The article below appeared as an editorial in The Chemainus Valley Courier (Jan. 19) and the more I thought about it the more it gave me cause for concern.
https://www.chemainusvalleycourier.ca/opinion/blue-monday-concept-bogus
My initial response was “Thank you Don for encouraging people to open their eyes and their minds. We are fed so much garbage by all forms of media that, as you said in your editorial, people start thinking it must be true because they saw it on/in….. Unfortunately blood still sells.”
However, the more I thought about it I realized that because the focus of modern media is more and more on other people’s pain and suffering something insidious has happened to us.
We have become 21st Century peeping toms, and we encouraged this to happen.
The media may put this pain and suffering in front of us, but we eat it and, because we gorge on it, their readership grows which in turn becomes attractive for subscribers and advertisers.
The media loves it, no need now for quality investigative journalists. All you need is someone to stand there with a camera and recording device.
How sweet is that! Their owners and investors love it.
The onus is now on us to recognize what has happened.
We can’t put the genie back in the bottle but we can actively support media outlets that produce well-researched and balanced articles and editorials.
We need to do this, not just for ourselves, but especially for the children and other members of our communities.
Please click this link for an editorial that should be read by everyone.
Roy Summerhayes,
Chemainus