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Don't Worry, Be Happy
Gallup is reporting that Americans are mostly "very satisfied" with their personal lives.
Yet, we are mostly dissatisfied with the "direction of the country."
I wonder...
Americans experience their personal lives directly while they experience what is happening in the rest of the country indirectly, usually through the filter of the media.
Could the discrepancy be OUR fault?
Just asking.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Irwin Stelzer reports similar findings about the U.S. economy:
"Only 36 percent of us approve of our president, and fewer still (18 percent) approve of our Congress. We say our confidence has been shattered, and three out of four think our country is “on the wrong track.” So we tell pollsters, as we slink into the new year.
"Surprise: The economy added more than 1 million new jobs last year. It grew at an annual rate of between 3 percent and 4 percent. Share prices rose by over 5 percent, with tech shares up by double digits, these gains being recorded in weeks in which the financial markets are said to be in turmoil."
Yet, we are mostly dissatisfied with the "direction of the country."
I wonder...
Americans experience their personal lives directly while they experience what is happening in the rest of the country indirectly, usually through the filter of the media.
Could the discrepancy be OUR fault?
Just asking.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Irwin Stelzer reports similar findings about the U.S. economy:
"Only 36 percent of us approve of our president, and fewer still (18 percent) approve of our Congress. We say our confidence has been shattered, and three out of four think our country is “on the wrong track.” So we tell pollsters, as we slink into the new year.
"Surprise: The economy added more than 1 million new jobs last year. It grew at an annual rate of between 3 percent and 4 percent. Share prices rose by over 5 percent, with tech shares up by double digits, these gains being recorded in weeks in which the financial markets are said to be in turmoil."
posted by Spencerblog at
8:21 AM
4 Comments:
It is pathetic how some people can be so easily manipulated by the Liberal Media into becoming discontent –upset, even- often over events that bear no direct impact on their lives. That’s what one gets when they rely overly on their moldable emotions rather than reason to shape their views. The Libs know this, this is why they do it. Wake up, folks, they think you’re stupid. Stop proving them right.
I don't think it is so much that the media is liberal but that it reports the "news."
What is news in this country is almost by definition the stuff that is out of the ordinary. Generally speaking, people go about their days acting civilly, getting along and doing nice things for one another.
When they don't, that's news. When they fight or are hurt, lose their jobs etc., that's news.
People who complain about the negativity of the news don't understand that is almost its defining characteristic.
Of course, we read more than the occasional nice story in the paper or see one on TV but if that was all that a newspaper or news channel offered people they would quickly change the channel to news sources that show the underside of American society.
Bad news sells. And that is why so much of news is packaged that way.
I don't think it's just the media. I think the American public, in general, is more impressionable than a small child. When someone tells them something, whether it's the media, a presidential candidate, MoveOn.org, David Diano, or whoever, they take for granted that what they are saying is true. For instance, I saw a headline not too long ago that said something along the lines of "Record number of US Troops killed this year". Average Joe sees that and says to himself, "We need to end this war before we break another record". I read the article and when I was done, I had no idea what "record number" had been broken. Was it the most US Casualties in one year since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003? The article didn't say. It left the impression that it was the most US Troops killed ever, in one year, in any war.
For most people, it seems what ever the first "spin" they hear is, that is what they will believe as gospel, instead of learning the truth.
No, G, there’s more to it than that. The Lib Media indeed slants to the Left’s benefit just about everything they present us.
All one need do is look at some of the truly radical Leftist editorials written and know that the same authors are the very demagogues we are then expected to believe deliver us unbiased and unflavored news. The war is an excellent example because the Left’s distain for the war is so well known. Now just give some anti-war Lib kook the power of the Press and, well, we’ve seen what happens.
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