Mind on the Motherland

Samuel Huntington states that social America will not survive, attributing this culture crumble to a variety of theories. Given the developments in Russia over the past several years, the power of media to entice public officials and unify the people deserves reconsideration.

Putin controls Russian television media to total approval. Although his methods violate human rights, his ends unify the Russian people. Though Russians may access other informational sources—the internet is unmoderated—many avoid criticism and appreciate the unity of the nation and improving the economy above all. Yet Americans cringe at Putin’s “democracy-destroying” methods.

However it surprises me that major publications have not attempted to similarly unite—consolidation is key in the internet age. Google has streamlined simple internet research as Facebook has streamlined social utility. Americans love this. Could the media not be similarly unified…without sacrificing essential freedoms? Somehow the idea of cohesive media—allowing many minds to assess the same problems, to view all criticisms of all public officials, to use millions of heads rather than hundreds—is too tempting for tyrannical officials. This makes me wonder, can our leaders be trusted or trust themselves to allow a consolidated, streamlined, free media to flow? Is the opportunity too great to allow absolute power to corrupt, absolutely?

But perhaps the problem lies in our faction-oriented society. Reading the newspaper is similar to being part of a country club… only the intelligent, the well-spoken, the elevated could read such-and-such paper, while the peasants are left to CNN. Maybe we enjoy finding Julie from Kindergarten on Facebook, but need to find an oddly specific news story about an oddly specific senator (generally while crisis occurs unnoticed elsewhere.) This is a problem as well. Are we separating ourselves from one another, precipitating the collapse of American culture, by separating our thoughts? If we read and proceed to reason thereafter, could it not be possible that reading too-different news sources causes a basic level of misunderstanding?

But take this with a grain of salt. Our ends probably do not justify our means, especially if our means entail death of critical journalists. Yet the concept of unified media bears glaring problems in our society and our leadership to be considerated… thoughts?