Arguetainment

I want to speak about the media, and I do not mean the fake media, we already have enough people talking about that. I’m talking about the rampant punditry and the unfortunate under reporting of factual information from which consumers of reported factual information might make their own assessments about what has or is happening, what it means to them and how it does or does not reflect their own political beliefs and biases.

Unfortunately today’s news generally comes prepackaged according to the political persuasion of the media outlet you consume. All manner of FOX leans right, all manner of NBC leans left. The Times and CNN are just fake. They make up stories, at least so says the President and his spokespeople.

We are no doubt ill served no matter our leanings. Not only are we getting news with a bias, we’re also getting discussions filled with powerful viewpoints and heated debate I have come to call “arguetainment.”

Coming of age I was always taught that through effective dialogue you can usually arrive at a well-reasoned outcome that might even shed light on seemingly intractable, commonly thought of as “wicked,” challenges we face as a collective. Unfortunately we’ve devolved into a “who can best talk over someone” scenario in which no one is listening and everyone is just trying to get in a zinger. Perhaps a fine vehicle for a locker room brawl, but surely not very effective for getting to the bottom of the key issues of the day.

The really bad news is that it’s not any different in houses of Congress or State Houses around the country. We saw a striking example recently at the confirmation hearings of judge, now Justice Kavanaugh.

So, what do we need to do. Simple…STOP WATCHING…and start observing how long it takes before viewership is measurably down. The down-ticks will lead to lost advertisers which leads to lost revenue.

It is a BEGINNING… the next step… stay tuned for details!

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