Obviously

It should be obvious to the casual observer that the media shape our thoughts and perceptions to a degree all out of proportion to our direct contact with any of the newsreaders or journalists who contribute to the non-stop background drone of current events.

But this shouldn’t surprise us, we are a social species, and give more weight to thoughts and ideas we think are shared by others than to our own original ruminations.

People are echo machines, and they are drawn to other, louder echo machines so that they might have a more reliable source of repeatable sound bites and pre-digested opinions.

This facet of human nature is well known to the conservative right, and their ability to use this trait to promote their own agenda far exceeds that of the liberal left.

So what to do? Write letters to the editor? Organize sidewalk demonstrations? Cry?
How about using this most basic human characteristic, this desire and need to share information with neighbors and to use shared information to develop a consensus for action, ourselves?

The only daily paper in Canton, which has been the default voice and guiding light for Stark County for far too long, is for sale. Let’s buy it. Or let’s convince some liberal ‘angel’, like David Geffen, to buy it for us, and then let us help run it.

(see link to NY Times article on LINKS page.)
I wrote headlines and took photos for the Comet in the late ’60s. I wrote a year’s worth of newsletters for a local anti-dump group, so of course I am well qualified to help! 😉 And I know at least one honest lady reporter at the ‘cretin rap’. Are any of you literate, ambitious and gutsy enough to help?

Does anyone know anyone who knows David Geffen? Get on the phone and plant the idea; farmers plant wheat in the fall, and we eat bread, don’t we?

Steve

politics at cantondailynews dot com

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