It's hard to argue with the point Moore is making here. This is especially true if you are familiar with Chattanooga's newpaper, which has run two editorial pages since The Chattanooga Times (formerly our morning paper) and The Chattanooga Free Press (formerly our afternoon paper) joined forces to become The Chattanooga Times Free Press -- while keeping the two papers' contrasting editorial styles in place. The difference in reading levels between the conservative/right (Free Press) and liberal/left (Times) sides of the editorial page is breathtaking in its breadth.
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"McNews". That's exactly what the news is nowadays. Moore's analysis I believe is spot on, but also incredibly sad. I poked around a bit to see what you meant about Chattanooga's "Free Press" vs. "Times". I glanced at only a couple. "Free Press" gets away with shorter editorials because they don't bother to analyze much. (The one I read was on the EU's protests against the death penalty. Man, did that "editorial" miss the point!)
But it leaves me with a question. I don't understand why the conservative side has to be dumber than the liberal. Aren't there brilliant conservative writers? (I know of Ron Paul.) Or do most of the McNews readers vote/lean right? That leads to other questions: The Reps used to be all about school and education. Where did that go to? Why are the liberals now the ones not dropping out of school? Yeah, OK, so times have really changed since the 60's. I guess I just want to know how it changed in the direction it changed.
In Chattanooga, I don't think we have any brilliant conservative writers. The right side of the paper is consistently dumber than the left side -- the Free Press editorials often leave me with the feeling that I've been reading a 3rd-grade primer rather than a newspaper opinion piece. They are frequently instructional rather than analytical, which doesn't say much for the opinion the writer has for his readers.
As far as the Republicans and education goes, I don't know when the shift occurred, but apparently they decided somewhere along the line that it's easier to get stupid people to blindly follow you (look at the success of Rush Limbaugh!) than it is to persuade smart people to go along, so wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper!) if we just didn't bother with this education business?
I noticed that the Free Press editorials were more about driving a point home, rather than explaining why they want you to get this point.
Have you read the book "Idiot America"? It is about the dumbing down of the nation; I'm trying to find out if it's about more than creationism, because that whole can of worms is just one part of it.
I hadn't heard of Idiot America, but I looked it up and it sounds like I don't have to read it because I'm living it (and reading it in my local newspaper!). Sadly.
Well, I guess I can stick to reading your newspaper, then.
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