media

Happy New Year!? One Can Hope!

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Today’s blog post is a bit more serious or somber than most. Much of it came to me shortly after I awoke this morning. Today is New Year Day (or Should I say New Year’s Day?). The parties and celebrations are over, and most are safely at home. Sadly, I read that several people were killed by someone driving into a holiday celebration in New Orleans for reasons unknown. For their families and friends there is little to be happy about.

I sometimes wonder why we celebrate this day each year, especially since we celebrate not on this day but the night before instead. But perhaps that is a thought for another time. Today should be a time for us to wipe the slate clean, to start anew. Yet that seems so unlikely it needs so little discussion.

To a large degree I blame much of the divisiveness in our country today on the media, both broadcast and print. It seems that instead of promoting unity, they look for ways to promote hate between people. Whether they are successful or not, their headlines or front pages seem focused on differences and ways to increase them rather than on solutions, or, at least on improvements. This is often presented as factual rather than opinion and, if you focus on what is presented, it shows the bias of those allowing it. They also appear to search out celebrities to support these opinions or who are willing to do anything for a free sound bite. This is especially true for those celebrities who are no longer as popular as earlier in their careers.

In the past year alone, there have been multiple published suggestions of cancelling Thanksgiving and Christmas because of political differences. There have also been widely publicized name calling related to the candidate preference or votes cast. This has most recently seen in the publicity given to Don Lemon for his statements regarding MAGA supporters of the incoming administration. If the same statements were made by others regarding groups where Lemon has or is a member, it would immediately be criticized by the media as racist. Perhaps it is time to stop promoting this type of activity in any form and start supporting and publicizing unity.

One could suggest that the reason for this is because the media could not exist without division. As a result, the need for peace is cast aside in favor of increasing profitability. Think about the terms or causes the media seems to promote – Democrat vs. Republican, conservative vs. liberal, north vs. south, black vs. white, etc. While there may be a need to address these issues, others are, or should be, more important to face and resolve. And this can only be done if we are willing to sit down together and discuss them.

Our country has always been strong and with a few exceptions been able to help ourselves and others. But if we allow these so-called experts to continue to drive wedges between us, one must wonder if our strength can last.

Just an old man’s opinion with which you may disagree. Like I said earlier, we have dealt with disagreement since we were young children. The question becomes, “Who are actually the most adult, the children who work through their problems or us older folks who refuse to change?”.

“Adults,” Grow Up!

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As we grow older, we often forget the lessons we learned as children. Or, possibly, the things we learned as children have changed, either purposely or unintentionally.

As children, we played with others, either at school or in our neighborhood. Most of the time this play was peaceful even though we had disagreements. But sometimes, our disagreements turned into a crisis for us. The result was that they became shouting matches, sometimes minor fights, and we picked up our toys and went home. Once there, we told our parents, usually our mothers, that we “hated” the other person and never wanted to play with them again, or, in the worst case, never wanted to see them again. The response was often, “Go to your room and calm down. Grow up!”

Of course, the result of these life events was usually that we were playing with that same person the next day with neither of us remembering what cause the problem and having no concerns about it. So, we learned and, over time, we “grew up.” We really didn’t need our parents to get involved in most situations, only the most extreme.

Today, I look at the recent election and think that someone needs to say to many adults, grow up! It has been one week since the election. There are already fundraising efforts underway to demand recounts, there are claims of election fraud, and there is finger-pointing even within parties regarding who is to blame for losses and who should get credit for wins.  There are also predictions of gloom and doom, promises of retaliation or retribution, and even demands to change laws that have been in place throughout our history.

There are reports of celebrities claiming that they will leave the country because of the election results. Something I find highly unlikely given recent history and, if true, I believe we should wave to them as they go. Similarly, there is at least one state governor who has said that anything happening to his state will have to go through him. Perhaps he should look at the history of governors in his state who seem to follow their term in office with a term in Federal prison.

And, heaven forbid, the press seems to be unable to accept that the election is finished, and the American public has spoken. The press was simply out of touch during the entire election process. No matter how many pundits criticize the election results, or criticize voters, the results will not change. Perhaps there are more important things to focus on today and move forward. Stop talking about what you perceive as wrong and start looking at how we can make things better in the future (and respect the views of the average Joe, not the elite with whom you always agree).

Throughout our country’s history, we have had winners and losers in elections. Yet our country has survived. It will survive this time as well, no matter whether your side won or lost. Move forward, don’t dwell on the negative, and don’t hate those with whom you disagree. You are wasting your time and that of those around you. “Go to your room and GROW UP!”

The Fourth Estate

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It has now been two days since the 2024 election yet rather than accept the election results and moving forward, the mainstream press seems affixed on continually creating discord. They seem to continually publish or air statements regarding how things were unfair, biased, etc., and supporting many of those who were not elected by a majority of American voters.

According to Merriam-Webster’s web site, “The term fourth estate has been around for centuries. In Europe, going back to medieval times, the people who participated in the political life of a country were generally divided into three classes or estates. In England they were the three groups with representation in Parliament, namely, the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. Some other group, like the mob or the public press, that had an unofficial but often great influence on public affairs, was called the fourth estate. In the 19th century, fourth estate came to refer exclusively to the press, and now it’s applied to all branches of the news media.”

In other sources, there was also an emphasis that the press had a responsibility to do this in an unbiased manner, without interference by either the government or personal views. The term press has been popularly expanded to include other forms of the media, including social media. What I could not find anywhere was the inclusion of celebrities such as television and movie stars, professional athletes and coaches, or even former government officials, elected or appointed, were part of the fourth estate.

Unfortunately, when viewing the press (or media) today, it seems that these celebrities are represented as smarter or more qualified than the average American to make election decisions. This seems to be supported by the media when publishing headlines stressing the views of these celebrities. Is this actually a lack of bias?

I respect the decision of the press to provide an opportunity for opinions and editorials which offer opposing views. I do question whether any of these should be headlined by the press without being identified as opinions.

I believe the role of the press is to report the news for public consumption without telling the public how to think. I also believe that many people have come to distrust the mainline media. And, that as a result, people have put themselves in harm’s way because of this distrust. I’m not sure that we will ever return to the level of trust that existed in the era shortly after World War II where the news was reported, not interpreted.