Another change that occurred during the time my
granddaughter was in the hospital was that I also stopped watching the news.
The news is addictive, and sadly in the United States it consists mainly of
echo chambers that provide those who want news with the news they want to
hear. And of course, the decision as to what counts as news is one fraught with
privilege and manipulation. Why, for example, is there so little attention paid on the news to the policy positions of Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris, while
so much attention is paid to Pete Buttiegieg and his ability to speak several
languages? I ask this as a person who will support whomever the democrats nominate
and find the positions of all 3 worthy. My point is, that is a decision made by
someone in a newsroom.
We know that newspapers are under threat. They see a decline
in print subscribers but not a concomitant rise in online subscribers, since it
is so easy to find free content online. Thus, they are forced to create reasons
for you to visit their websites- the use of clickbait, for example. They now
end most stories with questions such as “Do you agree with his position? Click
here to tell us what you think.” Every article has a thousand comments that no
one reads. I believe that Trump was elected in part, as part of a perfect storm
of events, because the news could not stay away from his actions and
needed to report on each and every one of them- thus, amplifying his appeal.
They did this while spending inordinate amounts of time on a created issue with
Hilary Clinton about emails (an issue that did not seem to matter as much as
when it was done by Jared Kushner). The New York Times lost my respect as a
result, and even the Washington Post has shown terrible judgment. And this is
before we ever consider the cancer of Fox News. I had to find a way to get Fox
off my news feeds in google news, because no matter what was happening, Fox
would spin it in a Bizarro Superman way. This is how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
has become so prominent; Fox sees a threat in her directness so has used every
event involving her to (1) attack her by twisting what she said, and (2) drawing
people to the Fox website through use of an attractive 29-year-old woman unafraid of taking a position.
The problem is deeper than this. I am also trying to find
out how I can keep any news article involving the Kardashians off my news
feeds, for those few times I visit. Who cares what this talentless group of people
do? Yes, I know- their 55 million or however many followers (twitter, etc.) do. But I don’t and
I don’t want that stupidity cluttering up more meaningful information. It takes
up space and is a diversion. Which is what it is meant to be, so that we pay
less attention to what really matters. Where did the idea of being an “influencer”
come from?
There is so much more to say, and over time I am sure I
will.
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