Why American News Is Garbage, And How It Exemplifies Why The American System Is Superior Chris Lenz
Does anyone really watch the nightly news? You know, the Channel 9 News At 10:00, or some equally unimportant equivalent?
I do. Never mind that the internet provides for us nearly instantaneous reporting limited only by an author's ability to write quickly. I'll still just wait until 10 o'clock to get my healthy dose of firefighters saving kitty cats and weather reporters whose jobs should have been obsolete years ago with the advent of weather.com.
Don't let my opinion of the matter sway you, though, as my desire to eradicate this kind of news from television isn't the purpose of this article. Rather, my purpose is to show why it is the epitomic example of why the American system is superior to every other in the world. Sure the majority of people who watch this drivel are ill-informed of the world around them, but who really cares? We can afford this kind of luxurious blissful ignorance because the success of our society permits it.
With every social and technological advancement we achieve, the basic essentials upon which we thrive (e.g. food, water, shelter, etc) become increasingly less important. Obviously they aren't any less essential to survival. It's just that in the environment in which we live they are considered to be a nearly universal commodity, and their procurement isn't the foundation for our everyday survival.
When is the last time you had to worry about finding something to eat, or look over your shoulder when you left your house at night? Chances are, if you're reading this, the thought has scarcely crossed your mind. Most people are more concerned with what kind of latté they're going to have before work in the morning.
Television news programs - which reflect this happy reality - are so commonly devoid of interesting events that we find ourselves watching Joe Firefighter, and if you're me, wondering why the hell I'm even listening to the wacky weatherman in the first place.
Don't deny it. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's like watching a police car chase under some breaking news pretext. You know the bad guy isn't going to get away, but you always secretly hope that he will, or maybe that he'll pull out a rifle and get hole-punched by the police tailing him in a flotilla of squad cars, just to make things more interesting.
I think cable news programs should be subsidized by the United States Government, and broadcast to the rest of the world as an expression of our superiority. Just kidding. But only about the subsidy part.
I can see the questions pouring in now. Yes, this is American television. Yes, people really do watch this nonsense. Yes, because we rule. A suicide bomber didn't walk into my local grocery store and decide to blow himself up and take thirty people with him. But hey, look, Paris Hilton lost her dog - why not send out the Orange County Sheriff's Department? It's not like they've got anything more important to do.
Apathy is an affordable indulgence of rich societies. Appreciate it.
The above work is the opinion of the author, and not necessarily that of the Prometheus Institute.
