#American Media

[cb-reblog]

[sugas6thtooth]

False narratives in mass media produces a perpetual cycle of violence fueled by irrational hate.

American media outlets are so disconnected from humanity that the lies they spread hurt their own people.

As much as we support and aid those in Palestine let's not forget the Palestinians here, in America, who are also bearing the brunt of hate from irrevocable beings.

I wish for Hisham and the others attacked in this hate crime justice and healing. 🇵🇸

[quiggel]

Americans can also answer this, in fact I encourage that. If you are an American answering, it would be great if you took a more specific view of things, such as what state you’re from, into account as opposed to just your American nationality in general. If you have more than one nationality, if the answer for any of them is either of the first two options, please select one of those. If possible, it would be great if people could let me know what option they selected + where they’re from in the notes.

Thanks!!

[vitaminwatersupreme]

consuming american media as someone living in europe (and specifically Ireland) is so weird cause like you will occasionally get a random jumpscare where they mention a town/suburb in the place where you live because some fucker in the 1800s named a street in ohio after it

[mask131]

It is fascinating how, when you look at American pieces of media about Greek mythology, there is this strong underlying trend of making it Christian-themed.

Just randomly picking three America pieces of fiction "adapting" Greek mythology: 2014's The Legend of Hercules, makes Hercules a new Jesus and Samson, with a whole holy conception. The first season of "Blood of Zeus"? Filled with Christian themes and motifs that contradict actual Ancient Greek philosophies and mythological motifs. Disney's Hercules? Hades is just the Christian devil (and in fact was originally designed as a typical red-clad horn-and-pitchfork devil).

I could pull other pieces like that - in fact I might do, as I plan a little "Greek mythology media" series - but yeah... There is a fascinating (and just as disturbing) trend in America of using Greek mythology to convey Christian stories and Christian messages...

... Which in itself is not very surprising because Christians themselves have been Christianizing Greek and Roman mythologies since the Middle-Ages (in fact it is why it was kept alive so much)... But it is still surprising to see it all continues to this day.

[cottoncandiescupcakes]

It's so weird to me when the American media is like 'people find this ugly guy hot' 'rat men trend' and it's like

Barry Keoghan and Barry Allen White

These are literally two typically handsome men that just have light blue eyes and look Irish and British lmao

American media thinks anyone not American beauty standards looks ugly, I swear. If you're not Chris Evans you are 'weird'

They will also be racist to any POC features or POC beauty and then turn around and call the original white people ugly too HAHA like what do you even want

Strong bone structure and light blue eyes are extremely common in North-West Europe and the UK, Scotland and Ireland. I'm a Dutch female myself, we have the light blue eyes and pale skin too. Don't call it weird lmao these guys look fine. People calling Tilda Swinton an alien are crazy too.

[gwengifterror]

Some insightful words from Nelson Mandela (6-12-1990), who was once considered a "terrorist" by the colonial super powers of the world (US / UK *and friends*) to then later be awarded such honors as the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is an example of a person utilized as a token for revisionist history.

"They [Arafat, Castro, Gaddafi] fully support the anti-apartheid struggle. They do not only support it in rethoric, they are placing resources at our disposal for us to win the struggle. That is the position."

[yourlocalswan]

watching the U.S. media trying to walk back their evident & disgusting promotion of israel propaganda now that it’s not popular is truly sickening. to be so obsessed with and enslaved by the godforsaken dollar that your tune changes on genocide when it starts to become less profitable is such a tragic statement on the state of american journalism and the slop a casual audience is willing to gorge on.

[thanktrusova]

american media: its effects on the teenage prodigy

For those who don't know, one of my favorite skaters is Alysa Liu.

Alysa is a 2x US national champion, junior and senior world bronze medalist, and 2022 Olympian.

But, one thing about her is when you look her up, one of the subheadings on her wikipedia is "2021–22 season: International senior debut, Beijing Olympics, World Championships, and retirement".

