The excerpt from Joel Berg’s “How Hungry Is America” was timely since the USDA had just released the food insecurity figures for 2009, and because the Holiday season is upon us – a time when families come together to feast. Mr. Berg brought to light the media’s coverage of poverty (or lack thereof), with astounding statistics and historical anecdotes. On page 219 Berg states “In the 1960’s the media’s . . .question was “How can a country this wealthy let children go hungry.” By the Reagan era….the implicit question…became “Why are all these undeserving people getting benefits with our tax dollars?” Even though I lived through the 1960’s, I never had the notion put before me so bluntly, but it’s true. I have to wonder how we, as a society allowed this to happen. The divide between the rich and the poor is getting wider every day. It scares me, I don’t know where our country will be in 10 or even 5 years, and I feel weird making that statement because it’s exactly what I heard my parents saying back in the 60’s.
The media drives ‘water cooler chats’ - what’s on our mind. That in turn, affects our attitudes and the decisions that we make. ‘They’ have such power, and I don’t think they ever think about it. We should hold them to a higher standard. But that would require making media outlets non-competitive, non-commercial, and that will never happen, because after all, they control the very people who would have to initiate and manage the change.