TOMORROW
(Saturday), while I’m enjoying my morning coffee, I’m going to spend some time
cleansing my consciousness of the chaotic end-stage of the US presidential
campaign. That means unsubscribing and unfollowing the multitude of pundits,
self-styled news sites, and “citizen journalists” that presently clog my
YouTube and Substack feeds, and marking “not interested” on all the others that
appear as an annoying (though to be fair, a completely understandable) result
of the algorithms’ calculations.
That makes
it sound as though algorithms are somehow sentient, but they’re not. They’re complex
math equations; complex enough that many people do form the impression that the
algorithms are somehow “thinking,” which is how we end up with overwrought
nonsense like AI. But I digress.
The
functional reason I am separating myself from any online discussion of the
election campaign is that I have nothing more to gain from it. I’ve already
voted, so I do not need information to help me make up my mind. I am also
fairly confident that I know what the result will be, but it is irrelevant for
me to even form an opinion about that now, ahead of the actual result – it will
be whatever it is going to be. It is certainly even more irrelevant for me to
fill my mental bandwidth with others’ opinions about what the result will be.
To be clear,
I am not criticizing anyone who’s made it their job to provide online therapy
for anyone struggling with the uncertainty of the outcome and its implications
for the future. It’s a good business, apparently; I am not currently (but not
after tomorrow) following anyone who does not have an audience number in at
least the tens of thousands, and most have subscriber numbers in the six or
seven digits. Make no mistake, though, dealing out generous portions of copium
is all it is; if you’re one of the creators of this kind of content, do yourself
a favor and disabuse yourself of the notion that you’re somehow offering
information for the enlightenment of the undecided. That’s not how this
planet-sized public access channel we call the internet works, and you know it.
Not that
there’s anything wrong with preaching to the choir; it’s not how I approach my
own work, but you do you. Pick your own row and hoe it. I know plenty of
opinion writers in my archaic business who do it, too, and they seem happy
enough with it.
Like I said,
I think I know what’s going to happen with the election, and I do not feel it
useful or necessary to tell anyone what I think. Once I mute the noise I have
no real use for, I will be able to wait placidly for the result. What comes
after...well, that’s after.
I can tell
you what’s not going to happen, however. The ‘mainstream media’ (as in, the
business I’m in) is not going to change. No matter who wins – the left who
derides it as “the corporate media” or the right who sneers at it as “fake news”
– there is not going to be any great reckoning of the media from the outside,
or much self-reflection from the inside. I hate to break it to you, but your
anxiety is our currency. And yes, you are right in your assumptions that we are
just as flawed and biased as anyone else – we are, after all, just people – but
we win either way. Do you really think Fox News is going to go out of business
if Trump and the Republicans get crushed? Of course not. And MSNBC will still
make a fortune if Harris and the Democrats are washed away by a Red Wave.
And don’t
expect the social media to somehow “improve,” either, no matter what you
imagine that improvement might be. In fact, it will probably get worse, and the
reason it will is that no one, no matter what their place on the Big Spectrum
of Thoughts and Feelings may be, actually wants to put that genie back in the
bottle. Our civilization would literally collapse if we did. Personally, I’d be
okay with that; but I also drink from a coffee cup that says “NOT A PEOPLE
PERSON” on the side of it, so my perspective on this subject may be atypical.
If you find
all of this very discouraging, all I can offer by way of advice is that it
takes a lot of work to be smart. Read, as much as you can. Talk to people, as
many as you can (even if you’re like me, and don’t necessarily want to be
friends with them). Listen. Take notes. Ask questions. Think.
Or don’t. It’s up to you.