TV Viewership Up; Democratic Participation, Down

TV Viewing Up; Democratic Participation, Down




Americans are a wondrous species.

You can put their children in harm’s way, and not give them the protection they need and the country will ignore it.. You can set up corporations that do nothing but steal the public’s money, and they will not raise an eye brow. You can send all of their jobs to places you can’t pronounce, and nary a sound.

You can misappropriate hard earned tax dollars and have them used to destroy clean air and water and nobody will grumble.. You can encourage the burning of fossil fuels that will lead to global warming and the eventual flooding of low lying cities and people will sit idly by and say, “that’s nice.”

. We can lose certain Constitutional guarantees under the pretense of warding off “terrorism” and nobody blinks. The government no longer needs a court order to check our personal backgrounds. Soldiers can be stationed in our back yards in defiance of Posse Comitatus. Americans suspected of a criminal act may be retained without benefit of habeas corpus and be denied access to legal advice. Privacy has become a thing of the past. And still no outrage!

Our politicians no longer represent our interests. The media is only interested in registering ‘eye-balls,’ not defending the public’s right to the truth. The historical “checks” and “balances” on which our system relies has virtually evanesced in the wake of business lobbies and the emergence of TV as the predominant force in deciding elections.

. Yet, best of all, even when the public knows that the government has done literally nothing to date in the wake of a coming flu pandemic that is sure to strike within a matter of years—or even this year-- and may kill millions, nobody, nobody rises to the occasion.

What is one to make of all of this?.

Montaigne, the French philosopher maintained that democracy can easily be subverted if the public does not stay engaged and vigilant. Clearly, we have not remained vigilant or engaged. The system for all intents and purposes is broken.

In the wake of all of this, we learn fewer people read. Fewer people discuss things. Instead, they prefer to engage in solitary pursuits, ie. computer games, I-Pod, the Internet, TV; yet, despite all of this, TV viewing is up by record levels. This would seem to reinforce the argument that in the end, nobody really cares. And if that’s the case, so much for the noble experiment called Democracy.

Les Aaron
The SuperBlog http://lesaaron.blogspot.com