fact that only in the U.S., health care is not affordable to all.
Black Lives Matter and Sandra Bland’s death in jail.
Why do they have private prison industries in the first place, and why do people trade stocks of the prison industries to make money? Isn’t that information shocking too?
Also for the first time, perhaps, many Americans understood why on the big-ticket immigration reform issue, he did not support previous bills in Congress, as they had a guest worker program, which many of us always thought was synonymous with a government-validated slavery.
That was Bernie Sanders vis-a-vis Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night’s debate.
New York Times, Washington Post and CNN would not admit it, but they know millions of ordinary people have heard these facts for the first time, and took them seriously. So, they are busy manufacturing consent that Hillary won the debate. We may be stupid, but listen, we are not as stupid as you think we are. Bernie Sanders also showed how to be civil, generous, and transparent.
To the highly informed and elite, like my respected Facebook friend, the above pieces of information are definitely not earthshaking. But to most of us here in America, they are revealing, if not shocking. America’s big media almost never talk about these issues, in this candid and forthright way, the way Bernie Sanders did on Tuesday.
Ask any of my thousands of union worker students.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Partha Banerjee
Brooklyn, New York
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Super PACs and donors. You decide who works for you.
Thank you, Partha, for your observations. While the media is trying to spin the debate by saying that Hillary Clinton won, the exit polls that were taken afterwards told a different story. My hope is that if we continue to spread the word through alternative media, more and more people will see the truth with their own eyes.
I truly believe that Bernie Sanders can win this! It is just up to all of us who believe in him to keep getting the word out, just like you are doing. Thank you for all that you do, and thank you for being my facebook friend!
Thank you, Neva, for your friendship and support. If possible, share this article with your friends.
Mr. Banerjee! I came across this article on Twitter and then was pleasantly surprised to see that you wrote it! I’m hopeful that Bernie is bringing these ideas into mainstream debate, since only democrat and republican candidates get this level of attention. I guess the benefit of being on CNN is that it reached a broader audience that, as you said, would be shocked to learn this information. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for writing. Yes, I am hoping so too. But I am not so sure about CNN’s impartiality, as it is owned by Time Warner, which is a big Hillary donor. CNN deleted a post-debated poll where Sanders was leading Hillary by 75-18%, and it also deleted ALL the pro-Sanders comments from their website. I find that very disturbing.