Pre-class blog 11/19

“Another reason for the heavy weight given to official sources is that the mass media claim to be ‘objective’ dispensers of the news. Partly to maintain the image of objectivity, but also to protect themselves from criticisms of bias and the threat of libel suits, they need material that can be portrayed as presumptively accurate.”

Almost paradoxically, corporate news media claims to be objective while the general public claims it is too left leaning. If this were true, though, then a more overtly leftist candidate like Bernie Sanders would have done very well during this election cycle. Instead, popular media outlets preferred to talk about Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, doing little to no work to battle the idea of Sanders as a radical leftist candidate. In reality, Sanders beliefs are not far off from what would be considered centrist in a Western European nation. He is far from the image of a totalitarian communist leader that popular right media endlessly peddled during his campaign.

The Overton window in America so far right, that anything a bit left of center seems radical. This is all part of the propaganda machine in America that keeps the corporations that own the media in power. By quashing anything that questions whether unfettered capitalism is the best way of handling our world, people will unquestioningly continue to put money in these corporations’ pockets. For instance, when solutions to the climate crisis are proposed, we often hear of individualized solutions, such as driving less, buying reusable products, buying products that are certified to be environmentally friendly, and using less electricity. What is rarely brought up is less suburbs to reduce driving, funding public transportation, and the idea that buying less things is already an environmentally friendly act in itself. Consumption is presented as the solution to every problem, from environmental crises to racism to exploited workers in 3^rd world countries. To solve racism, we are told to vote with our wallets and shop from businesses that supposedly promote equality (whether the efforts are truly there is not to be discussed). To help exploited workers, we just need to buy from brands that pledge to help the very workers they exploit. We are taught that we can shop and consume our way out of a crisis, when endless consumption is the primary reason we are in them.