I must say for the first half of your post I wanted to jump off my local bridge. I'm a bit better now but that was a dark picture indeed.
Here is my take. I have a choice on how I see the world -- and we are in a very scary, dark world right now. But I can lean to the dark or embrace the light. I can choose despair or I can choose hope. I made my choice -- naive or not-- to choose light and hope. I will hope there are more of us who will reject Trump and his mindless followers for maintaining or republic. I will choose to believe the messages I am getting that the economy is stabilizing and moving away from those bad things like recession and inflation.. I will believe that there are far less bigots and racists than those who will not judge others. I will believe that the numbers of those crossing the border are somewhere between the millions Trump is warning about and the truth. I will believe that because I choose to.
But i also choose to be in action. One of my core tenants is that if I am going to complain about something I must take action. And I have. I will. I will register people to vote and I won't ask them what party they are affiliated with because we need two parties to be a democracy. I will write, I will try to show up and I will encourage others to do the same. Maybe I won't do much but even one drop makes a difference because enough people doing enough small things adds up to a million drops. And that gives me hope. And I need hope.
As for the media. I have to get my news somewhere. I know the media as an industry is in deep trouble. Donald Trump with his cries of fake news popularized mistrust of MSM. He did it with intent. What he created was dueling news with dueling information that had one astounding caveat to be acceptable to him ( and therefore his base): it had to be complimentary. If it even breathed of criticism it was immediately rejected. And he made his preferred outlets big money. So we now have mainstream propaganda media.
And with the popularization of 24/7 news how news is presented has changed profoundly. Gone is the nightly news by Huntley and Brinkley or Walter Cronkite. It a different beast. Opinion and facts are intertwined. I just hope schools are teaching the unique skills of how to decipher this kind of news presentation.
But
I have to get my news from somewhere and I choose to believe most reputable news outlets are professional and take their job seriously. I know how to see the difference between fact and opinion. And I look for patterns of reporting. One source news holds less weight than multiple outlets. And I know it's a business and the language is geared to get attention and sell papers. I like opinion presenters like Rachel Maddow and Heather Cox Richardson (and you, Abby) who present things in historical context because there is little that is new. Knowing how the same problems were delt with in other times is helpful. But I need to be informed. So I work on reading multiple outlets and believe what they say. I can't hide from the world in that way.
I think I understand what you are saying -- change happens despite us as much as because of us. There are rhythms to how we create, survive and confront. The human beast is endlessly resilient and creative. Today's solutions will morph and change and probably be repeated.
So I don't know if I have even got the gest of what your were saying but you certainly stirred a reaction. Thank you. I appreciate your voice. Very much.
Abby--this is a particularly enlightening post. Thanks.
I must say for the first half of your post I wanted to jump off my local bridge. I'm a bit better now but that was a dark picture indeed.
Here is my take. I have a choice on how I see the world -- and we are in a very scary, dark world right now. But I can lean to the dark or embrace the light. I can choose despair or I can choose hope. I made my choice -- naive or not-- to choose light and hope. I will hope there are more of us who will reject Trump and his mindless followers for maintaining or republic. I will choose to believe the messages I am getting that the economy is stabilizing and moving away from those bad things like recession and inflation.. I will believe that there are far less bigots and racists than those who will not judge others. I will believe that the numbers of those crossing the border are somewhere between the millions Trump is warning about and the truth. I will believe that because I choose to.
But i also choose to be in action. One of my core tenants is that if I am going to complain about something I must take action. And I have. I will. I will register people to vote and I won't ask them what party they are affiliated with because we need two parties to be a democracy. I will write, I will try to show up and I will encourage others to do the same. Maybe I won't do much but even one drop makes a difference because enough people doing enough small things adds up to a million drops. And that gives me hope. And I need hope.
As for the media. I have to get my news somewhere. I know the media as an industry is in deep trouble. Donald Trump with his cries of fake news popularized mistrust of MSM. He did it with intent. What he created was dueling news with dueling information that had one astounding caveat to be acceptable to him ( and therefore his base): it had to be complimentary. If it even breathed of criticism it was immediately rejected. And he made his preferred outlets big money. So we now have mainstream propaganda media.
And with the popularization of 24/7 news how news is presented has changed profoundly. Gone is the nightly news by Huntley and Brinkley or Walter Cronkite. It a different beast. Opinion and facts are intertwined. I just hope schools are teaching the unique skills of how to decipher this kind of news presentation.
But
I have to get my news from somewhere and I choose to believe most reputable news outlets are professional and take their job seriously. I know how to see the difference between fact and opinion. And I look for patterns of reporting. One source news holds less weight than multiple outlets. And I know it's a business and the language is geared to get attention and sell papers. I like opinion presenters like Rachel Maddow and Heather Cox Richardson (and you, Abby) who present things in historical context because there is little that is new. Knowing how the same problems were delt with in other times is helpful. But I need to be informed. So I work on reading multiple outlets and believe what they say. I can't hide from the world in that way.
I think I understand what you are saying -- change happens despite us as much as because of us. There are rhythms to how we create, survive and confront. The human beast is endlessly resilient and creative. Today's solutions will morph and change and probably be repeated.
So I don't know if I have even got the gest of what your were saying but you certainly stirred a reaction. Thank you. I appreciate your voice. Very much.