We have entered a profoundly new era
but we might now realize it yet. When the USSR collapsed, we knew about it
immediately. When landmark Supreme Court decisions were handed down, we learned
of the verdicts instantly and we held advance knowledge of their significance.
History can turn on a dime: Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, the sinking of
The Maine. Other developments are gradual but every bit as profound. We might
miss them altogether if the people who are supposed to report on such things
choose to ignore them.
The development that I refer to is the collapse of media credibility. It
would understate matters greatly to say the media have lost viewership or
readership or circulation. No. No. No. Significant numbers reject the news
media claim to arbiters of truth.
I am not sure how it happened but our news media but what we now call the
MSM constituted an informational supreme court. The UFO phenomenon, the JFK
assassination, paranormal activity, holistic healing, the discredited domino
theory...the news media decided what topics warranted further discussion. Much
like the Supreme Court, the newspeople spoke as authoritatively when they
declined a case's hearing. Not worth further discussion. Case closed.
Marcia Linehan, a renowned American psychologist discusses the mindset of
the suicidal patient who believes that taking one's life will improve one's
fate. "I don't know about that. I didn't read that in the New York
Times," (quoted with my faulty memory. Actual statement might vary
slightly) Linehan states. The audience chuckles.
There is profundity in her jest. The
topic of life after death has not been approved by the paper of record. Point
taken but why does the Gray Lady (the paper, not the shrink) get to make that
decision? Who made the NYT the final word or final lack of words on this issue?
When? Where? Why? I don't know. I do know that this was decided long ago, and
rational people concurred.
News of the shepherd's demise has been largely overstated. Tens of millions
of Americans still hold the judgment of the news media to be Gospel truth. The
2018 midterms were very fruitful for the Dems in part because the media
advanced a knowingly false conspiracy involving Russia hacking our 2016 presidential
election. We had former intelligence
officials make statements on television that contradicted their own sworn
testimony. A large segment of the population chose to believe the news
channels. After all, they are the news, aren't they?
Yes, the herdsman is alive but he is not well. He does not command the respect
to which he had grown so accustomed. The flock has dispersed and his best
briards cannot seem to restore order. If you take an eclectic approach to the
news, you might have grown accustomed to sudden shifts in narrative that
involve things like Pizzagate, the Illuminati, genocidal vaccines, or infant
cannibalism.
More colorful correspondents might segue into secret colonies on Mars, on the Moon and on Antarctica, and talk about things like
Project Looking Glass, time travel, dimension-hopping, and reincarnation, as
well as more arcane topics. The times have a-changed.
The social orthodoxy imposed by the news media continues its downward trajectory and I don't see that changing. My view is that this is essential if we are to resist totalitarianism. Still, the silver cloud has an ugly lining. Those of us of an age can recall a time when "60 Minutes" delivered nonpartisan journalism on a weekly basis. Nearly every story CBS delivered was a summary of news articles originating in America's newspapers. The Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes were not all bad, all the time. We lose something when we can NEVER trust the press.
Even the savviest futurist has been repeatedly surprised at where the Internet has taken us. The decline of media authority produces ripples great and small. Will a new orthodoxy replace the old? Will the old orthodoxy make a comeback? Will we see an array of competing orthodoxies? Boutique orthodoxies? Designer orthodoxies? Tailor-made orthodoxy? Zero orthodoxy?
Who knows? What I can tell you is that for a long time to come, when someone says, "And that's the way it is..." most of us will not believe it.
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