As happens when you read a new ‘technical’ book, you start to recognize what has been infront of you all the time but obscurred by distracting details. My past readings, Conservatives Without Conscience, allowed me to see the authoritarians ‘everywhere.’
Some of the newer elements I’ve noticed in our entertainment are a relatively new emphasis on both the individual and the rich. Realty TV programs are mostly about the individual. Contrast Realty TV competition with sports competition where a team is required to win. Reality TV is about one individual dominating all the other ‘weaker’ players or about a single judge replacing a jury of your peers.
In those Reality TV programs, they seldom work as a team and if they do, the losing team has to pick an individual to blame for the team’s failure. Reality TV is mostly about ‘me’ and little about ‘we.’
There also seems to be a growing number of programs that ‘worship’ the rich. Some are Reality TV cat fights, others are about doctors or lawyers who mostly solve problems for the rich. These shows about the rich are also mostly about ‘me,’ greed, and care less about ‘we.’
So, be aware of the conservative messages of “rugged individualism,” “the government is the problem,” and idolizing the greedy rich that appear in the entertainment you watch.
Another broader aspect of all this entertainment is it’s ability to distract viewers from the problems brought on by the authoritarians who promote individuals with guns, making the mega rich richer, and replacing our American government with corporate governance.
‘We the people’ are responsible for an effective American government which puts checks and balances on any abuse of citizens when citizens are powerless. This includes checking and balancing greedy individuals, greedy corporations, and the mega rich who don’t want to pay their fair share based on what they have taken from America’s common wealth.
Andy Hailey