> I can only assume that American media is an environment in which only the very most extreme and grotesque representations can break through. Pretty much this

> I can only assume that American media is an environment in which only the very most extreme and grotesque representations can break through. Pretty much this. Our media is hyper-optimized for what drives clicks/views/subscriptions, and it turns out that nothing drives those things so much as showing outrageous behavior, rather than trying to portray what is typical. You can see it in our political culture as well: if you listen to the media, every single member of (insert other side here) is a step below Hitler on the evil scale. But if you talk to people across the political spectrum, you will find that the vast majority are good, decent people who share your same values and merely disagree on how to best reach them. I genuinely think that the media is responsible for most of the social issues in our country, and if we could get rid of them we would be significantly better off.