Who is 'Mainstream'?

By Russ Vaughn

Why do we refer to those flyover country Americans who maintain their traditional beliefs in God and country as Mainstream Americans while at the same time using the same adjective in a pejorative sense to describe the liberal American media that gleefully tramples those beliefs at every opportunity? It is actually the Mainstream Media's persistent use of the term Mainstream Americans that perpetuates the problem.

Mainstream Americans and Mainstream Media have absolutely nothing in common yet I fear the use of that term to describe both is very confusing to many Americans, perhaps to the extent that those who perceive themselves as Mainstream Americans would be tempted to incorrectly believe that the Mainstream Media are supportive of their traditional beliefs. It's bad enough that these Americans are under a constant barrage of celebrity liberalism from the major networks, CNN and MSNBC; it would be a travesty if they should actually believe these leftist propagandists are on their side.

I know that Rush Limbaugh has coined the phrase Drive By Media, but that term is in limited use among conservative groups and not nearly as widely used as the mainstream descriptive. The term mainstream as applied to Americans to depict salt-of-the-earth, Norman Rockwellian traditionalists far predates the deprecatory term Mainstream Media. Like the term Gay, it has been usurped to have far different implications and serve far different purposes than in its original manifestations.

There is no satirical intent on my part here. It is a serious concern that those folks who actually are mainstream may be confused as to who it is who truly represents their views. Could this be why so many of them continue to watch the liberal propagandists instead of switching to FOX News which is far more supportive of their views? I see the problem but don't have a clue as to what to do.