Why I believe the media makes our political system worse

I am absolutely convinced that the media deserves a significant amount of the blame for the problems with our politics in this country. Within about 10 minutes of each other I read an analysis of the debt ceiling issue from my investment advisor, and then a news story on the same subject. It is amazing how different the tone is. Read these comparisons:

Investment Analyst:

It's clear that Washington needs to take action regarding the debt ceiling in the short term, but also address our longer-term deficit and debt issues. Amidst all the negative headlines and "what if" scenarios, it's normal to be concerned. But remember, emotions shouldn't drive your investment decisions. We don't recommend making any changes to your portfolio based on the small chance that Congress fails to act. While we don't know exactly what will happen, Congress has raised the debt ceiling every year for the past 10 years, and we don't think this time will be any different.

Leading line from online news source:

AP - Horror stories are flying about the damage that might be wreaked should Congress and President Barack Obama fail to cut a deal by the Aug. 2 deadline to increase America's borrowing limit. Nearly every American is in harm's way, either directly or indirectly.

All they do is stir the pot and get everybody fired up and angry at each other. I do believe the last line of that statement - that every American is in harm's way. But the media is the one causing the harm.

And yes I am 100% in favor of free speech and the 1st amendment. It is just a shame that the majority of people in that industry choose to exercise those rights in such an irresponsible way.

The importance of verbal communication - debunking the myths

My entire life I've heard people say that 80-90% of all communication is nonverbal. The top result on Google claims 93%. The problem is, I just can't believe it.  I believe the verbal part of communication is so essential to the process that all the studies skip over this completely.

If 93% of communication is non-verbal, I could listen to somebody speaking German or Chinese and understand nearly everything they were saying. Obviously that is not true at all. Non-verbal communication can only express emotions. You can listen to somebody speaking another language and get a sense of whether they are happy or sad, excited or upset, but you miss the message itself. If somebody ran up to you needing help and tried to communicate that to you in another language, you would immediately sense that they were distraught, but would have no way of knowing the actual problem.

As humans we have the capacity to contemplate, communicate, and discuss deeply complex ideas. We can have philosophical discussions about abstract concepts, imagine alternate realities, and ponder hypothetical questions about our very existence.  Non-verbal communication is not going to get you there.

If communication was so heavily dependent on the non-verbal aspect, how can you explain the power of the written word? Writing has helped spark national revolutions, changed societies, and created world-wide religions. How is that possible if it only represents utilizing 7% of the communication process?

Without question, there are non-verbal clues that help you interpret the words being spoken, provide context, and help refine the message.  But without the words themselves, communication as we know it would not exist.