And New Yorkers prefer the sound of ocean waves to the sounds of car traffic and jet engines. So what? What the public prefers is irrelevant. The content of pu

And New Yorkers prefer the sound of ocean waves to the sounds of car traffic and jet engines. So what? What the public prefers is irrelevant. The content of public discourse is dictated by the acoustics of the media environment. We are trapped inside a terrible, gigantic conch, which resonates with the frequency of scandals and sound-bytes and dampens the sounds of thoughtful debate.