Advice for the New Year: Being Intelligent Viewers in a Free Society

At the end of the summer, I had to take my car in (again) for repairs. I sat in the waiting room for about four hours. I got a lot of work done! I also had to listen to the news.

One of the stories on MNSBC was the story of the Mormon family in Mexico.

I rarely watch the news, which raises the ire of certain people in my circle of acquaintances who think that I am hiding from reality (see End of the World Rhetoric). Yet as I was sitting there, I remembered why I rarely watch the news.

It was obvious that (1) the news outlet had half the story; (2) the news outlet was presenting a narrative that would rile up viewers.

The narrative being presented was of an innocent American tourist family accidentally shot down while carrying out tourist business. To be honest, I accepted that narrative. But I still thought that the story was incomplete. 

I got more and more upset as I sat there, not at the story--yes, dead children are sad but dead children are always sad--but at how obviously the news agents were trying to provoke some kind of Twitter storm. And this is a supposedly liberal, progressive station. The story was being delivered in such a way that saying, "Wow, you guys are kind of acting like xenophobes" wouldn't work (it wouldn't be the station's fault that viewers were being so xenophobic!), yet the presentation would inevitably rouse that response.

I tuned it out.
 
That Saturday, I looked up the event and found this well-written article that provided far more context. 

The context didn't diminish the sadness, but it did make the whole thing far more human. It added a complexity to the event that was lacking before, which in turn made any response on my part far more complex. Why were these families living in the equivalent of a war zone?  What is the line between protecting one's home and reading the writing on the wall? What is the responsibility of the Mexican government? The drug cartels appear to have as far-reaching an influence as portrayed in American cop shows. Is this an International crisis? Or something to be handled in-house?

No longer a simplistic narrative, the event gained depth, complication, and a lack of easy solutions.

I believe in a free press. I also believe that in a country with a free press, citizens have the obligation to not simply react. The attitude that being "aware" means reacting emotionally to any news stories that flashes across the screen is a falsehood of immense proportions.

"We have piped to you and you have not danced--we have lamented to you and you have not mourned" basically sums up the media's attitude. Why aren't you reacting in the moment the way that we expect?

What amazes me is that anyone believes that an in-the-moment reaction is somehow more meritorious than a balanced later reaction.

Don't believe the former. When pollsters run up to you on the street, have the strength to say, "I need to research this more!" And don't allow yourself to be shamed by their outrage.

NOT reacting to swoon-worthy hysterics: that should be the new cool.