Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I don't hate Taibbi at all, but I think the argument he and you make about "the media" paints with much too broad a brush, and is more an exercising in preening than in making sense of or responding to anything anyone is actually saying.
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I can see exactly why people would perceive it as preening. To an extent, it is, because it necessarily includes the argument, "You're being manipulated." People find that assertion a bit insulting.
But I think if you read that book, which is highly entertaining in terms of style alone, you'll see that he's not engaging in mere both-sidesism. He's careful to assert that the right has less interest in facts, and is more cynical. But he also notes that the left is starting to follow suit, and starting to catch up with the right in that regard.
His best critique is the one I cited - the swarm-of-screamers-on-speed mentality of modern media - which is more the fault of social media than anything else. As part of that, he argues news should never be a business. It's a public service element of traditional media. And it's becoming a business has turned it into a pusher. It can't let you off the hook for a second to formulate your own views, or to think "This isn't all that important." It feeds you constantly repackaged information designed to trigger anger or delight and get you locked into the next dopamine hit, or cortisol-and-adrenaline-fueled rage.
Both sides may not be equally dishonest in the content they push, but both equally seek to monopolize your eyeballs regardless of damage to your mental health and the social fabric of the country.
It's not his most organized and coherent book (
The Divide is), but it's probably his most important. There are stretches of text where he dismantles the modern media business so well you wonder how he ever gets airtime anymore.
