Re: slavery
You pose slavery as the opposite of welfare. That seems extreme.
Yes, everyone who works for a paycheck might be called a wage slave. But what is the alternative?
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From what I have read, most people choose news outlets (whether old-fashioned newspapers, the internet, Facebook, X, etc.) which support their existing opinions. If they are already Trump supporters they are likely to choose news feeds that don’t mention the corruption and destructive policies or which interpret them in a favorable light.
Wendy
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Yes, this has long been acknowledged, often (ironically) in media sources themselves. It is both a description and a tragedy.
Pete
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You are absolutely correct. And it is a problem.
[sidebar] This is not necessarily a new trend. When newspapers were popping up like flies (New York City had 15 daily general interest papers at peak), they began appealing to narrower and narrower slices, often by political faction to build a loyal audience. Many even put it on the masthead, the history of a few of which survive today: The “Missouri Republican” and “Arkansas Democrat” are just two examples (both from the 1800’s.)
Things moved slower then, obviously, and the power of television to gin up the hyper partisanship we have today is not to be underestimated, I’m just saying “we lived through something similar before, maybe we’ll make it through this one too.”
It has, I admit, become easier to surround yourself on all sides with your preferred silo: from “think alike” social media friends to algorithmically curated videos based on what you already think to new channels that do just one thing, yes it’s a problem. No, I don’t have a solution. Maybe we’ll make it out the other end. That would be nice. [/sidebar]
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Must. not. make. comparisons to the alimentary canal.
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