I didn’t make it down to D.C. this weekend for The Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear). It just seemed to0 unreasonable to drive 12 hours for a rally about reasonableness. But I did watch it, and while there were definitely some low moments, like crowd games lead by the Mythbusters guys, I felt that the overall spirit and execution of the event was pretty well done, especially Stewart’s speech at the end which focused heavily on our current media culture.
Up until the last decade or so, the majority of Americans got their national news from non partisan sources. The only easily accessible options were the major TV networks, NPR, The Associated Press, and a handfull of major newspapers. If you wanted a more liberal or conservative viewpoint you had to seek it out by subscribing to magazines like the conservative Weekly Standard or the liberal New Republic.
But then after CNN introduced us to constant news, the creation of the “24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator” began. It’s hard to argue that Fox News didn’t take the lead, but the other cable networks have followed suit, and the internet is amplifying those partisan voices. Now it seems you have to go out of your way to find something that is focused on facts rather than an ideological narrative.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t any good reporters or work done on cable news, but the problem is bigger than any unbiased reported can fix. The medium itself necessitates outrageousness; how else can you keep people watching all day and night?
Stewart is right when he says that “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing” and when he compares the images of our political ideas in the media to fun house mirrors. People and the ideas they hold are more complicated and interesting that the boxes they are put in and labels they are given.
I think it would do all of us some good to put down the remote for a bit and listen to each other.
