Once Venerated U.S.A. Plummets into Disgrace

If any day stirs patriotism in the American heart, it’s the Fourth of July. But I won’t be celebrating this year. The thought of waving a flag and declaring that we are the greatest country in the world is laughable.

 

Citizens protest racial injustice in record numbers, disrupting complacency in hundreds of cities and towns across all 50 states. And yet, the inept, immoral president (lower case intended) doubles down on the militarized policing that ignited the protests to begin with. Federal troupes menace fellow citizens as they exercise their American rights to free speech and assembly.

 

Our country should be an example of harmonious diversity to which all others aspire. Instead, multitudes from Berlin to Melbourne take to the streets protesting American racism.

 

Covid-19 runs more rampant here than in any other country. Places identified as shit holes by the same racist president manage the pandemic better.

 

Americans are banned from Europe, parts of Asia, and even Canada because we have failed so badly to combat the virus within our borders.

 

In the midst of this global pandemic, the president, desperately trying to focus the blame somewhere else, carelessly pulls our membership from the World Health Organization.

 

The U.S. should lead the world in fighting disease. Our wealth should create vaccines that we generously share with others.

 

Instead, dimwitted throngs march on state capitals to battle for the fabricated right to not wear disease preventing masks. They do so with blatant disregard for scientific facts and no concern for the public good.

 

I once thought that greed and corruption, persistent evils in the best of countries, could be kept at bay by the determination to live out our ideals. The arc of the moral universe, said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would bend towards justice. In spite of occasional backsliding, we were ultimately destined to be the great country we imagined.

 

But evil and corruption have escalated to unprecedented levels. Checks and balances to keep them at bay have been defused.

 

The corrupt elite instigate chaos to distract us from their antics. As a result, we ignore serious threats like climate catastrophe.

 

The criminals running this country are only interested in preserving their own power and wealth. Even the most basic American values don’t interest them. They blithely encourage unthinkable evils such as white supremacy to achieve their goals.

 

And yet.

 

We might have a chance to set things right. In November, we could send a message that corruption will no longer be tolerated. It won’t be easy, however. We must overcome Republican instigated systemic voter suppression, the influence of nefarious countries that manipulate our elections, and the apathy of millions who have not voted in the past.

 

Our reward could be a new United States, a country of which we are truly proud. We could become not the world’s savior, but a responsible citizen nation among others.

 

Coping With Depressing News

On the verge of paralyzing journalism induced depression, Clyde and I have gone on a news diet.

World events seem more depressing than usual lately. For a time of year that media outlets usually feature shark attacks because there's not much else going on, we seem now to be bombarded with news of unthinkable violence.

We no longer want to be constantly upset about Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, and Missouri, just to name a few. Al Jazeera and BBC no longer play on our TV all day. When you take in the same depressing stories multiple times in an endless 24 hour news cycle, it starts to get to you. Research shows that watching the same traumatic footage over and over affects you as if it were happening multiple times, even though it really only happens  once.

Instead of watching the endless looping on cable news networks, I'm getting information about world events  mostly through public radio where repeating footage is minimal. The Daily Show and Colbert Report round out how informed I am, if they're not on break. I catch the local TV news occasionally, but there isn't much information there, unless you want lots of weather and local crime.

I used to get a daily newspaper. It came to my front step early in the morning and kept me well informed without the disturbing video overload. I read the articles one time, occasional cutting out the ones I wanted to send to friends - sort of an old fashioned way of sending a link, and then added the leftovers to the recycling bin. I was fairly well informed during those years. But like many people, I quit taking the paper when the price went up and the quality went down, a victim of electronic media.

In spite of information overload, it's harder now to be informed than it used to be. Studies show that with so many news sources these days, people usually only pay attention to the ones which reinforce their world view. In other words, we no longer learn anything from news outlets. We just get our existing opinions reinforced. This is why the Republicans and Democrats in Congress and elsewhere are moving further and further apart.

We should know what's going on in the world. Informed citizens make for intelligent voters.

Do you value being informed? How do you digest information in the 24 hour news cycle? How are you coping with the summer's endless stream of bad news? Just leave a comment, here or on Facebook. I'll follow up in a future BillsWeek.

