The DSM the Media and American Indifference

Ok what the hell I’ll talk about the Downing Street Memo too.

Finally reading the memo in its entirety brings to mind a conversation from a few days ago, the inspiration of which came from NPR story on the Tony awards. The interviewee said that the theatre world had stopped thinking post 9/11, the result is a series of lackluster seasons on Broadway, no real risk takers have emerged. Art reflects life and it’s not just the theatre world that has stopped thinking, the rest America has stopped thinking too. (To hear the interview look here)

Let me first say that I am flat tired of hearing the, “post 9/11”, suffix or prefix attached to every comment made about the behavior of modern American society but I think it applies well to the idea of American society’s non thought process. We don’t want to know that the world is a scary place and that our government’s actions help make it that way. That’s a hard mirror to look into especially after being terrorized by an event like 9/11. When confronted with the hard reality about our country and its actions around the world we shut down and “not think”. The lack of reporting on the DSM is not just a lack of responsible journalism by our mass media but an understanding on the media’s part that the majority of Americans will not buy (as in purchase) the story. This takes the pressure off of them too. No one wants to risk a “Rather” or a “Newsweek” and if America has its head in the sand who are they to risk their own necks to pull it out.

This story may come up (or down) to the main stream media from the refusal of people like Rep. John Conyers from MI. (he has his own blog and a recent post on the Huffington Post on the subject) or from the work of the folks at The Downing Street Memo, to let it die, but until the corporate media is sure there is a safe market for it our traditional news outlets will reflect the Broadway theatre season, no real risks and nothing spectacular.