We The People and The American Media
By Susan Scharfman
The original U.S.Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence are kept in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. These precious documents are called The Charters of Freedom. If you have not seen them you are missing a visceral experience. Though written in the archaic English of the day, when you look at them—you get it.
Are today’s presidential candidates motivated by a sense of duty to serve their country according to the Constitution, or a desire to achieve personal or political ambition? The Art of the Deal spotlights successful business deal making for profit. A country is not a business. It is a living entity that is constantly changing and the middle class majority is not profiting. So what does “let’s take our country back” mean? Back to the back of the bus? Or “back to the future” where the facts and the demographics speak for themselves?
The last U.S. Census (2010) and Gallup
“The white majority is gone by 2043. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States with the highest educational attainment level and median household income of any racial demographic in the country.
“Hispanic Americans are the second fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States. As of 2014, Hispanics constituted 17.37 percent of the United States population. Blacks 12.3 percent. The fastest percentage growth is among multiracial Americans.” Four years from now the next census will reflect even greater changes in the American cultural landscape. It’s a fact.
The Democratic party is semi-heterogeneous and includes more women. The Republican party has become older and whiter in a country that is fast becoming younger and racially diverse. Another fact.
Anger Management
Anger is normal and healthy until it gets out of control and becomes destructive and self-defeating. Unprepared and ill-trained for the transition to an ever-expanding digital economy, many previously qualified wage earners have fallen through the cracks in a fractured economy. They are fearful and angry. Their jobs have gone overseas, their phone calls are handled by robotic foreign voices. Products with American names are made in foreign countries minus American standards and any semblance of quality control. American food products are being genetically modified despite public outcries to cease and desist!
The original U.S.Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence are kept in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. These precious documents are called The Charters of Freedom. If you have not seen them you are missing a visceral experience. Though written in the archaic English of the day, when you look at them—you get it.
Are today’s presidential candidates motivated by a sense of duty to serve their country according to the Constitution, or a desire to achieve personal or political ambition? The Art of the Deal spotlights successful business deal making for profit. A country is not a business. It is a living entity that is constantly changing and the middle class majority is not profiting. So what does “let’s take our country back” mean? Back to the back of the bus? Or “back to the future” where the facts and the demographics speak for themselves?
The last U.S. Census (2010) and Gallup
“The white majority is gone by 2043. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States with the highest educational attainment level and median household income of any racial demographic in the country.
“Hispanic Americans are the second fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States. As of 2014, Hispanics constituted 17.37 percent of the United States population. Blacks 12.3 percent. The fastest percentage growth is among multiracial Americans.” Four years from now the next census will reflect even greater changes in the American cultural landscape. It’s a fact.
The Democratic party is semi-heterogeneous and includes more women. The Republican party has become older and whiter in a country that is fast becoming younger and racially diverse. Another fact.
Anger Management
Anger is normal and healthy until it gets out of control and becomes destructive and self-defeating. Unprepared and ill-trained for the transition to an ever-expanding digital economy, many previously qualified wage earners have fallen through the cracks in a fractured economy. They are fearful and angry. Their jobs have gone overseas, their phone calls are handled by robotic foreign voices. Products with American names are made in foreign countries minus American standards and any semblance of quality control. American food products are being genetically modified despite public outcries to cease and desist!
Hail to The Press
The media provide the American people with public and private information about presidential candidates ad nauseam. Salivating all the way to the bank, CBS Corporation CEO, Les Moonves boasts his company’s television ratings have never been higher. In this election year all the networks are profiting from what has become “entertainment news.” The more intimidating and insulting the candidate, the higher the ratings. It’s amusing, it’s entertaining. Send in the clowns. And the clowns are the laughingstock of foreign governments and the foreign press at the expense of—we the people.
By focusing on flash and brouhaha instead of substance and investigation, how does the media best serve the interests of the people? In my working years at CBS and in government, journalists and news anchors were the conscience of the nation. Today they are performers who dance to the tune of their industry masters, all of whom are manipulated by a master of manipulation. Those who do not remember the rise of fascism in the 20th century are likely to repeat it.
The media provide the American people with public and private information about presidential candidates ad nauseam. Salivating all the way to the bank, CBS Corporation CEO, Les Moonves boasts his company’s television ratings have never been higher. In this election year all the networks are profiting from what has become “entertainment news.” The more intimidating and insulting the candidate, the higher the ratings. It’s amusing, it’s entertaining. Send in the clowns. And the clowns are the laughingstock of foreign governments and the foreign press at the expense of—we the people.
By focusing on flash and brouhaha instead of substance and investigation, how does the media best serve the interests of the people? In my working years at CBS and in government, journalists and news anchors were the conscience of the nation. Today they are performers who dance to the tune of their industry masters, all of whom are manipulated by a master of manipulation. Those who do not remember the rise of fascism in the 20th century are likely to repeat it.
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