I quit watching TV about 15 years ago. I started watching my monitor instead. I enjoyed playing games and surfing through various news sites and gathering information about subjects that interested me. TV to me had lost its appeal. I could feel my brain cells dying as I sat there mindlessly staring at it. The entertainment value of TV can't be denied, but that is all it has become, whether you are watching Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, The O'Reilly Factor or Countdown. Quite a few years ago, it became clear to the bean counters responsible for television programming that the money is in entertainment, not news. News used to be something that came on at 5:30 or so and that you had to listen to (or not) while you waited for your favorite shows to come on. It wasn't particularly entertaining, but it was unbiased and as accurate as it could hope to be. It was there to give people the facts of what was going on in the world at that time. The opinions people made from those facts was up to them. News shows weren't expected to make money, but they provided a service. A very vital service, indeed.
Today, there is no pretense of being unbiased. News programs unabashedly broadcast their political leanings under the guise of being "News". Interestingly, people seem to believe that what they are seeing is truly news and not in the least bit biased. They don't stop to think that it might not make sense or seem rather far fetched...if it is on TV (or the internet) it must be true! (at least as long as I agree with it)
How did this come about? The answer is pretty simple, really. Everyone has their own leanings politically and socially and they watch the shows that validate their opinions. There is a comfort zone there. Choirs love to be preached to! All of us like to think that what we believe is right. We read articles and listen to broadcasts that agree with us and make us feel good about our conclusions. Dissenting opinions grate on us...make us mad...make us want to argue with someone. But you can't argue with a TV or a newspaper article. So back to the comfort zone of our favorite shows. We associate with people who agree with us. The internet has made it easier to find like-minded people. They chat and grow closer and find themselves more and more estranged from people who don't agree with them. Other people validating your point of view is a very comforting thing. The bad thing is that this doesn't require a lot of thought or introspection. "Ditto Heads" (this applies to both left and right really, even though Limbaugh popularized the term) like their "facts" spoon fed to them. Have we gotten so lazy that we can't handle the effort of wading through various facts and actually coming to an independent conclusion?
As a result we have extreme polarization in our political system right now. No intelligent discourse, no compromise and the absolute shutting out of opposing viewpoints. The aisles in the Houses of our Legislature and Senate have become like mine fields that no one dares to cross. We cannot go on like this...we cannot govern like this. It needs to stop before we drown ourselves in a sea of acrimony, bitterness and hate.
It is up to "we the people" to bring about change. There is common ground we can all find. Talk to people you may not agree with. Find that common ground and go from there. You will find that you are not so different after all. Get away from the TV. Go to meetings and get active in your community. Find a cause that you want to work with, whether it be tutoring school kids or volunteering at your local food bank. There is nothing like a good dose of reality to make you think and realize that the world is not just red or blue and that solutions are not always as simple as what you have been lead to believe. Making our country a better place is up to us. Are we up to the task? I believe we are, but am not sure of what it is going to take to make it happen.
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