Let us talk about Ben Carson. First, who is he and where did he come from? He is a retired neurosurgeon from Detroit, Michigan. He is a conservative Republican who is in the exploratory stages of announcing his candidacy. He has recently been traveling to different areas and being paid to do speeches and other public events but is now also receiving a lot of free media due to the internet and other news medias. I thought had never even heard of him till I saw a bumper sticker on the car in front of me, till I saw the video on the site about his thoughts on gay marriage. This particular article title alone though, is priming you to think that on May 4 he will specifically be making his announcement for his presidential bid in his home town. While it is not written in the article but it is in the interview in the video there is a certain framing being shown setting him up as a man who is very conscious of money and other issues because of the length of just the clips. But what comes to me is that, how can a man who not only worked but dominated at Johns Hopkins Medical Center be worried about money? No where is it mentioned about how while he feels this COUNTRY needs fixed that he wants to help the many struggling people of Detroit. I think that may be a potential agenda setting, showing some of the points that he is so concerned with and also showing his obvious inexperience in the world of politics. Is someone who has such obvious flaws someone you would want? Where does he get his ideas from? Is he really that different from Donald Trump, in the sense that he came from no where politically and now wants to make the ultimate decisions for our freedom?
Interesting article; the issue that stood out for me was the notation that Dr. Carson has relatively little political experience, but a considerable amount of money, what with him being a retired neurosurgeon and all! He is a newcomer to the candidate’s pool and he is using that to his advantage. He is using framing to portray himself as being the, “common sense alternative to the broken policies of Washington politics”. This is an example for our textbook on page 155 of how framing guides thinking. The media can frame this candidate as a good alternative to the others in the election, then he can emerge as the front runner. How the public interacts with and interprets a candidate depends on which facts are presented and which are ignored. The Republican field of potential Presidential candidates is growing, and framing of the candidates will play a crucial part in who is elected. These wealthy candidates should have even more scrutiny by the media and the public since a Presidency should never go to the highest bidder, but the most qualified and dedicated candidate.
Debbie