There are ongoing dramas that are playing themselves out in our world all the time. Some are Negative, Some are Positive. Glass half full, or half empty? It was a mix of both for me these past two weeks. I will start with the fact that, yes, I am constantly ranting and raving about The Media. They deserve it, and more! On Tuesday, April 4th, when Donald Trump was to be Arraigned in New York, they reached an absolute New Low! They proved to be par excellence what an Arrogant, Greedy, Hypocritical, Sensationalist and Disgraceful bunch they are with the drivel that they call Analysis and the Wasteful Hours upon Hours of Voyeurism and totally Empty Prattle!! This is Not Free Speech! This is Not Freedom of the Press! This is absolutely Sick! I had very little respect for them before they all swarmed down to follow Minute by Minute Trump’s procession from Florida, to the Trump Towers, to the Court, and to all the Befores and Afters and In Betweens, and I have no respect for them after making a spectacle of themselves the way that they did! No Respect! None Whatsoever! They really should be ashamed of themselves!
At the end of the day, We are Not The Targeted Audience for the Cable News Channels, especially MSNBC, CNN and FOX. If we happen to tune in it’s fine by them. However, their targeted Audience are the Politicians, Lobbyists, Financiers and Corporate Honchos, as well as All who are connected to them in any direct, or peripheral way. They whip them up and tell them what is Important, and how to Think!! Their Main Focus over the past few years has been: Trump! Trump! Trump! Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine! Either For, or Against. All other Important Issues are just Fillers that do not deserve more than brief mention and empty talk, unless it is sensational, or salacious stuff!. Shameful!
We might think that the Local News Channels and Programs, unlike the Cables, would be focusing on the Issues that affect the daily lives of the citizens, but they don’t really do that except tangentially, because they are driven first and foremost by Feel Good Consumerism and Nonsense to make us Buy, Buy! Buy! Spend! Spend! Spend! Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
The Exceptions to these two matrixes are Democracy Now and C-Span (except when Legislators are in session posing, orating and acting for the cameras!), plus a host of online blogs, articles and “real” news and analysis that most Ordinary Joe and Jane do not listen to, or access.
On Friday, April 7 C-Span’s Washington Journal was asking its listeners about what Values we stand for as Americans. In other words: What Is The Glue That Binds Us Together as Citizens? The Bottom Line from Ordinary Joe and Jane: These dangerous days we are living in seem to find us lost in the wilderness of disparate values that have been so muddied and sullied by Corrupt Politicians and Politics as to make it very difficult, if not impossible, to find some common ground on which we can all somewhat agree. It was not always the case. The unravelling began as long ago as when the Baby Boomers, some of whom were rightfully anti-wars and anti-nukes; anti hypocrisy and double standards; for women’s liberation and human rights; for equality and justice and other Progressive Issues, but most of whom bought into the stoking of Corporate America for consumerism; focusing on their careers and leaving latch-key kids to fend for themselves which might have inadvertently taught them independence, but at the cost of their emotional well being and sense of security; greed and opportunism; rates of divorce that were the highest ever; buying into the notion of America’s Exceptionalism and proud of its swaggering across the world with a colonist mindset though under the guise of freedom and democracy which brings us to . . .
. . . the Un-targeted Audience of the media platforms: these are the Young Generations: starting from the children of the Baby Boomers and continuing to Generation Z, or Zoomers as they have come to be called, an ethnically and racially diverse Audience that is not at all interested in the News and Views of the Talking Heads, Hosts and Writers of all those many shows and newspapers, nor are they interested in a consumerism that they can’t afford anyway. They have their own wired vehicles for accessing information and coming to their own conclusions on what is important rather than being told how and what to think. Kudos to them! They are also Angry Generations having opened their eyes to: mass murders and school shootings; climate change fears; corporate greed; wars and strife that they are totally opposed to; bigotry and discrimination, religious fervor; a Virus Pandemic that locked them up and the possibility of Other Future Pandemics; their world in total disarray, and their politicians looking out for themselves rather than addressing fundamental issues that affect their generations’ very existence. In other words, they feel that the previous generations have royally screwed things up for them!
Whether they are mourning innocent lives lost to a senseless shooting in Tennessee as in so many other places, or watching the total erosion of democracy when the Tennessee Three, as they have come to be called, were ousted for expressing their outrage at gun massacres, or the Progressive Voting in Wisconsin and Chicago where people said: Enough Radicalism, or Palestinian youths retaliating at the Israeli Authorities after being raided at the Al-Aqsa Mosque plus the daily murders and of living under a miserable and savage occupation (and for once the Media relayed this news giving Context as to why it was happening), or the turmoil going on in so many places, they are all saying: Enough! Enough of all of you who have screwed up our world and who do not seem to have the intention of doing anything right by us! I applaud all of those Heroes, like many in this country, who’s voices are rising higher by the day! So uplifting! And, I fully understand their genuine feelings of Anger! Moreover, they are becoming more and more Activists and are an impressive voting block despite the efforts of Radical Republicans to deter and thwart them!
Watch out World! The tide is turning all over the Globe with new Alliances being formed; with All Humans saying that they are fed up with the way things are going and with Younger Generations intent on changing this sick formula. Dare I think that, after all, perhaps we didn’t mess up as much as I thought by bringing up these Younger Generations who are challenging the Status Quo? Perhaps!
My Seventy Year Old Eyes 