Noam Chomsky says a well-informed populace is a necessary ingredient to any democracy. In other words, we're boned.
Newspaper readership is down, and showing no signs of reversing the freefall. And since they're not reading, Americans are forced to rely on such reliable political indicators as gut instinct, party affiliation, and the ever popular "he's kinda cute in a presidential way" vote. Even more frightening, any attempts to address the problem have only compounded the issues.
Here in Minnesota, redesigning our leading paper to include coloring pages (sponsored by Crayola, naturally) hasn't done a whole hell of a lot to improve the landscape, as evidenced by the recent layoffs (which Sid Hartman's "close personal friendship" with Lovecraftian Powers have shielded him from, to date) and consolidation. Of course, this is further evidenced by the fact that C.J. still writes a gossip/grammar column for the Star Tribune, no one actually reads the City Pages for anything but restaurant tips, advice on safe B&D play, and where to find the aforementioned B&D play, and the Pioneer Press, well, the Pioneer Press is in St. Paul. I hear they have hockey there these days.
But what does this mean? What doom and plagues could something as innocuous as poor newspaper readership and content as fluffy as Anne Hutchinson left in the dryer for a day and a half bring down on our tranquil Midwestern existence? At best - a zombie apocalypse. At worst...a future in which Katherine Kersten serves as the Star Tribune's first ever Page 3 girl. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle of these bleak predictions, but do you really want to risk it?
Granted, I've already engaged in three of the five cardinal blogger clichés (bonus points to anyone who can name them in the comments below!), so I've probably already blown my wad of credibility into the digital Kleenex that is the Internet, but for the next week I'll be doing my best to stave off the impending holocaust of the walking dead and mind-rending photography by taking a fresh look at the news of the day and providing some analysis. Or at least offer completely unconstructive viewpoints and commentary. And since I have nothing but disdain for Democrats, Republicans, Anarchists, Green Party members and those wacky Independence Party hosers (they're Canadians, right? Only Canadians would put forth him as a gubernatorial candidate), I don't have to choose my targets carefully. Or even aim, really.
Well said and well done! The safety America bullshit is pervasive and pathetic, and needs to be addressed. I wonder why so many in the West are desperately trying to live in cocoons and never have any worthwhile interactions or even to take the risk of such interactions.