What's Going On
Jason takes issue with my assertion that "relatively little of genuine import is happening." He retorts:
I have a hard time believing we live in dull times today, not with the global economic crisis and health care reform and two wars and our first black president and UNC's upcoming national title defense.
OK, fair enough. All of the stories he mentions (save that last one) are giant stories, some of the big narratives that will fill the history books about this decade.
But think about the pace of those stories.
* The "two wars" have been going on since 2001 and 2003. We pay remarkably little attention to them. If Jason is filling his days reading up on the latest developments in Iraq and Afghanistan, then I applaud him -- you'd have to work hard to do it.
* The global economic crisis has been going on since 2007. Yes, it's the deepest since the Great Depression. No one knows how high unemployment will rise, or for how long, or how quickly growth will rebound. But we're out of those Bear Stearns days, when tomorrow might bring the utter collapse of the financial markets.
* Our black president was elected in 2008. He's out there every day, being black! Shouldn't that keep making news? It seems to me that our expectation it will keep making news is what gets us, say, Gates-gate -- where an offhand remark by the President (why was he asked the question, anyway?) suddenly sends us into a spiral of cultural over-analysis.
* The college basketball season doesn't start for months! Ah, but with the Internet, you have places to go, if you're a UNC fan, or a fan of any big team -- no matter where you live -- where you can sustain the notion that the important news about your team never stops. How is the coach maneuvering for new recruits? Are they trying out a new defense in practice? Etc., etc.
As for health care reform, I'll post something longer about that later today. Suffice it to say that I don't think it's a coincidence that our sense of accelerating "news" about health reform is happening during precisely the month where no legislative headway can be made.
Let me be clear: I don't believe that we live in "dull times" -- any duller than any other times, that is. I might even concede that the mechanics of technological change and economic development make our times somewhat more rich in genuine news with each passing year, as (for example) more countries figure out how to build nuclear bombs. That's news!
But I don't think that the pace of actual news bears any resemblance to the pace of the news "conversation." If anything, the enormity of genuine news seems to stop us from discussing it.
First sentence is spot on. Metanews is what's going on right now. It's like a stationary bike going nowhere, but damnitall, we can peddle fast!
The second sentence confuses me a bit. You just said that there's little news and now you are calling it enormous? Or do you mean the idea of big news?
My take: there's a lot of things going on, but the media's herd mentality keeps us from it. For distraction, here's our neighbors to the north and south's news: http://www.cbc.ca/ http://www.mexicotodayblog.com/
August 12, 2009 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
My take: there's a lot of things going on, but the media's herd mentality keeps us from it.
We always blame the media. But are they to blame?
Are Burger King, McDonald's and In-N-Out Burger to blame for Americans' addiction to crappy fast food? Or are these businesses just satisfying a pre-existing preference?
Is it really that surprising that millions of Americans don't want to bother with intellectually challenging journalism that requires longer attention spans to be read or viewed, and that they instead want In-N-Out News that they can gulp down in a few seconds?
August 12, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't bury my head in the sand, but I do try to ignore much of what passes for news. In my mind, it seems more like obsession that reporting. Therefore, tunnel vision is what is necessary to survive without going bonkers.
One story, take "have a beer with Obama" story, will flood the MSM, each minute detail absorbing every nanosecond of time. It gets to the point where I just become weary of the story, fed up and disgusted, often asking myself "how is this news".
I remember finding myself with absolutely no empathy for anyone involved in the Terry Schiavo story, (except for helpless Terry), becaused it was reported to death, blogged to death and obsessed to death. I simply wanted the whole insame episode to end.
August 12, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
All this correlates to the shortening American attention spa....
hmmm. What was I writing about? I forget.
August 12, 2009 2:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
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"But think about the pace of those stories."
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Not getting enough attention? Can't stay focused for more than a few minutes at a time? Maybe you have "Who gives a **** syndrom" !
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Today's problem is that people get most of their information from infotainment television, and don't have to actually think.
August 12, 2009 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink