MDlaxfan76 wrote:So...DJT is now full-on blaming the mainstream media for the bomb-maker.
I do think you're right, HooDat, that the media will always report on the extremes and stories that 'bleed'. 'If it bleeds it leads.'
Whether the 'vultures' are the media or the 'vultures' readers who reward them is a bit of a useless argument, as of course it's both.
But it's a strange argument to blame inflammatory rhetoric, the calling for anger and hate and even violence, on the media that reports it.
The media are the bullhorn, for sure.
But do guns kill people, or do people kill people?
Frankly, I think it's reasonable to consider both gun manufactures/sellers and the media to be responsible for how their businesses are used by others to commit dangerous acts detrimental to the public health. And so, it's reasonable for the public to regulate such companies. And we do. Arguably, we could do more.
But the notion that we should blame the gun or the bomb or the bullhorn for the acts of the criminal is total baloney.
With regard to regulating the media, my view is that what we should be insisting upon, especially new media tech platforms, is greater transparency and an emphasis upon establishing truth as the preeminent goal, not just persuasion.
I wrote extensively on the old LP on what we can/should do better in this regard, especially with the new tech platforms.
But let's be really clear as to who has the largest bullhorn in our society and who is using that bullhorn to maximum effect in stoking fear, anger and hate.
Nothing new under the sun. We have seen this before. Radio in the 30s had a similar effect. Demagogues will be with us always. The rise of new - unfamiliar in usage - forms of communication combined with the demagogue causes the problem. Orange Duce is just a Father Coughlin style demagogue. Throw in the mix difficult economic times, city vs farm and misguided Christian zealotry with the mixture of religion and politics and you get yourself what we've got. People forget that pre-war the FBI broke up the Christian Front plot to overthrow the US government. We went into the war a pretty divided nation. Some believe it saved us.