It was 1981 and I was a high school freshman when The Kinks released the “Give the People What They Want” album. I bought the album on vinyl and did what most of us did in those days: I went home to put the headphones on and dissect the artwork, perhaps even soak in the lyrics.
The title track is akin to what Don Henley would later infer to be “dirty laundry” and in essence was a sad but realistic commentary on what had happened in the media, specifically in the news. People wanted sensationalism over substance. And advertisers had taken Lester Bangs’ prophecy to new levels that rock and roll was over and by default, so was anything authentic in media when corporate profits became the impetus for the production of information. What Ray Davies was saying in that title track was equally and tragically as prophetic, although not new under the sun at all.
When you give the people what they want, by some sinister default they get what they deserve. Or at least what they are asking for. The question is, what are they asking for? And while most of our best selves would surely claim that what is wanted is the truth and some accountability, is it really?
If you have followed my work with even any waning interest, you have at least on one occasion likely heard me say that the Fourth Estate is our saving grace as a free society. But recently I have considered the notion that some of the reading audience out there expects that my place in that estate is that of an objective reporter. It simply is not so.
Not that I cannot objectively obtain and disseminate facts and information. That is the process by which any authentic approach to information must take. It has always fascinated me what some people will readily accept on “faith” and how those same people will not listen to authenticated information.
And if you are slinging a keyboard, camera, or otherwise for one of the local sources here and you are not upsetting anyone, perhaps it should occur to your harmless ass that you are placating the masses, not informing them.
But the fact is that my stated purpose is to incite rigorous dialogue on matters of consequence and hope that such dialogue brings about change for the better of our community. And if course to put the bastards of the world on notice.
But I digress.
Davies penned another track on that album called “Around the Dial.” He asks what has happened to his favorite DJ and wonders aloud if it was a corporate offense or the like that took the authentic jockey off the air.
Akin to this wondering, I have one of my own. It comes off more as an observation than a pointed question, and in essence it is this: Do you give a shit?
Because I have heard just about all I can take of the hobby writers and sophomoric and ill-informed readers who complain incessantly that the media is not informing them enough or in a fashion satisfactory to their predispositions.
And again, I digress.
Folks, if you are making decisions, any decisions, based on what rating- and profit-generating sources tell you, you are getting what you deserve. If you do not get involved enough to do some research on your own or to engage in the conversation intelligently with credible refutations, perhaps you would appreciate the notion that maybe the problem is not the media but you.
And if you are slinging a keyboard, camera, or otherwise for one of the local sources here and you are not upsetting anyone, perhaps it should occur to your harmless ass that you are placating the masses, not informing them.
And while I’m waxing critical here, I will tell you the mirror is in plain sight and I see myself and my own ineffectiveness at coming even close to my own expressed purpose of inciting dialogue and putting the bastards of the world on notice.
That’s to say that we all need to sharpen our game a little. Those who take seriously the duty of informing and those who take seriously the duty of being informed seem to be passing ships in the night. Meanwhile, a notably corrupt administration, justice court, and mall cop carry on business as usual.
My own predispositions not withstanding, there is a significant and cancerous element woven into the fabric of our institutions of learning. Here locally, one that has found itself under consistent scrutiny is of course Dixie State University, an institution mind you that should embody all that is American and observant of our core tenets as a nation. Sadly, it simply does not. And while I stand in wholehearted agreement with Darren Edwards that the baby stays, the bath water simply must go. To that end, I’d lay odds that most of us agree.
Clearly, we all could stand to improve our game a little.
See you out there.
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