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History repeating itself, death of the newspaper
I was watching TV the other day about the death of the newspaper. These guys were saying that when our country was first forming (during and after the colonial period) we had hundreds and hundreds of newspapers sprouting all over. Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanac) and Thomas Paine (Common Sense) are just two examples. And the fruits of that common sense, every man's approach to reporting was treated like a duty. It was expected by the populace just as it was expected by each and every individual. Perhaps that's why literacy was increasing so rapidly during that time.
There was a sense of duty to self and beyond self. The community seemed ironically to gel better dispite all the inequality associated with our country's birth. Perhaps the ease of turning on the TV, as I have done, has actually detached us, including me, from the real world. The deeper irony comes when we consider the end of the program I was watching.
As newspapers became more and more popular, large mega-papers began to buy out the smaller businesses. So recently it's either Fox News or CNN-like a reenactment of the Cold War, a bipolar competition, black and white choices. These days, the internet has allowed us all to blog and exchange information back at the grass roots level. So, I guess history is repeating itself, only in a technologically advanced way. If only we could convey this idea to everyone in our community. Let them all know that our opinions are the ones that we should listen to-not someone we elect. The elected, after all, should only be our mouthpiece.
Alright, that's the end of the soapbox today,
Art, thank you Mr. Ed for sharing!
