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Comment by c3o | Hacker News Reader

"When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth." – Steve Jobs in WIRED magazine, February 1996

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Statements like this are a result of our innate desire for everything to be black and white. Unfortunately, that's not the way things work. While the news networks are indeed in the business of providing what people want, they also have a hand in shaping their audience's desires.

To lay the blame of crappy news solely at the feet of the audience is about as short sighted as the conspiracy notion IMHO.

>While the news networks are indeed in the business of providing what people want, they also have a hand in shaping their audience's desires.

Yeah. It's a classic feedback loop. Surely this is obvious?

If your definition of "obvious" is a feedback loop, then you clearly have a very sophisticated, very select group of acquaintances. To many people I know, this concept is far from obvious.

>very sophisticated, very select group of acquaintances

I meant in the context of HN. That's a beautiful way to describe this place :)

I don't disagree. While Americans never come across as remotely curious about global affairs for the most part, not unless it directly involves them, perhaps it is because they have just never been exposed to a globally focused media.

I personally despise this stereotype of Americans. There may be more than a bit of truth to it, but I hate it. I try to represent the opposite, and those that I choose to associate with do as well. I also try to represent the best of what "being an American" can be.

An unfortunate stereotype; but it's also accurate.

It's also accurate for most of the world, period. Very few people actually care what is going on outside their sphere of influence.

I think the reason such thinking is particularly and unfairly associated with Americans is because your media agencies tend to be the biggest, the loudest and the most partisan. Plus America is a damn big place, so it is noticeable when many millions of people aren't interested in something...

I often think that those dumping general criticism like this on the US should take a careful look at their own country first, and see if their criticism is even more general than they are making it :)

The United States and it's citizens are stuck on black & white (right and wrong etc), we always have been. You want a real grey area? Try Russia where bribes and laws are close cousins. The problem with B&W is it leaves no room for the most logical explanation for most apparent conspiracies.

I encourage you to see the documentary "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media".

The whole thing is on Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730...

(Better yet, read Chomsky's book on which the documentary is based, "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media".)

That describes my experience perfectly!

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