The common thread is not a local community, but a zealous commitment to a particular narrow cause. The media, the arts and entertainment also play a part. Do not take my comments as bashing these enterprises, because indeed I am devoted to them. But there are at least three ways current trends in the media further destabilize our political environment. First, media of all stripes tend to cover the fringes and extremes.
Conflict sells better than process.
Perhaps it has ever been thus, but the pack certainly is fueled by the audio-visua l media, because the written press must be more extreme and sensational simply to compete. Sensationalism has spilled over into the afternoon talk shows, with their rosters of professional victims. Second, the media desensitizes us to violence. Think of the unending litany of murder, rape, and casual beatings that we see every day. We all know the depressing statistic that by the age of 18 the average teenager will have seen 200,000 televised a cts of violence, including 40,000 killings.