I don't think that the damage that TV and radio have done... [View all]
...to political discourse in the USA can be overstated. The damage is severe since losing the fairness doctrine especially.
People actually believe Rush and FOX "News".
I am 56 years old and remember the dread kids had in high school when they found out we had to take American History and Civics classes to graduate. This lack of interest in basic governmental structure and function coupled with an overreliance on TV and radio as the two main sources for information have seriously torn our country in half in my opinion.
A few of us developed our critical thinking skills by not going along with, and resisting the best we could, this charade of deception however many people I fear would prefer authoritarianism. A king if you will. Someone along the lines of a Hitler type figure.
Critical thinking takes constant vigilance to maintain. It's not easy. It takes work and correction and the willing to admit when our thinking and feelings are uninformed and misplaced. It is tough on the ego and dare I say most people's pride will not let them go too deep in those realms because it's too painful for one's sense of self righteousness and the comfort that affords.
I fear a vast swath of the population takes the easy way out. The lazy way out. The way that lays back mentally and allows the mind to be filled with the garbage that flows over the mainstream airwaves. The sad part is that after this crap is ingested it is processed and then spewed out as if it is somehow now an original thought, an original feeling, as if the lazy willing victim came up with it on their own.
If I had better writing skills I could convey this even stronger but it all boils down to...when will we wake up?
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