(#134-1) February 13 2015. Beware of asteroids. What are the odds of being killed by a bee sting? Or being listened to by a member of Congress unless you are a contributor?

WHAT IS MOST LIKELY TO KILL YOU?

RELAX! TERRORISM DOESN’T EVEN FEATURE. A HEART ATTACK WILL DO THE JOB WITH MUCH LESS DRAMA

There is something deeply wrong with our mass media. On the one hand, I do believe we need to be informed—indeed that we have a duty to keep ourselves informed—but that is very different to being exposed to a constant diet of disasters and celebrity gossip.

As matters stand, our mass media—and here I’m thinking primarily of TV—do a lousy job. Sadly, they don’t even keep us informed about the issues since they think we are too dumb to put up with more than a sound-bite.

Terrorism gets massive coverage—almost certainly vastly more than it deserves. In contrast, labor news is minimal—as is coverage of poverty. Many truly wonderful achievements get no coverage at all.

Fortunately, the information is out there if you are prepared to look—but it does take effort.

Best source? NPR in my opinion. It does a truly outstanding job in a low key way—and this Great Nation is the better for it. But though NPR’s audience is steadily increasing, most Americans still depend on mass market TV.

A badly informed public will result in—what we’ve got.

It is not a healthy democracy. It is a plutocracy. I don’t think that is what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

The frustrating thing is that America could so easily be the kind of country most of us really want it to be—and which, mythically, we believe in—with relative ease. This country is rich in every kind of resource known to man.

If…

Such a small word—with such enormous implications.

VOR words c.280.

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