The Little Girl in the Well Syndrome

So what is it about this kid who was supposedly trapped on a large balloon that got away and flew up to 9,000 feet that so got the world's attention? Not only did it get the Local TV News Chopper Live treatment here in Colorado, but was broadcast instantly all over the world. Even the BBC Radio World Service, which doesn't usually cover dramatic sensationalizm of questionable news value, did a story on it.

We daily hear about lives lost in Afghanistan, crushing poverty in the world's slums, convenience store shootings, and weepy breast cancer stories - all tragic, often involving frightening death, but none of which capture our attention like a six year old who may be trapped in an escaped home made flying saucer.

It's that little girl who fell down the well syndrome. You know the story. A little girl is playing near an abandoned well and falls into it. The next 48 hours, the hole in the ground is surrounded by frantic family members and emergency equipment. All television news networks park their satellite trucks nearby. Voyeuristic townspeople watch from behind police tape, waiting to see if she'll survive.

The phenomenon is so powerful that it is captured in fiction. In Woody Allen's 1987 movie, Radio Days, a World War II era family tensely sits by the radio for hours to see if a little girl they don't know survives the fall down a far away well. Atrocities in Europe which affect even this family's relatives don't merit such attention.

The Simpsons spoofs these types of events in an episode where Bart drops a walkie-talkie down a well and pretends to be a little boy who fell in. In addition to the media circus, law enforcement, and general mayhem, hucksters sell "I was there when Timmy fell down the well" T-shirts. Truly funny satire as only The Simpsons can do it. When it's discovered that it was only Bart's prank, the disgusted townspeople quickly leave the scene. When Bart really falls down the well, no one pays any attention.

I suppose nothing unites us like a helpless child caught in a perilous situation. Everyone wants the outcome to be happy, regardless of our separate religious and political views. One thing a businessman in India and a housewife in Canada can have in common is the fervent hope that the child will survive.

And, just like on The Simpsons, our concern turns rapidly to cynicism and disgust. When little Falcon turned out not to be on the balloon, but hiding in his Fort Collins attic, all that good will from around the world evaporated into accusations of publicity stunts.

Meanwhile, how many people died in Afghanistan yesterday? I don't know either.

The Daily Show IS Real News

This month marks a special anniversary. One year ago Labor Day, I discovered the Daily Show. While everyone else has been watching it for years, I had always sniffed into my New York Times that Comedy Central was a poor substitute for substantial journalism. I tut-tutted at the frightening statistic that people in their 20s get most of their news from Jon Stewart's satirical talk show. It's a sad commentary on our shallow society, I thought as I watched two extremists yell at each other on CNN, when more young people follow an election as presented by a comedian than even know who Brian Williams is.

The world is much too serious, I thought as I listened to another recipe on National Public Radio, to get your news from Comedy Central.

So last year, Labor Day Weekend at my sister's house, I was channel surfing on the satellite system. I've always been fascinated by satellite TV in rural Wyoming because you can get local news from the east coast and the west coast, but nothing from even the home time zone. If you need a local weather report, you are out of luck. Of course at my sister's you can just look out at the mountains to see what's coming, but I digress ...

So I was checking to see what was going on in either Burbank or Brooklyn when I came upon Comedy Central and a rerun of the Daily Show. I was hooked. Here's what I've discovered since:

• This program is very funny.
  
• It has an unabashedly liberal bias (which I consider a good thing).
  
• The guests are legitimate politicians, authors, journalists, and other newsmakers.
  
• The books being promoted are often so interesting that I want to read them.
  
• Many of the stories are not only reported, but analyzed, fact checked, and refuted – more effectively than much "legitimate" TV news.
  
• The Daily Show is quoted regularly in other outlets.
  
• Jon Stewart is not only funny, but a sharp and incisive interviewer who should never be underestimated by guests. Take a look at this recent clip from YouTube: Jon Stewart Destroys Bill Kristol on Health Care
  

Labor Day 2009: I have just one complaint. Every time there's a national holiday, the show goes into reruns. I guess Jon and crew need a break. This time, they are taking three weeks off. How am I supposed to know what's going on that whole time? Oh sure – I can look at Brian Williams or, God forbid, a newspaper or CNN. No point in watching local news – it's pretty much nothing but weather. With Saturday Night Live also on summer hiatus, I've gone into serious comedy (slash) news withdrawal.

For the record, I also watch the Daily Show's spinoff, The Colbert Report. It's entertaining too, but a little on the silly side. For serious news, it's not quite up to my standards.