What happened to her? What was so troubling about the 2021/22 season that caused this all to happen at once, and at the age of 16?

From my limited research but somewhat extensive knowledge, the one thing I can connect this early retirement to is the American media.

Before I start, I just want to preface that I am very glad they retired on their own terms, and not due to injury or something worse. Though I do miss them.

-

Alysa was 13 when she won her first senior national title in January 2019, the youngest female to win US nationals as of today. She defended her title the next year, winning back-to-back nationals at only 14 years old.

Also in the 2019/2020 season, they had their international junior debut. During this, they became the first woman to complete a triple axel and quadruple jump in competition, as well as achieving the status of the first non-Russian girl to win a Grand Prix event for around 20 competitions. They went on to win bronze at the World Junior Championships in March 2020.

This bout of success caused eyes of every American media outlet to be focused on young Alysa. They started deeming her as an American prodigy, the only hope to have an Olympic medal in Ladies' Single Skating at Beijing 2022. This was still two years away from the Winter Olympics, and she was only 14.

The next year, 2021, Alysa underwent a growth spurt, which, obviously, is normal for a 15 year old girl. Because of this, she lost her triple axel and quadruple lutz jumps, causing American media to forget her, or worse, doubt and even berate her. If she can't beat the Russians at the next Olympics, who can? The media gave up hope on her and did not care about the effects of doing so.

Cut to the 2021/2022 season, Alysa's international senior debut. She officially secured the third spot for US ladies at the Olympics, and performed average at her Grand Prix assignments, placing fourth at both. She had to withdraw from US Nationals due to COVID, but still managed to petition for a spot on the 2022 Olympic team thanks to her performance history. Once again, she was America's "only hope" for a spot on that podium.

Overall, she placed 7th, the highest out of the three American female skaters. She claimed she was pleased with her performances, and that she was just happy to be in Beijing. A little over a month later, she won bronze at the 2022 World Championships, being the first American woman to medal since 2016.

Months later, they announced their retirement, and have not (publicly) skated competitively or professionally since.

They also archived all social media.

While other reasons can be argued for this happening, the main one is the pressure put on Alysa at such a young age to be the saving grace of American figure skating.

I know you're wondering, has the media learned and changed?

And as an answer, I will point you in the direction of 18 year old Ilia Malinin, who media has dubbed "heaven-sent for US figure skating", or even tell you to keep an eye on 15 year old Isabeau Levito, "America's new hope".

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Both Sides

The Faith of Our Times

TIMOTHY SNYDER

JUL 21, 2024

Why does American television and press “both-sides” our politics?  Why are such different presidential candidates presented as equally flawed?  Why do the outrages of Trump, for example at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, lead to the humiliation of Biden?

Both-Sidesism is the habit of reducing the world into two perspectives, treating the two as fundamentally alike, and then ignoring or adjusting the data.  One cause of this odd behavior is the ownership of media companies.  Another is fear.   

But Both-Sidesism is not just a practice.  It passes in the United States for a principle of journalism.  Indeed, the dualism is almost unquestionable. Americans tends to take it for granted.

But it makes no sense.  No data from the world around us indicates that two is the correct number of perspectives, nor that any two perspectives, once chosen, would be equal. 

These are, rather, articles of faith.  Once accepted, they enable the public performance we wrongly call “media.”  Both-Sideism does not mediate but mystify.  Its practitioners, called “anchors” or “publishers,” are shamans or priests. Mystifiers.

To be sure, “media” people do not think that they are mystifying.  Nor are we in the habit of seeing them as practicing a religion. 

But let us step back.  Let us consider, for the sake of argument, that Both-Sidesism might be a dualist cult.  Let us place its beliefs and practices in the context of the history of religion, and see what happens.

The number two has helped humans make sense of the world, from distant times to the present.  It has had a powerful sway over human minds. 

