I posted those maps because they reminded me once again how the media seems to be hell bent on making the United States a stupider place. Red states and blue states. Us and Them. It's so polarizing, divisive, and fundementally wrong. They're being intellectually dishonest and feeding people complete garbage. Most of the U.S. is actually purple, but to hear the news you'd think the red and the blue are two different countries.
The news media would rather spoon feed the masses something simple, then to delve three inches deeper and actually tell the truth. I'm just sick of how everything is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. Frankly, the more I think about it the angrier I get about the role of the media in today's poltics. I am certain there have always been dirty, ugly politics but now we have this 24 hour, entertainment driven news media. It's about ratings and money and being first. They lend legitimacy to obviously ludicrous campaign nonesense and people buy it. They should be ashamed. Let Fox News be ridiculous alone.
It just shocks me to see a nothing story like the discredited Swift Boaters turned into a major issue. And in the tradition of my dear departed grandma, people seem to think "if the news gives it space, it must be true." WEll, that's being slightly generous....grandma really said, "they wouldn't say it if it weren't true!"
I wonder when the media will start asking the obvious questions again. About a year ago, I was wondering why they accept a banana republic dictator style photo op wtihout questioning why the civilian leader of this country was dressed up as if he were some kind of war hero...and what did that cost and who paid for it? Those seemed like obvious questions to me, but it was treated as if he was honestly announcing the end of the war. I didn't see anything media related get much better over the course of the year.
Anyway, the more I mull over the situation, the more I blame the media for distracting people from the truth and not fulfilling the obligations required of a truly free press. The consolidation of media sources under these huge corporate umbrellas has critically wounded the whole concept behind freedom of the press. I hope there are still journalists of integrity who are ashamed at the path the news media has taken. Quit talking to people like they're stupid, and maybe they'll end up less ignorant.
The news media would rather spoon feed the masses something simple, then to delve three inches deeper and actually tell the truth. I'm just sick of how everything is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. Frankly, the more I think about it the angrier I get about the role of the media in today's poltics. I am certain there have always been dirty, ugly politics but now we have this 24 hour, entertainment driven news media. It's about ratings and money and being first. They lend legitimacy to obviously ludicrous campaign nonesense and people buy it. They should be ashamed. Let Fox News be ridiculous alone.
It just shocks me to see a nothing story like the discredited Swift Boaters turned into a major issue. And in the tradition of my dear departed grandma, people seem to think "if the news gives it space, it must be true." WEll, that's being slightly generous....grandma really said, "they wouldn't say it if it weren't true!"
I wonder when the media will start asking the obvious questions again. About a year ago, I was wondering why they accept a banana republic dictator style photo op wtihout questioning why the civilian leader of this country was dressed up as if he were some kind of war hero...and what did that cost and who paid for it? Those seemed like obvious questions to me, but it was treated as if he was honestly announcing the end of the war. I didn't see anything media related get much better over the course of the year.
Anyway, the more I mull over the situation, the more I blame the media for distracting people from the truth and not fulfilling the obligations required of a truly free press. The consolidation of media sources under these huge corporate umbrellas has critically wounded the whole concept behind freedom of the press. I hope there are still journalists of integrity who are ashamed at the path the news media has taken. Quit talking to people like they're stupid, and maybe they'll end up less ignorant.
posted by Terry at 4:09 PM
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