John and Paul wrote the song, "A Day in the Life" as the final track in their 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Some consider it one of their masterpieces.
It's opening lines are:
I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
I read the news...OH BOY and now I never want to read it again!
Another threat, another crazy appointment, another analysis of why the Democrats lost, another look at a bleak future. I know I need to keep informed, but it's a time to examine both the quality and the quantity of news that I ingest. I'm quite sure that I watched too much at times and I'm equally sure that I will need to keep informed in the future, when I'm ready for it.
The vendetta that Trump waged against truth and the reporting of truth from the very start of his first term has had widespread repercussions. The concept of "fake news" took root. That authoritarian desire to diminish the power of the press and undermine both the concept and the source of truth is working. While journalism can be a noble trade, with any number of reporters having faced death or imprisonment in pursuit of important stories that need to be told; media ownership is a business. We have seen how Jeff Bezos undermined the Washington Post's editorial staff to quash their endorsement of Vice President Harris. We saw how media outlets of every political persuasion "sane-washed" Trump's craziness and held Kamala to a different standard, we saw political theater which kept the cable news broadcasting around the clock sensations.
Yes, Democrats need a clear-eyed examination of their losses and to find better strategies going forward. But, that is not where the blame belongs. Kamala ran an exceptional campaign and she is a person of good character and substantial experience. If character really mattered, there should have been a landslide victory for her. That there was not, speaks less of the Democrats problems and more of the profound problems in American society in 2024.
What I think is essential for us to deal with is the willingness of so many millions of the electorate to be misled about the candidates and the mass media, as a whole, to be so willing to mislead them.
Ignorance and greed is steering the ship of state and we will quickly run aground. So many forces have been chipping away at the foundations of our system of government for years and all of the traditional guardians of democracy have been either lazy or complicit. That includes Congress, the Supreme Court, the media, corporations and Wall Street and the educational system.
I read the news...oh boy.
STEP 11:
Think on this for awhile, find some sources that I can trust, share them with others: what to do about news is a work in progress.
2 comments:
I find myself wanting to limit the amount of news I take in, but then I feel a need to stay informed. It’s very depressing!
Tell me about it! The challenge is to find the happy (?) medium. I'm gathering ideas right now for good sources so I can eliminate some but still have robust information and also ways to screen and target news so I'm not overwhelmed. More ideas to come!
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