Dear Diary …
I’m not one to normally bash “the media” because … well … technically … I’m part of “the media.” But I think what I’ve learned as time goes on is that there are two different categories of “the media.”
The first is a group of normal humans that happen to work in TV or radio or on the internet. This group tends to bring information, entertainment, and community involvement. That’s us.
Heck … as far as news goes … I’m way more likely to let you know that there’s a new 70 calorie White Claw flavor coming out than I am to talk about anything relating to politics or the Coronavirus.
Then there’s a second group … the hype-driven freakout “news media.” This is the group that has basically learned how to make all of go crazy. And for as much as we sit here and claim that we don’t like this group or “the media,” we’re the ones that allow them to exist. These groups make their money based on reshares, story clicks, and ratings … and we feed right into their hype by doing exactly that. We may all claim that we want to hear good or rational news reporting, but then the second we see one headline that says “MEAT SHORTAGE!” we immediately share it on our Facebook, and run right to WalMart to grab every tube of ground beef that we can find.
And this is why you gotta actually pay attention to the coverage. Because every single time a meat processing plant had to close or production was interrupted, “MEAT SHORTAGE!!!” was the headline everywhere.
But did you see that Smithfield’s largest factory re-opened to other day? No … you probably didn’t, because the headline was, [whispering] “Smithfield’s largest factory re-opened” … Ummm … “MURDER HORNETS!!”
Ahhh … the murder hornet. That’s an impressive one. We went from zero to “the hornets are in my backyard right now and plotting to kill me” in the span of one day.
And here’s the beautiful thing about the so-called “murder hornet” … First, it’s actually been called the “Giant Asian Hornet” for several years and only got titled “murder hornet” about a week ago by the freakout media.
Second … you know how many murder hornets we’ve had in this country? Two. TWO!!! And that was in Washington state and was like two years ago.
We’ve had way more than two “murder people” in the last couple years … but we don’t seem to freak out about that because it wasn’t delivered to us in a snappy headline that made us go cuckoo.
And again … it’s our fault because we let “the media” get to us, and we feed into their frenzy. It’s like my kids. My daughter is the general public and my son is “the media.” He’s the younger one, and he knows exactly what to do to drive his sister crazy and push her buttons. So does she simply ignore him so he’ll go away? Of course not! She feeds right into the frenzy, gets all riled up, which then only makes him be even more annoying.
He’s figured out the system, and she simply cannot resist feeding into it. That’s what we do. If we would all simply ignore our little brother “the media” and calmly go in the other room and do something else, it would go away.
But we don’t, because “TOILET PAPER SHORTAGE!” … we freak out instead.
Till next time Diary … I say … Goodbye.