150 years ago, for the first time ever, news of an event on one continent was (nearly) instantly available to the inhabitants of another. The transatlantic telegraph cable that made this possible is long defunct, but the repercussions ripple through our daily lives in everything from cable news to video phone 'eyewitness' footage on the internet.
Our appetite for news seems insatiable. The world seems a more dangerous place. However, I will submit to you that it's no more dangerous (arguably less so) than 150 years ago. We just know about it faster and more frequently.
3 comments:
I'm not sure it's actually "news" that we're insatiable for. I mean, 99% of what's on news channels isn't really news. It's people yammering about what might happen, and what everything supposedly means. It seems to me that people may not be tuning in to hear what's happening, but for other reasons. Maybe the comfort of hearing people with their own particular philosophy tell them that everything they already know is exactly right.
Amen. I suppose instead of "news" I should have said "information." Or perhaps "people talking on what are called news channels."
Maybe we should go with "Imitation processed news-food product."
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