The Upward Way Press » Blog Archive » Wishing
Rob adequately expresses the opinions of so many of us, I think. We’re tired of the media trying always to tell us what to think, what opinions we should hold, and what feelings we should have about various events and issues taking place around the world. It’s difficult these days to find a news venue that doesn’t try to spin it somehow, that doesn’t try to influence you in some way. Some of it is overt – videos with voice-overs appealing to some aspect of your emotions, articles with commentary that includes name-calling, predictions of the future, nearly-irrelevant poll numbers, etc. Some of it is more subtle – the mere choice of which stories get covered, for instance, or which adjective are chosen to describe the event, or which perspective the news story is told from, whether it be from the victim’s point-of-view, the antagonist’s, the demonstrators’, or the politician’s. Frankly, the American public is sick and tired of having everyone else’s opinions jammed in their face ((Ironically, this in the age where “being certain”:http://christianmind.blogspot.com/2006/06/humility-is-never-having-to-say-im.html about just about anything is considered rude and offensive.)), and most of us just want the facts.
I think there’s a reason why so many of us are tuning out of news broadcasts and becoming apathetic and disinterested in the events taking place around us, whether they be political, social, economic, etc. The information flow is high, we are inundated with messages and viewpoints not our own, and so many of those in positions of power, authority, and influence appear corrupt and immoral. There is only so much of this sort of stimulation that a person can take before becoming completely jaded, and I think that most of us have passed the breaking point. The world moves awfully fast these days, and as a result people have to shout and become more intense to get their message heard. These individuals then come across as pushy and in-your-face, and that approach has never gone over well – with anyone.
So, we’ve tuned out of the news (unless it’s some juicy tidbit of gossip, apparently) and the media have taken this to be a sign of approval. I wonder how many of them realize that a lot of us simply don’t care what they have to say anymore.
