Eli Steele in Newsweek:
The media headlines of the past year suggest that things have gotten a lot worse since 2017—and both Thomas and Fox played a part in the divisiveness. But if you look beyond the headlines, including those on Newsweek, a different picture emerges. Even in what feels like an angry, factionalized society, there are signs of unity.
…”My genuine belief is that most Americans don’t really think much about politics, and to the extent they do, they are largely united in the agreement that they dislike it. As a nation, we are far more concerned with celebrity gossip and sports than we are with culture wars or wonkish policy debates. That’s why the average American could almost certainly name more of Pete Davidson’s former lovers than they could members of Congress. Most of the division that we see is manufactured and amplified by a media ecosystem that primarily feeds off of anger and fear. This is particularly true for cable news, which thrives off of a constant stream of outrage porn that rarely befits the designation of journalism. Even so, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t ever tune in to these outlets. For example, the most successful shows on Fox News, the leader in cable news viewership, only commands an audience that is about one-third the size of the most popular sitcoms on CBS. As a college professor who has taught overtly political topics for years, I’ve also experienced evidence of this united spirit of indifference toward politics that most Americans innately possess. In a classroom of 35 students, maybe four or five on average will routinely speak up and express strong opinions about anything political. The other 85 percent of the class just sits back and hopes they don’t get called on.”
—Nicholas Creel, assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University
More here.