Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Perpetual Adolescence

Shrinkwrapped thinks the MSM and a lot of modern pop culture behaves in an adolescent fashion:

This brings me to the Main Stream Media, and its most recent melt down. Newsweek reported a rumor as a story in a way which mirrors adolescent behavior. The consequences of their action were not just misjudged, but were not even considered. They demand perfection from the American Military and the Republican leadership of the country, while at the same time ignoring the myriad ways in which the opposition to Bush have failed time and again to behave responsibly or take responsibility for their actions.


I think, though, that maybe we are giving adolescence a bad rap by comparing it to the MSM. Adolescents, for the most part, will eventually "grow out of" their bad behavior as they mature and interact with the world. I for one, don't hold much hope that the MSM will mature; nor are they likely to learn from their mistakes--otherwise why would we have yet another "Rathergate"-type moment brought to us by the "professionals" at Newsweek?

No, sadly, the MSM seems completely unable to learn from their mistakes, because the first thing that needs to happen is that you have to recognize you have made a mistake in the first place. That's the glitch. Psychological insight and growth can only occur when you are willing to honestly admit your mistakes, and evaluate why you did what you did.

Did you know that Dan Rather and Mary Mapes were just given the Peabody Award for excellence in journalism? Does that sound like any lesson has been learned?

If anything, the MSM is locked in a perpetual adolescence and will continue on its tiresome, irrational and self-destructive quest in the hopes that the next breaking news story will finally bring down their nemesis--the Bush Adminsitration.

No comments: