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passporttohell t1_ixztoni wrote

Reply to comment by Riversntallbuildings in Fit to Print (2017) - Documentary that tells the history of how Wall Street greed and lack of foresight lead to the decimation of the newspaper industry and tens of thousands reporters losing their jobs and the eventual erosion of a vital way to hold power accountable. [01:33:47] by thenewsisreal

The problem with this line of thinking is that it leans on the 'things will always get better' mantra.

This is my personal experience with that: I am 62 years old now, twenty years old when Reagan was elected. Prior to that there was much hope and promise with 'work hard and you will get ahead', 'Year by year your income will increase, you will go from renting an apartment to owning a home', 'there is always a better job around the corner', etc. etc.

Then Reagan came in and killed the 'Fairness Doctrine'

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/955/fairness-doctrine

Then FOX news became a thing, and it's been downhill ever since. Americans still believe they have a television (or print media) that mostly tells the truth, yet that hasn't been the case for many years now.

So on one side you have people that dig deep to find the truth, recognize propaganda when they see it, take the time to do fact checking to make sure their news sources are consistently telling the truth. etc. etc.

So while those who dig deep see a constant degradation in quality of living, wages, costs of living, education and health care the majority of Americans live in a bubble of misinformation, although more and more of them are beginning to question what is told in the news media vs. their own personal experiences with family, friends, co-workers.

I have been waiting for 'things to get better' since Reagan occupied the office. It has steadily gone hill ever since then with no reversal of course, and in some cases making sudden lurches into worse conditions than I had thought imaginable.

Lulling oneself into a false sense of security helps no one. Taking the time to become aware of how dangerous does more harm than good, best to rip off the bandaid, learn to seperate truth from fiction and figure out how you are going to react to the reality of where we are, whether that's to become more involved with local or national politics or start making plans to expatriate to another country with better standards of living, income, health care and education.

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Riversntallbuildings t1_iy0qtw3 wrote

I absolutely agree. The fairness doctrine needs to be modernized and applied to all digital communication not just broadcast communications.

We need data privacy, portability and interoperability regulations. Corporations do not get to control markets and access to information and yet that’s what we’ve allowed in so many digital examples.

Antitrust laws are woefully outdated.

I am not lulling anyone into a false sense of security or complacency with hope.

One way I believe we can make significant change is by continuing to support and expand Ranked Choice or STAR voting methods. It’s one way to reduce the power of the two party system and reduce the influence of money in politics by dividing their resources among more qualified candidates. I also think it’ll help reduce the “polling noise” that is pretty outdated and out of touch.

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