What is the role of the American mass media?
Particularly when just in the last few weeks... the American mass media has shifted course several times without really resolving anything. Only 3 weeks ago the American media's attention was on Tucker Carlson, who at that time appeared to be serving as an American ambassador while interviewing Vladimir Putin. Then, last week the media was changing course and focusing on another war in Israel, to then again shifting course this week and dissecting the subsequent murder of Russian journo Alexei Navalny, who was seemingly killed because of the politics concerning the Tucker Carlson interview only 3 weeks ago!
WTF Is Tucker Carlson Doing In Russia?
But today, Alexei Navalny, who I might add neither rapped… MC Least Slutty... nor coded Ai… (I also code Ai)... is no longer with us.
And I believe that the Kremlin felt like Navalny excessively complained through his journalism. Although, the federal government of both of our country's (Russia and the US) seemingly both chose to scar both of our left eye's and for a while, I thought that I would meet Alexei Navalny one day. #FakeNews
But anyway… what role does the mass media play in international politics when such an act, where an opposition leader is essentially assassinated, takes place all because of an interview between a member of the media like Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin? Whereby, I assume that Putin concluded that a foreigner had then taken Navalny's job as a reporter and Validimir Putin then appears to have killed Navalany and then said, "killing is part of leadership," a backhanded compliment of American Capitalism, in this case in regards to Navalny, a Russian journalist who essentially, "lost his job," to Tucker Carlson or a member of the foreign press. At least that was what I saw happen.
And surely Tucker Carlson profited off of this interview? Yes? Where the undertones of the interview itself, seemed to stem from a larger dispute… possibly regarding the philosophy of international relations and essentially the acceptance of, "nationalism." Whereby, Navalny, himself a journalist... was incarcerated in Russia for asking similarly, “pressing questions,” to the Russian leader who often seemed confused during the interview by the public's modern interpretation of, "nationalist foreign policy." But my issue isn’t the philosophical dispute of foreign journalism or the acceptance of, "nationalism," abroad… my issue is... what role is Tucker Carlson playing in Russia? Is he an ambassador? Is he a soldier? Is he a neutral journalist? How does that get interpreted? And what about other figures? Surely Khabeeb Nurmogomedov who perhaps identifies as more Russian than American, can meet with the Russian leader? But what about Alexander Ovechkin? And what is the, "nuclear tension," there?
In either case, today, Navalny is dead and Tucker Carlson has profited in the range of 2-5m dollars from said interview and I’m just posing the question, "for what?" And I think that the BRIC’s nations have started to question a lot of Western philosophy concerning finance, including retail and some of the service and hospitality sectors of the US economy, particularly when we as a society so often turn a blind eye to the ROLE of our own media within the US economy and those who profit from the media VS those who do not, IE Tucker Carlson and Navalny, who now share opposite fates.
Or in this case, I simply pose the question, "what was Tucker Carlson doing in Russia?" And if the US continues to support Ukraine financially then is he not on enemy territory? And I don’t know that answer. But should anybody support foreign businesses over domestic businesses? In any field? And what is, "foreign," in business?
And again, I don't have the answers to those questions. However, I do know that Alexei Navalny is dead today and that he was not in the US interviewing Joe Biden last week. Which to me... was a clear indication of Putin's stance on foreign investment.
The Issue With, "Minority Reports."
Anyway; aside from the role of the mass media in international affairs, I also wonder, what is the role of the mass media in domestic affairs? And another philosophical issue that I think needs to be re-examined is the role of the media HERE AT HOME. Whereby, “minority reports,” is a concept that I’ve been kicking around here on CiviliansNews.com in regards to this, "safety series," which I originally started in 2020. And I still haven’t entirely decided how to format this section of the website but more or less, article 1 focused on the most common forms of, "unnatural death," and the classic one is soda machines falling on top of people, which apparently happens 4 or 5 times a year in America but now I'm thinking about taking this, "safety series," a little bit further.
Because I actually had the idea to write on the topic of public safety because of glass showers, which I felt like were unnecessarily dangerous in the year 2020. I think I mentioned that topic in article 1. The Safety Series --Article 1.
