Time to let go of the worn-out "The Media" term

In My Humble Opinion
1

I read comments in multiple forums about “The Media:” this allegedly unified body of news organizations, employing hundreds of thousands of people, that have one purpose and one purpose only—to feed blatant, fabricated falsehoods to American Citizens so that they will support whatever cause you happen to disagree with.

There is no “The Media” any more than there is “The Grocery Store.”

There are zillions of Grocery Stores—from small bodegas to national chains—that cater to all various kinds of people from all walks of life.

As a Consumer of Groceries, you EDUCATE (Yes, the E-Word) yourself on the foods you like and where you want to obtain them.

Some stores will sell you exactly what is clearly printed on the label.

Some stores will scratch out Cheetos on the bag and write Lobster over it in Crayon, hoping you will buy it.

Some people will be highly suspicious of this Cheeto-Lobster fraud and stay away from such stores.

Some people cannot believe their good fortune of getting such a great deal, only to discover upon the slightest of investigation that, indeed, it is a bag of fraud.

Some people will rip open that bag of Cheetos, readily consume to contents within and with a big crusty orange grin, loudly proclaim for all to hear “I Love Lobster!”

Some people will readily consume that bag of Cheetos, knowing it is Cheetos, and loudly proclaim , “I know it’s Cheetos and not Lobster but I don’t care because I WANT TO BELIEVE! It will always be lobster to me!”

So the next time you think “The Media should do a better job of. . . . ,” think about this:

You see an old pickup on the side of the road in the Middle of Nowhere, North Dakota. The sign on the truck says, “Fresh Caught Texas Gulf Shrimp.” You buy some and soon realize that it is nothing but smelly rotten garbage. Upon your return home, you take this smelly rotten garbage to the nearest grocery store (Of course you keep it with you for your entire trip–you need to stay angry and YOU HAVE PROOF OF A CONSPIRACY HERE!). You tell the manager that you want a full refund for this rotten shrimp. You tell her that since this is a Grocery Store and the guy in the truck was selling Groceries, that THIS AND EVERY OTHER GROCERY STORE IN AMERICA is responsible and accountable for this one person selling bad shrimp on the side of the road. The Manger actively listens to your concerns, thanks you for your comments, and tosses your butt out the door. She turns as the doors slide close and says to herself: “That’s the 114th one today. Some people never learn.”

2

What if it’s crab?

Regards,
Shodan

3

I never thought of it like that that before. Your comment has completely changed my mind. :slight_smile:

4

This is like saying we shouldn’t use the term “Hollywood” to refer to American large-scale moviemaking in general because every moviemaker is different. At a certain point, broad blanket terms like “the media,” “Hollywood,” and “the establishment/patriarchy/government/military-industrial complex/Wall Street/international community/deep state/Big Pharma” are convenient for expressing things in a way that would take far more syllables and effort otherwise.

5

“. . .take far more syllables and effort. . .”

We can’t have THAT in America, now can we?

I truly do not use those all-encompassing terms. They are 1) False, 2) Lazy and 3) Too Vague.

Such lazy use of all-encompassing terminology only encourages lazy thought and lazy debate.

6

The problem with this analogy is that “Media” is plural. So there is “The Media” just as there is “The Grocery Stores.”

7

OK then, then how about from now on, instead of saying “minorities,” you/we always instead say “Asians and Hispanics and blacks and Native Americans and Arabs, etc.?” After all, there is a wide range of diversity and differences among minority groups.

8

I do not say “Minorities” when I refer to an issue that effects a cultural group because that is 1) lazy and 2) false.

How about you specify what minority group you want to discuss?

Each minority group (like white american racists, for example) have their own unique culture, beliefs, values and actions.

9

Everything you say about grocery stores is pretty much the same as the media. An overwhelming majority of Americans get their groceries and their news from a small number of giant providers. Both of which have figured out that they can make more money (the sole reason for their existence) by stocking what they can most profitably proffer and leading you to accept it
uncritically and with a minimum amount of inconvenience.

Here is something to remember about the media. The media does not produce and resell content. The media produces and resells audience. The media’s source of income is adveretisers, and advertisers buy audience. The media dispenses content that will yield the largest salable audience, which is then sold to adveretising agencies who hope they convince that audience to buy Bud Lite and Silverado.

10

This. Now, if people were spreading CTs about The Medium, the OP would have a point. Although I’d just picture Miss Cleo…

11

Not to mention repetitive.

I’m all in favor of accuracy in discourse, but if we followed your rules discourse would be tedious if not impossible. One might want to qualify for accuracy, such as “most of the media” or “the media that I have seen” but you give no real alternative for using the term in a discussion. Or are you saying that, when discussing more than one at the same time, we always need to specify every exact medium we are including in the discussion, in order to avoid being 1) lazy and 2) false?

Your angst on this issue is mis-placed, if not idiotic.

12

The term “mainstream media” (or MSM, which sounds like a food additive) is the one (over)used to complain about left-wing/corporate/Satanic bias.

13

Yes. There are times to speak generally, and times to speak specifically. A belabored analogy to grocery stores doesn’t change that.

14

OP is CLEARLY just another member of the Lamestream Media trying to pawn us off with “facts” and “linguistic precision” and other such commie-libtard notions.

We don’t need ANY of those things to make America great! Words mean what we WANT them to mean! Flags Guns Jesus America again!!