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> The single biggest problem with America today is the presentation and consumption of national news, political commentary and public policy as entertainment. T

by tivert 3y ago

> The single biggest problem with America today is the presentation and consumption of national news, political commentary and public policy as entertainment. The media has figured out that America is the ultimate reality TV show and they present it as such. > Cable TV and the internet are to blame for this. I don't know what could be done about it. But we'd be way better off if "the news" was something you could watch from 7 PM - 8 PM if you were interested, or something you could read in a printed newspaper if you were really interested, and otherwise the general public could ignore it. No, it's television in general. People were famously making that exact same point in the 1980s, before the widespread adoption of cable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death. tl;dr: the medium is the message, and the message of television is entertainment, even when the news was only a half-hour a day.

flyinghamster 3y ago
Social media and its manipulation have amplified the problem vastly, and what makes it even worse is the consolidation of ownership. Nothing like turning on an ABC (owned by Disney) news program and getting ten minutes of self-referential Disney news.
- tivert 3y ago
  I think the internet and social media's effects have been different than television. Like television, it encourages even shorter attention spans and even more superficial engagement with things. Unlike television, it tends towards anger and outrage (not entertainment) and encourages more fragmentation and tribalism.
mikhailfranco 3y ago
"... the human race is divided into two distinct and irreconcilable groups: those that walk into rooms and automatically turn television sets on, and those that walk into rooms and automatically turn them off. The trouble is that they end up marrying each other." The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

by tivert 3y ago

flyinghamster 3y ago

Social media and its manipulation have amplified the problem vastly, and what makes it even worse is the consolidation of ownership. Nothing like turning on an ABC (owned by Disney) news program and getting ten minutes of self-referential Disney news.

tivert 3y ago
I think the internet and social media's effects have been different than television. Like television, it encourages even shorter attention spans and even more superficial engagement with things. Unlike television, it tends towards anger and outrage (not entertainment) and encourages more fragmentation and tribalism.

mikhailfranco 3y ago

"... the human race is divided into two distinct and irreconcilable groups: those that walk into rooms and automatically turn television sets on, and those that walk into rooms and automatically turn them off. The trouble is that they end up marrying each other." The Manchurian Candidate (1962)