As this holiday season ramps up the only thing that is still driving the mainstream network and cable news media is President ‘Goldfinger’ and how thoroughly confused, disordered and damaged we are as a country and as a people. Same goes for print journalism and social media as well. They’re all showing us who we are and we’re not paying attention. As Nero fiddled as Rome burned, we’re watching Trump fiddle, philander and pander as America and the planet burns. We seem to be loving the show and screaming for more ...or just screaming. It’s the storm before the calm.
Is this buzzworthy sport of airing America’s dirty laundry to the world and the ‘gotcha!‘ media mentality contaminating or educating generations of Americans for decades to come about the difference between right and wrong? Either way, it’s forming the world’s view and opinion of us. Here at home we accept and enjoy the entertainment value of America’s downfall and the collapse of our democracy as it all happens in real time, a Trump reality show, right before our eyes. We’re addicted to it. The media knows it and thrives on showing the worst of us being our worst selves. It shows our ‘leaders‘ being who they are ...corrupt, incorrigible.
If the media is showing the world that we are nuts, it’s because we are nuts, apparently. So, I guess we shouldn’t shoot the messenger.
A pretentious person would say, “If you don’t like what you are seeing, just turn off the TV.” In other words, just stick your head in the sand and it will all go away, your concerns will disappear. However, this would be an inexcusable offense and about as effective as voting ...it doesn’t work unless everyone does it. Our collective voice should be loud and clear. E pluribus unum. It is my opinion that a legitimate and widespread concern should be vociferously expressed and a strong protest should be executed beyond the Electoral College voting system. It is the moral if not patriotic responsibility of every American, if America, your home, means anything to you. But good luck with that since many Americans anymore are more concerned with finding a good sushi bar on their iPhone yet can’t find the United States on a world map, or wouldn’t know Adam and Eve from Sonny & Cher.
Is this insulting to your intelligence? Does this make you angry? Good. Get angry, but realize that it’s true and do something about it.
The news media, as necessary as it is, plays to our lowest common denominator, which is our collective gullibility (stupidity) and our appetite for amusement. They exploit it by showing us what we want to see, often in the name of ‘journalism‘, but mostly in the name of entertainment and consumerism, and all while our leaders play out their lives and careers like a Netflix mini-series. The exasperating part is that both the media and our leaders are showing us a mirror image of who and what we are ...foolish, and who and what they are ...liars, suspected, indicted or imprisoned felons, white-collar criminals. Not all of them, just the ones that get caught. This short scene with Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin from the 1988 film ‘Midnight Run’ always makes me laugh. De Niro plays a bounty hunter who captures Grodin playing a mob accountant https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=scene+from+midnight+run+I%27ma+white+collar+criminal). See the movie, it’s hilarious https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095631/
We are addicted to the news. We love train wrecks. We love gossip and conflict, and we love to see our fellow man, especially, our leaders, humiliated, insulted, fired, and destroyed, and we’re just waiting for the next politico, administrator or CEO to go down in flames. It’s as much of an American sport phenomenon as Monday Night Football. So we continue to watch, mesmerized ...and the world continues to watch also, laughing at us, because we elected these white collar criminals to be our leaders. It says a lot ...it says everything, about us. The question is not what’s the matter with them, we already know that, they’re white collar criminals. The question is what’s the matter with us, We the People, for placing our trust in them?
Is it too late to correct this mess and get back on track? Unfortunately, probably, yes. It would be like convincing our leaders and our Wall Street terrorists to somehow acquire a conscience and stop worldwide carbon emissions and the global warming that is having a catastrophic effect on the Earth’s ecosystems, our food supply, our very existence on the planet as we have known it.
Soylent Green‘ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/) is a 1973 cult classic film staring Charlton Heston about a futuristic world (2022) where carbon emissions have created a greenhouse effect polluting the planet and killing off our traditional global food sources, plants and animals. We’ve resorted to eating plankton from the oceans but the plankton is also dying. Overpopulation has created a critical need for new food sources. The Wall Street corporate alternative, Soylent Green, is shocking ...https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=soylent+green+quote+its+the+people ...
So, people, whether the news media is singing Silent Night or Soylent Green this Christmas, you can be sure we’ll all be watching ...wondering ...wondering how bad things could actually get ...wondering if we should do something other than talk about it ...wondering if we or our children or grandchildren will someday be watching the end of the world on CNN.
Food for thought ...
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
Some past articles and op-eds