Nevertheless, "minority reports," is the topic of today's article and this topic is especially pertinent in NYC because, "what if you knew the CRIME STATISTICS before they happened?" And what about the genetic statistics of crime and hospitalizations? For example, what if people who, “looked like person X,” were most commonly rapists? Or what if people with genetic trait Y were commonly obese? Wouldn’t it help to know that? And should the news tell us that?
What if pasty guys with dark hair, under 5’10, are most commonly rapists? Should we as a media report on that statistic? Or what if 5 people from every High School in America typically die by the age of 35… wouldn’t you like to know that 5 is the average? And if 4 in your High School class had died but not 5, would that not help the people alive, to perhaps save a life? By being more cautious and aware? Essentially warning them that the statistics were pointing to a future death?
Where the idea of MINORITY REPORTS, briefly touched on in Tom Cruise’s infamous Sci Fi thriller of the same title, really opens up a, "pandora’s box," of “free speech,” regarding stereotypes and information programming. Because the obvious counter argument is that the media would then run the risk of stereotyping individuals by reporting so called, "minority reports," pinpointing those, "most likely to committ the next crime based upon crime statistics," and then that runs the risk of false accusations occurring based upon stereotypes. However, what if we could save lives? By reporting on these types of statistics?
Statistics.
For example… 1,600 rapes occurred in NYC last year, the most in America.
Statistical reference link
Also, in Michigan, in 2019… 25,574 driving under the influence of alcohol tickets were written, in just 365 days or roughly 70 per day, pulled over and breathlyzed while driving a vehicle and holding over a .8 blood alcohol content. 300 people died in alcohol related crashes in the following year and 3700 people were also injured in such crashes.
The US Prison population was 1.23 million as of December 2022 and all 1.23 million of those prisoners are serving more than 1 year in a federal penitentiary.
Statistical reference link
Also, 32% of those prisoners or roughly 400,000 out of 1.23 million are African Americans and a large percentage of those prisoners we're found guilty of alcohol or drug related offenses.
1.23 million inmates is approximately .3% of the 340 million person US population, which means that if you times .03 by the number of people in your High School graduating class then you can calculate how many people that you graduated High School with who will likely go to prison... and about 10% of those prisoner’s will go to prison for sex crimes.
But there are also positives.
By the end of 2023 an estimated 1.4 billion people world-wide had donated in some form or fashion to, “charity,” or roughly 1.4/7 – 20% of the global population.
Statistical reference link
As of 2023, 210 million Americans or roughly 63% (*of 340 million total Americans) identify as, "Christian."
Statistical reference link
The USA also has the highest per capita of millionaires, world wide. "The United States is home to by far the largest contingent of dollar millionaires: 22.7 million in 2022, representing 6.7 percent of the country's population. Next on this list is China with 6.2 million (0.4 percent of the population), while France completes the podium with 2.8 million (4.2 percent of the population).
Statistical reference link
Also, "In 2021, a total of 689,308 divorces occurred across the 45 U.S. states that report this statistics.[1] During that same year, 1,985,072 marriages occurred."
-via Forbes.com
Meaning, that roughly 1/3 American marriages are ending in a divorce right now, a constantly fluctuating statistic. Furthermore, 40-45% of second marriages fail, as well.
The average small business in America will go bankrupt and fold... before it reaches 8.5 years old.
"51 percent of small businesses are 10 years old or less, and 32 percent of small businesses are 5 years old or less."
-via JP MORGAN
And after 15 years less than 25% of small businesses survive.
Statistical reference link
The percentage of adults in the U. S. between the ages of 25 to 64 with college degrees, certificates, or industry-recognized certifications, has increased from 37.9% in 2009 to 53.7% in 2021, a gain of nearly 16 percentage points. Feb 1, 2023
Statistical reference link
-via Forbes.com
In January 2024, about 161.15 million people were employed in the United States or about 40%.
Statistical reference link
In January 2024, 175m people in America had college degrees, certificates, or industry-recognized certifications.
-William Larsen, Founder, Civilians News