President Worship
We spend too much time worshiping (or damning) our president. Not just this president, but all presidents. We worship him because the national media covers him around the clock. The national media covers him 24X7, because if they can make him important and ubiquitous, they make themselves indispensable and almost as important.
Everything the president says, no matter how mundane and irrelevant, is televised and reported. He burps -- news flash -- “President burps. Details at 11.” He is portrayed as constantly under siege or victorious -- his every thought dramatic, his every decision apocalyptic. We are taught to wait on his every word. Like in the old commercial where everyone shushes everyone else to hear E.F. Hutton speak, the media forces the president’s every utterance upon us, no matter how irrelevant the utterance might be.
The reality is we live out lives locally. What happens to our families, our communities, and jobs affects our lives much more and more often than anything the president does. Much of daily life has nothing to do with the president. We would all be better off without the mindless coverage. Cover what is important, and only what is important, and the media will serve us better. Cease and desist the daily grind.
An example of the media’s complicity is when the news shows the president walking up a flight of stairs. The stairs belong to Air Force 1, and the president is on his way to make a speech or on his way to a meeting with world leaders. Mind you he hasn’t met with anyone or said anything yet; he’s simply getting on his plane. That is not news. Yet it’s so important to see him climb those stairs. News doesn’t happen until he makes that speech or after he meets with those world leaders and tells us about what happened. Still, it’s very important to watch him walk up those stairs, because it keeps him and the media visible in your living room. Who else on this planet can make news walking up a flight of stairs?
Another good one is when the media show video of the president walking across the White House lawn and getting on a helicopter to take him to Andrews Air Force Base, where he can walk up the stairs and get on the plane. So important. All of it.
We need to get back to basics, focus on where we live.
Everything the president says, no matter how mundane and irrelevant, is televised and reported. He burps -- news flash -- “President burps. Details at 11.” He is portrayed as constantly under siege or victorious -- his every thought dramatic, his every decision apocalyptic. We are taught to wait on his every word. Like in the old commercial where everyone shushes everyone else to hear E.F. Hutton speak, the media forces the president’s every utterance upon us, no matter how irrelevant the utterance might be.
The reality is we live out lives locally. What happens to our families, our communities, and jobs affects our lives much more and more often than anything the president does. Much of daily life has nothing to do with the president. We would all be better off without the mindless coverage. Cover what is important, and only what is important, and the media will serve us better. Cease and desist the daily grind.
An example of the media’s complicity is when the news shows the president walking up a flight of stairs. The stairs belong to Air Force 1, and the president is on his way to make a speech or on his way to a meeting with world leaders. Mind you he hasn’t met with anyone or said anything yet; he’s simply getting on his plane. That is not news. Yet it’s so important to see him climb those stairs. News doesn’t happen until he makes that speech or after he meets with those world leaders and tells us about what happened. Still, it’s very important to watch him walk up those stairs, because it keeps him and the media visible in your living room. Who else on this planet can make news walking up a flight of stairs?
Another good one is when the media show video of the president walking across the White House lawn and getting on a helicopter to take him to Andrews Air Force Base, where he can walk up the stairs and get on the plane. So important. All of it.
We need to get back to basics, focus on where we live.
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