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Too Busy Fearing And Hating To Be Friends

Here is a good question raised by Rory O'Connor, why does our media give free advertising to hate groups when they could be focusing on the much more impressive efforts of those who counter hate groups? Maybe in the case he cites from Billings, Montana it is because a display of 10,000 menorahs in the windows of people of many persuasions doesn’t fit in with their theme of what “THE Way-EST” is all about, white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, ultra-cons, strutting around in postures of rugged individualism. The media, once it fixes on a stereotype doesn’t easily change. Too much work involved. That’s about the most innocuous idea that I’ve come up with to explain it. That westerners might be acting progressively might upset the cowboy myth and they might have to actually do some reporting work.

You would think that such a fine display of anti-hatred would fit in with the happy talk news style but that’s so 70s. These days it’s brainless conservative propaganda presented with fear inducement as a motivation to worry, be Republican .

Conservatives have no use for the best of our species. The lesson of conservatives’ activities over the past generation is that they flourish in a climate of irrational fear and resentment. They need people to look on other people as dangers and dross that only the Republican right will protect them from. The idea that there are enough good people in a community to come together and effectively counter the tiny handful of active haters in their midst is anathema to them. It smacks of collective action and who knows where that kind of effort at community betterment might lead. People might find out they actually like their neighbors and the people from across town. They might start thinking of what they can do to improve the lives of their neighbors instead of feathering their gated, locked nests of anxiety and envy.

I know I go on about the media a lot here but that’s because they really are the biggest part of the problem. Americans are media junkies, TV, radio, DVDs, etc. substitute for what used to be a community life.

Could there be, somewhere in the bowels of media central, a study done that shows that if people got out and interacted with their neighbors it would cut down on TV viewing time and so on the network audience share. Would our media actively attempt to destroy community life in the United States in order to increase their profits? Friends, they’ll see the country turned into Fahrenheit 415 with mandatory wall screens on in all places all the time if it means they can charge more to advertisers. Everything is for sale, your time and eyes more than anything else.