I've been reflecting recently on the trend in popular culture to feature the undead. Current examples of horror novels, movies, and TV shows, as well as undead-related advertising, are many. "Twilight" may have been the spark, but the oxygen fanning the flames of this new paranormal obsession is the angst over the current economy.
We keep hearing that the unemployment rate is more than 10 percent, but it's actually more than 17 percent when you count those who are underemployed and those who have given up altogether. Compared to that, I'd happily face a vault full of vampires, a gaggle of ghosts, and a zoo of zombies. It's comforting to know that, while the undead are frightening, we are more afraid of losing our homes. As I tell my children: "The only scary thing in our house is the mortgage."
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I think a valid question has to be: “what role did the media play in creating this whole mess in the first place?” My answer would not be flattering to any of the traditional outlets.
ReplyDeleteA capitalist economy only works when we, collectively, believe in it, have confidence in it, and as a result spend money. Recalling on the days following 9/11, the president had a request that was critical to our strength as a nation. Paraphrased, it was “go out and shop. Go spend money.” This worked. People were horrified but optimistic about the future. It was this optimism and hope of better days ahead that kept the US economy 20x bigger than any other on the planet.
As things started to get shaky in 2008, enter Gibson, Couric, and Williams doing what media hounds do best: scare people. If you’re not scared, why tune in, right? So every day for consecutive weeks, the talking heads get on the screen and tell everyone that the sky is falling. And they get their buddies in print and cable to follow suit because it’s good for ratings and sells newspapers. Now us Americans are getting it from all sides. 24x7 catastrophe coverage. The monster has created a self fulfilling prophecy. Everyone stops buying cars, Detroit fails. Everyone stops investing, Wall Street fails. People run on the banks, they fail. Everyone stops spending, the economy fails. Everyone loses hope, America fails.
As individuals, we’re smart. As a population, we’re dumber than toast. What would the world look like today if the taking heads would have had a message of hope along the lines of “don’t worry, we’ve seen worse scandals, this too shall pass…”? Or, “geez, remember Carter?” Or how about if they reminded us that our economy was so massive and so successful because it was based on liberty and no matter how people hate us, they all still want to be here, sharing in our economy, our liberty.
For failing to deliver such a message, and for stopping by our living rooms daily to pour gas on the fire, how can “the media” not take a big ol' bite off the responsibility sandwich? Oops, gotta run, it looks like there’s a boy in a balloon over Colorado or a drunk pop star somewhere – I’m too horrified to continue, must tune in…