“Nobody is (doing anything / talking) about this!” How much is enough?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve heard this both before and lately: “Here’s this hot button issue! Why isn’t anyone doing anything about it? Why isn’t the media covering this?!” And someone replies with multiple front page stories on CNN and the Times discussing the massive efforts being taken to address the issue.

On one hand, this is pretty common and usually the fault of the speaker, just like “they didn’t teach you THIS in school!” On the other hand, many issues, especially heavily political ones, do need some special effort in getting it in front of the public that would be beneficial in many ways. On the other other hand, you can’t force media or their audience to actually pay attention, and such fruitless efforts may be better spent actually solving the problem.

Where do you fall on this? At what point do you start assuming that if you’re not hearing about work being done, it’s probably not happening? How much awareness do you want, and how much do you think is needed in general?

2

I think there’s only so much any one person can care about. It’s perfectly OK to say, “Yes, I suppose that’s important, but honestly I have enough on my plate right now. Somebody else can deal with it.”

3

I suspect most media decide what to broadcast based on what makes them money, not what issues are moral and important. And anyone complaining about lack of coverage for their pet issue will lazily accuse the media of bias.

Solution: Turn off the national news and just focus awareness on local issues, the ones that actually affect you, and where your efforts, should you choose to take action, actually will make a difference.