02-23-2017, 11:18 AM
(02-18-2017, 05:22 AM)Raven Wrote: [...]
now let's discuss the dilemma that has me very, very concerned regarding what may come our way in the future. POTUS has surrounded himself with some of the scariest people I can think of as his advisors. I only need to name one in order to scare the hell out of you; Breitbart Bannon, AKA Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President. He is a verifiable Alt Right (far right) hater and his stated primary goal is to shut down mainstream media outlets. If that does not scare you, then I don't know what will.
From an international perspective, Bannon seems the scariest figure. With Jewish gravestones smashed and swastikas appearing, something really nasty has been unleashed. Was it always there simmering under the surface and restrained by "political correctness", or has it been stoked into life by the alt-right? Defining the media as the opposition seems troubling for an advanced democratic nation. The US media reflect a spectrum of political views - clearly Fox and CNN occupy different positions and that diversity of opinions is healthy for democracy and public debate. You have a different media setup to the UK where TV news is required to be impartial (eg BBC), and newspapers are the ones who are identifiably left or right (eg The Guardian makes no claims to neutrality). I certainly think there are problems establishing what is impartial (I literally have no idea what would constitute a neutral view of racism!), but across BBC output you'd generally get as much criticism of the left as you would of the right. This probably isn't a popular view at the moment, because it is being attacked as part of a "metropolitan liberal elite". What is interesting about both the USA and UK is that both have millionaires/billionaires setting themselves up as representatives of ordinary working people. Whichever way you lean politically, you've got to admit we live in unusual times!