It is almost unthinkable today to believe that FOX News would be going anywhere, anytime soon. It seems that they always make so much noise (obviously, not for the right reasons), and they hold a certain arrogance about them that would suggest that they are more than they really are.
Yet, is it possible that they are merely an illusion? That, in other words, they are not this enormous behemoth of a "news" station, but rather, that they are a dying dinosaur? Again, that can be hard to believe, when you hear a lot of people who obviously get their "news" from FOX, and seem to hold a lot of sway in election after election.
But the reality is that young people are not just turning away, but outright rejecting FOX News and what the station has come to represent.
According to an article by Jason Easley of policususa.com from earlier this year (see link to article below):
"Beneath all of the arrogant swagger and bragging, Fox News has a huge problem.
"It isn’t just that younger people aren’t watching. They are flat out rejecting Fox News. Just like the Republican Party, Fox News is aging and fading. Attempts to rebrand are going nowhere, as young news consumers have been turned off by Fox."
Hmmm...sounds good.
The thing is, I have heard premature calls about the death of neocon ideology, and about FOX "News", before. Some claimed that the white population was decreasing, while the non-white population was increasing, and that this would herald the beginning of a new, progressive spirit. Some suggested that George W. Bush had been so bad during his eight long years in the White House, that America would be turned off to so-called conservative ideology (I say that because, to my mind's eye, what passes for conservatism in modern day America is simply a de facto corporate supremacy, amounting to giving corporate America free rein, at the expense of a government, however imperfect it might be, that is nonetheless elected by the people). But soon after Obama took over, the Tea Party rose to prominence, and somehow, the blame for all of the problems that had existed before Obama took office was, nonetheless, placed squarely on his shoulders. More recently, the government shutdown last year once again, rather predictably, had people once again calling for the end of this destructive version of conservatism, or libertarianism, or whatever else people refer to it as these days.
So, maybe it's a bit too early to sound the death knell on FOX "News".
But that said, it is young people who are paying the price of the past mistakes that this country has made, and in particular, the mistakes that it has made during this very, very long (many decades long, as far as I can tell) turn towards what passes for conservative political ideology, during which time the rich have gotten richer, while the standard of life among average Americans have declined at an alarming rate.
Things that might have appeared as unthinkable in, let's say, the early seventies have come to pass. Think about it: the education system, which ranked at the top in almost every category during America's "Golden Age" of the fifties and early sixties, is now seen as crumbling and failing our kids. Our healthcare system is a disaster, and despite being the only industrialized nation on earth not to have some form or other of universal healthcare, we still pay, on average, more medical expenses per year than those other countries do. Our infrastructure is crumbling, with roads and bridges in a severe state of disrepair in too many cases. Cities are crumbling and declaring bankruptcy. Environmental degradation is reaching an alarming level, as our already lax environmental regulations are not even being enforced as much as they could and should, as recent news in West Virginia would clearly suggest. Even as revered and helpful an institution as the post office is struggling just to keep it's head above water. And, of course, unions, which brought Americans their 40 hour workweek and many of the benefits that people clearly have come to take for granted, are now viewed as "useless" by many people who have forgotten that their really is strength in numbers. Instead of seeing and dealing with obvious corruption at the top levels of corporate America and within a government very easily swayed by the big money that corporate America is willing to pay them, Americans instead have bought into fixating on corruptions within unions, and so union-busting has become the cause célèbre among short-sighted Americans. Too many of them support an ideology that serves against their best interest, yet they do it loudly and proudly.
It's enough to make me sigh just thinking and writing about it.
Indeed, though, it is the young people in this country who have to now deal with all of that. They are entering a workforce where a college degree certainly does not guarantee you anything anymore. Where there is more competition than good jobs available. Where kids are not expected to live as high a standard of living as their parents, which is the first time in a very long time that any generation of Americans have faced that. And perhaps, just maybe, they can see more clearly than those older Americans who well remember the superpower days, and who have given in to a false sense of entitlement and superiority, who just are too taken by their own sense of self-worth in a country that they always assumed would be the envy of the world, to actually see the writing on the wall that young people now see far more clearly.
Americans can still accumulate a lot of stuff. Many consumer goods are cheaper in America, indeed, and that does have it's benefits. But in almost every other category, Americans are falling behind. They do not have as complete and adequate health benefits that, say, Europeans enjoy. Nor do they entitled to as much vacation time as people in Europe, or in Australia, and Japan. The education system in countries like Finland and Poland are showing up the American one at every turn. Yes, that's right, you can forget all of those "stupid" Polish jokes that made the Polish out to be imbeciles. Their education system is up and coming, and they are already doing better than the United States in almost every meaningful category. Those countries also lead the United States in alternative energy technology. They use less energy and pollute far less, per person, than Americans do.
Sure, we have handsome, smiling "leaders" that assure us that we are the "greatest country in the world", and end speeches with "God Bless America", but maybe that's not enough for us anymore? Maybe, indeed, young people are starting to see that daydreaming about their country being the best will not help them pay the mounting bills from their student loans, as well as their share of what the government has borrowed for many decades now, all while giving the most fortunate among us, as well as huge corporations, tax cuts and all manner of incentives that, clearly, the country could not afford.
So, maybe indeed, an awakening is going on.
Or, maybe, this is just one more premature prediction of the end of the arrogant scourge afflicting this country, and that not only has loudly and proudly called for an end to many of America's greatest institutions, but will continue to do so, even more loudly and proudly. They may just make more noise than ever, just to distract people enough to avert their eyes and focus from what's really going on in the country.
Hopefully, we really can rely on young people to see things in a clearer light than past generations have.
We shall see what happens, one way or another.
"Young Viewers Avoid Fox News Like the Plague as Ratings Drop 30%" by Jason Easley, January 2, 2014:
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/01/02/young-viewers-avoid-fox-news-plague-ratings-drop-30.html
No comments:
Post a Comment