The number two can address the mystery of creation.  In Indo-European societies, the universe sometimes began as a coupling of two entities, for example the Earth and the Sky.  Or the first Being could be of two sexes, or twinned.  In several myths, twin gods ride to the rescue of early humans in peril.

Duality can also help humans to frame the problem of evil, as in Manicheanism.  Its founder Mani (enlightened by a spiritual twin) claimed that the universe was divided into darkness and light.  Human action is then understood as struggle between these two forces.

The number two can also help us handle time. The Romans had a two-faced god, Janus, who was in charge of doors, passages, and thus transitions in general, beginnings and endings. He is very much present with us at the beginning of each year; January is named for him.

In Daoism we find something of all of the above in the notion of yin-yang: dark and light, chthonic and lively, female and male, wet and dry, which constantly join and give way to one another.  Their interaction brings the world into being, and also enables natural and guides human action.

Both-Sidesism is another dualism.  When confronting a phenomenon, for example an election or a party convention, the acolytes of Both Sides perform two steps.  They reduce events to two personalities, then treat them as equal aspects of the two-headed divinity known as Both Sides. 

Again: that there only two sides, and that the two aspects are the same, are unspoken articles of faith.

Once this initial ritual has been performed, the task of the priesthood is to sense disturbances that disrupt the apparent equality of the two aspects of Both Sides. The mythic utterances of the priests of Both Sides – bad journalism -- resolve the cultic tension that appears when a difference between the two aspects emerges. 

Equality is restored in a peculiar way, one that emphasizes the sacred character of the dual god, at the expense of understanding reality.  The priests cannot undo the deeds of one aspect of Both Sides – for example a coup attempt or a call to deport millions.  And if they described it accurately, they would only be deepening the mystical inequality between Both Sides’ two aspects.  They must normalize.

Our Both-Sides priests correct the mystical imbalance with two mantric maneuvers.  The first is to proclaim, groundlessly, that the perpetrator of the crime has learned his lesson, executed a pivot, turned a corner.  The second is to humiliate the other side, the one that did nothing.  And thus the mystical equilibrium between the two aspects of Both Sides is restored. 

This normalization has consequences.  If one of the two aspects of Both Sides seems to have done a great evil, the priests of Both Sides always ritually vituperate the other side.  The price of the restoration of mystical equality is the rehabilitation of the criminal and the degradation of the blameless.   Subscribe

Our media people do not see it this way, of course.  The restoration of the mystical equilibrium of Both Sides brings our priests a pious satisfaction, visible on the red faces of correspondents in Milwaukee this last week.

If pressed, the shamans of Both Sides insists that their dualistic dances are nothing other than correct method to describe the universe.  The cult and its performance is protected from critique by the totemic terms “objectivity” and “balance.” 

All shamans do this: they insist that their dogma must be our reality.   But when we allow the cult of Both Sides to shape our own minds, ethical judgement and factual investigation disappear, and with them any chance for constitutional order and democracy.

Ethical judgement would involve a notion of right and wrong, which the activity of the priests erodes.  The worse the evil of one side, the more artfully it must be forgiven, and the more viciously the other side must be berated.  Believers in the cult of Both Sides experience this as moral action, whereas in fact the performative relativism erodes all morality.

Factual investigation would involve identifying other perspectives which the cult of Both Sides disregards.  It would necessitate separating the two aspects Both Sides from each other and confronting their words with the facts of the world.  To believers in the cult of Both Sides, it is a relief clothed in righteousness never to have to perform such labor.

Earlier dualistic faiths were no more outlandish than our own cult of Both Sides.  Indeed, they had something to say about foundational issues.  The Indo-European, Near Eastern and East Asian beliefs, to which I briefly referred above, generated stories about the world that inspired philosophy and science.  The cult of Both Sides is the dogmatic distraction from the bloody sacrifice of a republic.

