Another Media Rant, or, Why The Internet Is So Needed, by James Glaser

Another Media Rant
or
Why The Internet Is So Needed
by James Glaser
January 3, 2011

I don't know if "rant" is the right word, maybe observation would have been better. I was watching Meet the Press yesterday morning, and there was a round table discussion about the snow removal or the non-removal of snow in New York City.

Well, there were all these media type people laughing and talking about what a hoot the storm was, and how people were getting upset with the lack of progress during the storm to clean the streets. You could tell that this did not bother these people at all. Of course you have to remember that these people can probably work from their lap-top at home, and they are paid a salary that is not affected by the weather.

The people who didn't find this storm and all the snow funny could have been the people who needed to get to a hospital and couldn't, or they could have been the millions of New Yorkers who get paid by the hour. When they can't get to work, they don't get a pay check.

America's news media, especially the television news media with their high-paying jobs have little understanding of how most Americans live, and therefore are unable to report the news in a manner the masses can understand. The working poor, the lower middle class, along with the sick and infirmed, failed to see the humor in the lack of snow removal during a yearly winter storm.

Nobody on that news program reported on why there was trouble removing snow. Nobody reported the number of people who died because they couldn't get medical care. However, they all talked about how this might affect the next mayoral election in New York, and gave what they thought were funny quips from around the country from current and past politicians.

America's media is out of touch with you and me. Today, they are part of America's elite, or at least think they are. But, let's take heart a little in the knowledge that, unlike just a few years ago, we now have and need the Internet to find out what is really happening in America. We certainly can't rely on the elitist snobs that sat there joking about the situation in New York while people were dying and losing much needed work hours and pay.

Because of the Internet we can hear from every social strata, and everything gets reported. Laughing feels good and to media types it may be entertainment, but they do nothing to educate us on the problems we have, and the solutions we need to solve those problems.

The Internet at least allows the free flow of information and the introduction of so many new ideas to solve problems that would never see the light of day ... if we no longer had an Internet.