What I’ve been saying in a nutshell

Last updated on: October 24, 2016 at 12:24 pm by Dave Griffey

What I’ve been saying in a nutshell 2016-10-24T10:18:37-04:00 Dave Griffey

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Courtesy of The Federalist. As I’ve said, I’m a big believer in a free press. I see a connection between a free news media and a free society. I obviously don’t want the government coming in and seizing the press. Likewise, I don’t want the press to willingly hand itself over to the government or a particular political movement. So naturally this election cycle has been anything but comforting.

I know, I know. Plausible deniability. We can always insist that the media is just hunky-dory objective, unvarnished reporting. We can say it’s not our fault that the Truth and our positions are always one and the same, that our politics are just right, those we support simply unblemished and any suggestions otherwise part of a vast [fill in the blank with your favorite bad guy] conspiracy. I don’t think there is a vast conspiracy across the media, for what it’s worth. I simply think that the media is expressing the news through the biases that most journalists share, and in our age of diminishing standards, it’s just easier to openly express the bias than in days gone by. And this expresses itself in many ways, such as those touched on in the piece.

A prime example, to me, is silent treatment given to the economic state of so many in our country. Anyone old enough to remember the 84 election will remember the media focus on those who were falling through the cracks (a common term back then). Sure, the economy looked like it was rebounding in ways that America hadn’t seen in over a decade. But the important thing was to focus on all those who were falling behind in Reagan’s revolution. Same in 92. Yes there was a recession. A very minor one (this was emphasized recently when media outlets countered Trump’s claim that the 92 Recession was to blame for his business woes). Nonetheless, the Clinton campaign was able to drive home its charge of it being the worst economy in 40 years by the media running story after story of those hurting, those falling behind, despite the Bush White House’s claim that overall things weren’t so bad.

Contrast that with today. Wages are still stagnant. Expenses continue to outpace incomes. Healthcare costs continue to rise with more people struggling with medical bills even with insurance. College costs. You name it. I know there are plenty in America who are doing swell. But there are also plenty who aren’t. Yet you’d never know it. The press barely covers the economy, except for certain business sections in the paper, most of which have various versions of the headline ‘Everything is Awesome!’. Even when news seems bad, like last month’s uptick in unemployment, we’re assured it’s still awesome because that was due to an increase in the work force. Which is odd. I’m no economist, but I distinctly remember the business analysts assuring us that a shrinking work force wasn’t necessarily a bad thing back when dropping unemployment was linked to the shrinking work force. Maybe it’s my novice ways, but I have a hard time getting my mind around how something that wasn’t bad because it was diminishing can now be good because it’s growing.

That is just a single topic of course. There are many others, and the piece touches on them, complete with links for those who question the veracity of claims that the media has been anything but pure and objective.

I’ll be busy this week. In addition to life, it’s midterm exams for the boys. Part of the fun of homeschooling is that you get to be the teacher. Part of the demand of homeschooling is that you get to be the teacher. I’ll post a few here and there, but won’t be as present as usual until All Souls Day has come and gone. Till then, take in the article and contradict it at your own risk.

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