Playlist for Show: Long Waves

The show opens with a discussion of the Zika virus scare. Lifted out of all context, a virus known to medicine since the 1950s, has raised a panic because of the supposed link with microcephaly.  However, numerous doctors and agencies are unconvinced of the connection. Yet this scare is a big deal, covered on all the media because it is precisely the sort of hysterical scare story that gets ratings. The water poisoning in Flint was also a big deal, but the true big deal is that the water of millions of Americans is unhealthy. But this is not a big deal for the media. To make it important, the media would first have to perform some real reporting, then tell a complicated story, then admit that the reasons it can’t be fixed are structural reasons that finally lead back to the neglect of the national infrastructure. That would be a hard story to tell in 2.5 minutes. So they won’t tell it.

Similar problems in telling complex stories in imbecilic media forms are discussed including the economy and the myriad wars of convenience waged by the government.

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