Thinking about... is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Subscribe

PS  I want to be clear: this essay concerns the dominant both-sides ritual in the American “media,” and not the work of actual investigative journalists, who follow very different methods, and whose work stands at the basis of what we now about Trump’s ongoing attempt at regime change.  I dedicated Road to Unfreedom to reporters as “the heroes of our time.”  They are.

[scaredexpert]

Ok ok I know it's TV but c'mon

The foster care storyline in 7x5 was good, but in 7x7 and 7x9, so much has happened that is soooooo unrealistic... I know that most of the audience doesn't work full-time in foster care like I do, but omg I can't even take this seriously rn 🤪

[sugas6thtooth]

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[eretzyisrael]

By far, the most effective tool in the demonization of Jews has been the use of Israel and Zionism as a means to hide what would otherwise be recognized as pure ethnic bigotry under the cloak of social justice. Casting Israel as the world’s last settler colonial state allows antisemites to call Jews colonialists. And casting Jews as colonialists has allowed them to call Israel a colonial movement. It has also underlined the idea that Jews are the most villainous sect on the hierarchy of white supremacy.

But by this tail-swallowing logic, the mere existence of Israel constitutes a crime. If Jews are not a real category with a legitimate identity, then why would they ever have a state, given that other people are there, too? And if the state is mired in the original sin of apartheid, how can any Jews support it without upholding white supremacy?

As a PLO political cartoon so neatly illustrates, the Palestinian national movement has not been slow to capitalize on the opportunity to conflate Jews with whites and Palestinians with American Blacks: An American police officer kneeling on the neck of an African American man is joined by an Israeli soldier kneeling on the neck of a Palestinian.

This paradox is resolved by a narrative of control. “Three hundred Zionists” (by Ye’s reckoning) run Hollywood, media, and finance to keep the gentiles in thrall. And through its silence, its endless attacks on Israel, its complicity in demonizing Israel and treating the word “Zionism” as an epithet, the media not only accepts but advances this heinous narrative.

Blaming the normalization of antisemitism on Elon Musk or on the internet’s “dangerous” tolerance of unregulated speech shifts attention from the way many Jews are regularly treated by the media, their neighbors, their college classmates, and law enforcement. As calls now come from the ADL and establishment figures that Jews should trust them to censor the problem away—that our very lives depend on it!—Jews understand that the real problem has been censored all along.

[factoidfactory]

Random Fact #6,468

When talking about school shootings in the US, first-world media often says that "the US has more school shootings than any first-world country" implying that third-world countries are rife with school shootings.

Between January 2009 to May 2018 you know what the highest number of school shootings in a third-world country (Mexico) was?

8.

You know what the US number of school shootings in the same timeframe was?

288.

The 19 countries with the highest number of school shootings are almost evenly split between first-world countries and third-world countries, with the first-world countries actually being the higher number of countries.

[mask131]

I think I posted about this before, but since people have been talking about "Blood of Zeus" this whole subject is being thrown back at me again...

What is it with American media and its obsession with having the Greek gods die?

Because that's this sort of big trend everywhere, from Blood of Zeus to Wonder Woman, it is always about how turns out the Greek gods can die and they do so on a regular basis? And... I mean why are they so adamant and insistant about this?

Don't get me wrong, I do understand the whole "death of the old gods" trope and "American Gods" is one of my favorite novels (or "Small Gods" to take a more fantasy example). But I am not speaking about works that explore the idea that gods fade out with their worship. I am speaking about these specific works that just always introduce the idea that "Oh yeah gods are not immortal, they're just hard to kill" or "Oh yeah turns out there IS a weapon that can kill the gods, it just never came up until now".

Because... that reflects already how people today do not get Greek mythology. Greek mythology is NOT Norse mythology, for example. Norse mythology DOES have mortal gods. Gods that not only are wounded - like the Greek gods - or poisoned - like the Egyptian gods - but who also have to be faced with mortality, with aging, with the eventual end of all things... The entire idea of the "death of the gods" is woven in Norse beliefs and in the depiction of Scandinavian gods. It is a key part of this mythology - to the point when the gods DID find an entity that seemingly would not die despite all of their efforts, they FREAKED OUT.

