After reading yet another article about the current political situation in the U.S., I have come to suspect that the news media is just using gay rights to generate site traffic and attention. I really dislike how the media jumps on anything lgbt just to provoke controversy and claim that they understand. This whole thing plays directly into politics. The fact that politicians on either side just vote for whatever their party votes for also sickens me. The conservatives all refuse to vote in favor of anything liberal regardless of their personal views out of a selfish fear of losing popularity, and vice versa. In fact, I might be more upset that a liberal downright lied about their stance on gay rights just to get appeal from voters. Politicians are just toys of the masses with large egos and questionable intentions. It seems that the media and politicians in our government represent the people in the wrong way, or lack a good personal moral compass and fear outcry or retaliation from the masses, conservative or liberal. Social media spats on sites like Twitter (so beloved by the news media) are just as maddening. I'm just disappointed with the current state of our country.
I can completely and wholeheartedly agree. The "news" is a fear campaign. It all is. Buy this toothpaste or she won't kiss you, buy these clothes or you'll be ugly, smoke these cigarettes or nobody will like you. "Politics" are a game. Its liberal vs conservative. Dividing our nation into two rival factions. The deal with LGBT is very much attention whoring. Conservative or not, a lot of people are just uncomfortable with us, but make us feel accepted by pretending to care. How many of these politicians and news sites shed a tear when a queer kid kills themselves? None. We, the LGBT community, have to fight for this. We can sit back while they pretend to care, but think of us as freaks, or if they outright hate us. We are LGBT+ people and we deserve the rights and love everyone else gets.
Don't let this negativity just sit there. Consume different news and contribute to causes you feel are valuable. Advocate, consume media of a quality you deem sufficient and encourage those around you to do so, too. Do original research on issues particularly close to you and do what you can to pressure organisations and individuals to see your point of view, preferably with others behind you. Whatever you do, you just need to participate. If you see a problem, don't just watch from the sidelines and bemoan it.
The audacity of this response is really incredible. Now what, exactly, can I possibly do to change the way the media works? And how can I possibly ignore mass media? What have YOU personally done about this? It's not like I can really do shit without attracting an undesirable amount of attention. I'm no activist, I'm just a guy dealing with life like everyone else, sexuality aside. I may be cynical, but I'm also being fairly realistic. I realize that you may not have considered I would be offended by your comment, but all the same I don't agree.
I do community radio, I petition, I take part in protests. Above all, I make a conscious decision to consume what isn't problematic, trashy or otherwise of a low quality to the best extent I can. Contributions don't have to involve taking over News Corp by storm. They're little and they're on an individual level for most people, but they are considered and amount to a lot when many individuals and small groups take those active choices. That is not audacious. I was not making an accusation. I am simply suggesting that the best method to begin to address this quite valid concern is to take what you can into your own hands and make changes within your own circles and personal life.
Yeah politics are politics, but I enjoy the fact that we're actually making some political headway, and that finally we actually have at least some power to make things move forward.
It's true that a lot of news is built on controversy to gain more money. I'm not so jaded about it, but then again I don't follow news and politics as deeply as I'm sure other people do.
