news media in general birthed the Tea Party movement with its extensive exposure of the anti-Obama protests in early 2009, we have witnessed the movement’s awkward adolescence and rapid maturation into something that has the appearance of a distinct political identity. Any press is still good press, and whatever the tone of various news outlets towards the Tea Party, it cannot be emphasized enough how it was the teat of the media that is responsible for the life of this supposedly self-propelled, “grass roots” phenomena. This could be extended to mean that the media itself is the driving force for most popular political involvement. Whether pamphlet or TV form, easily accessed news media is undoubtedly the great popularizer of politics.

The Tea Party is one of the most interesting self-fulfilling prophecies of our time. Groomed by the press and for the press, for admiration, for ridicule, and above all, for ratings, the life of this child of corporate funding (Google: “koch brothers”, click first choice) and the media has always been a life lived in the moment; a celebrity life, with all the signs of real influence: personalities generating material for the Associated Press, gossip magazines and tabloids alike.

Yet, it’s burdened by none of the realities of an established political entity, like a consistently emphasized agenda, plan of action or anything resembling detailed policy. Even post-election, only the broadest of platforms — repealing health care, cutting taxes, shrinking government — simply Republican campaign points asserted with an even more disingenuous level of vagueness have been used. While it claims membership from individuals, such an implication is ridiculous — it requires nothing but an unembarrassed, verbal, and, considering the lack of articulated policy, emotional association; all of which have been critical for the extreme accessibility responsible for the level of enthusiasm that’s been generated. It’s been a fun, credibility losing year for everyone.

And the bizzaro-world has only begun, it seems. The media’s loyalties lie with what it knows will get people to watch, so of course it’s completely unwilling to expose its new ratings baby for the farce that it is. So any kind of measured, responsible analysis on the Tea Party remains an impossibility.

It’s a harmful game they’re playing, because while the three Senate seats won by heavy Tea Party campaigners Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey seem straight-forward enough, it’s simply impossible to calculate what constitutes a Tea Party victory in the House, the field of conservative victory (however cyclical), with any certainty whatsoever.

“As many as 60 of the 83 new Republicans” have been projected by the Washington Post — a more definite estimate being impossible without an in-depth look at every single new representative’s campaign. An estimated 90 percent of many more mainstream Republicans are said to have defected by forging themselves a Tea Party membership mid-campaign to take advantage of the enthusiasm and energy of the mobilized voting body of this election. In most practical cases, it means that they stepped up their polarizing, anti-government rhetoric that much more... which apparently worked. So much for the growth of society?

Since trying to decipher between the media noise and the actual momentum of the Tea Party is currently impossible, the fact remains that Tea Party campaigners like Renee Ellmers and Tim Scott, with all the claims of what isn’t going to be tolerated instead of what’s going to be done, actually defeated a lot of incumbents, as well as dominated their less-Tea-Party GOP counterparts in several primaries. The enthusiasm has never been stronger. There was as much if not more radical mobilization among the middle-aged to senior demographic in this election than there was among youth in 2008.

It’s easy to forget that in our country, political parties have died under conditions of internal division like these. It’s hard to tell if the Tea Party victors can maintain their unrealistically broad and vague identities having to participate in the system that they’ve shown nothing but rhetorical contempt for, or if this has just been a short-lived mania that will rapidly lose its momentum when it proves unable to translate into reality.

Regardless, the media’s ability to subject us to increasingly influencial political movements of its own creation is a disturbing one, especially when they’re just as disorganized and apparently substanceless when elected to government as when they were just a cheap side show. If the media keeps enabling the populist momentum for this special interest funded movement by continuing its unceasing coverage, the GOP might be looking very different come 2012.

—Wiley Robinson is an undecided sophomore. He can be reached at rrobin23@utk.edu.