And then... You have Greek mythology. Where the gods do not age, are immortal, cannot die, do not know in the slightest what mortality is (or rather do not know it on a personal level). There is no "death of the gods" in Greek mythology, and this explains a lot about the gods' behavor and depiction. It is precisely BECAUSE the gods are immortal and endless that they must get VERY inventive to deal with each other (from the "vore technique" to the castration passing by all sorts of chaining, imprisonment and enslavment). It also explains why they have such bizarre love-hate relationships with each other, precisely because they are stuck with each other for ever, and thus they can't have the same relationships mortal beings such as us human can have with each other.

This is integral to understanding how the Greeks conceived the gods, and how the myths worked - and not only that but is part of the spice of Greek mythology retellings, because to have characters that cannot die is a narrative challenge in itself that encourages us to work our imagination! And yet... Everytime American media just treats them as super-heroes (it doesn't help that I used "Wonder Woman" as an example) and has them be killed as if it was, you know, NORMAL? Sometimes there's not even a really big deal made out of it and... It kind of saddens me. I guess it is just the easiest way to go the "let's be edgy mode, let's killt he immortal!". Except it isn't even a big stuff like how God of War had "Let's kill the gods!", at least it made a point of it being WORLD CHANGING you know?

And against that you have so many works that treat the killing of Greek gods as just... something normal, you know? It is even worse when there are crossovers between Norse and Greek mythologies because they do not make any effort at reconciling these opposite deities.

All these medias I am refering to were PERFECT for Norse mythology - they were DESIGNED for Norse gods. Because the Norse gods are so much closer to your American super-heroes than the Greek gods, because the Norse gods are precisely about dealing with death on a regular basis, and Americans' recent love for Norse gods in media does prove the point there is something that echoes Americans' fictional expectations in ancient Scandinavia. And yet... every time it is about the Greek gods.

Is it really so hard to commit yourself to writing something about immortal gods that are ACTUALLY immortal? That's like the worldbuilding basis number 1 in Greek mythology... Anyway, that was just my cranky old man rant.

[felinecryptid]

i feel like whatever American media is doing with south asian females leads is just atrocious, especially about romance

ive yet to see a desi teen girl deal with romantic feelings in a way thats not 'oh fuck i wanna sleep w him but im such a loser and my mom is such a prude'

the fuck kinda message does that send? 'the only kind of love is the one given by boys, the one that leads to sex and babies'

there's always misunderstanding with the moms (its infuriating ik, my mom is the same but you gotta try to understand, they're not out to get us)

no good relationship with their dads as well he either dead or wants to marry his daughter off to a random dude

and why is she always full of prejudice like calm tf down just cuz your father died doesn't mean you should become a fucking n*zi

all she wants is popularity yet she puts down these 'posers' and 'wannabes' all the fucking time

and her arc is always about sex, whyyy, why does the white teen there get a narrative about accepting the loss of innocence childhood and a full coming out story with a lesson about keeping loved ones close but this girl here is fixed by sex

maybe if it was some metaphor expressed through sex id be more forgiving but its always about boys and popularity and sex and marriage, its bollywood by a different name

its always a name which is technically desi but not a real one, white washed and easy or just outright white

and ive not seen one queer desi person in american media, its not like we don't exist like what the fuckk

and then people ask 'why do you like k dramas and indie alt books' bc there's nothing that isn't mindless buzzing about how the older generations perceive us, give us inclusive media and we'll appreciate our culture more, how do i exist in a community which does not perceive me, how do i find a place for myself when most of us are expected to conform in a way which has become irrelevant, not just to me, not just to my age, not just to my gender but to the entire world, how do i love myself for who i am, when you tell me to be what others expect me to be????

im done.