Two Questions
“Do you know we are ruled by TV?”
-- James Morrison; An American Prayer
Yesterday, I posted one of the long, dry essays that I enjoy writing, but that I did not anticipate would become a DU:GD best-seller. It was on the sociology of terrorism. Perhaps the final two paragraphs best summed up the message: in them I suggested that the media presents the “news” in a manner that is intended to limit the manner the audience interprets it.
I suggested that, for example, the fields of psychology and sociology provide different options for understanding current events, and that we benefit from applying some of these. The mere fact that so many corporations, and their congressional lap dogs, attack “science” when it comes to issues involving climate change, would seem to imply that science offers insights that those in power do not want you or I exposed to.
On CNN’s “Smerconish” on Saturday, it was reported that in the 1990’s -- in the period that Newt Gingrich & Co. were purposely breaking Congress -- the federal government cut all funding of studies on the psychology of gun violence. Thus, every so often, the media does contribute some information that should be important to national discussions. I’m not suggesting the media is all bad, or involved in a conspiracy, but rather that it is largely a product of corporations, and that corporate interests are not exactly the same as the general public’s.
This includes not only what news is reported, and what is ignored -- it also includes the media’s analysis of the news. Today’s television “news” has far more analysis being offered than back in the days when there were simply three networks, offering a half-hour per evening. It involves the influence that politicians often exercise in determining what will be reported, and how it will be presented. It is what decisions that the owners of a given media determine will translate into the largest financial gains.
Thus, my questions: Why do you think that Congress cut federal funding for studies of the psychology of gun violence? How might this impact the manner in which the media reports on the gun violence being covered in the news in recent weeks?
Thank you,
H2O Man
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