the medium is the message

"One mischief was, that if the poor people asked these mock astrologers whether there would be a plague or no, they all agreed in general to answer 'Yes', for that kept up their trade. And had the people not been kept in a fright about that, the wizards would presently have been rendered useless, and their craft had been at an end." daniel defoe. a journal of the plague year_____

marshall mcluhhan was prescient in maintaining that electronic media took the linear progression of information out of the hands of the specialist and exploded it into "all-at-once" where everyone has input ( look at where i am publishing this ) and that the medium becomes the message...that leaves out content, the intent of that content, but not necessarily "mischief"...for the umpteenth time, covid-19 is nothing to be cavalier about...it is here...growing, still arithmetically not exponentially, however expanding...we all need to be cautious and think about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why...that still does not negate the fact that coverage of this is distorted...and that disproportionate coverage is feeding a fear that seems to be distorting rational thought in its own turn...the explosion of "all-at-once" media has allowed me to tour english speaking news and the news is pretty monochromatic wherever i go...

over at the "beeb"...

a rather haggard looking boris is aping trumpy in a mailing about covid-19 to "every british household"...

large swathes of the site are devoted tot he virus and its effects...

and even the sports section is chock full of covid stories ( the diverting circus may be delayed significantly...we are all doomed to reruns )...

the english speaking media in india is in tune with the rest of the "information highway"...

full of stories about the dangers, reassurances about fuel supplies, and the inevitable "economic relief package" stories ( and here, again, we need to have a close look at who is receiving the largest share of "relief" )...

there is media in english in russia...

and it is up to its neck in covid-19 as well...

and it is inescapable here as well...doubtlessly i could find more examples...coals to newcastle...i believe i have mentioned before that some people seem to enjoy being frightened...if not why so many horror/slasher movies over the years? and that may be a contributing factor to the distorted coverage...media sells a product and if people are buying fright the media will try to meet demand...there are other events transpiring in the world...and i have to wonder how many we are missing here...how much misdirection and slight-of-hand is going on...a u s relief bill with 98 sections and what has to amount to thousands of sub-sections covering the disbursement of $2 trillion provides significant room for financial prestidigitation...someone is probably paying attention to that...and trying to tell us...who is listening with all the noise about death and economic destruction? call me paranoid ( wouldn't be the first time...doubtlessly won't be the last ) but i have to think there are a few with significant profit at the public expense as an agenda and, while they are certainly not manufacturing the very real dangers of this outbreak and the expansive coverage those have produced, it makes an excellent smokescreen...when you look closely at something you are, of necessity, looking away from something else...hard to know what's going on "in front of your nose".______________________________________________________________________________addendum: in today's new york times, seventeen of twenty-three articles in the front section were about the virus...every section had at least one article about the virus's impact on sports or arts or travel...and there was a "special section" entitled "the great empty" with photos of deserted public spaces.