Good journalism doesn't mean a cynical worldview
You see it so often you're numb from it. A newspaper article, editorial, column with a cynical worldview. A TV
news story that ends with something to the tune of, "And who pays for it? We all do." "And who gets screwed? We
do." "And who ..." Some journalists make a living with doomsday journalism.
These are the people who told
you that the Iraq War would mean hundreds of thousands of dead. The same far-left journalists who said we shouldn't
go to war because Saddam would use his poisonous gases on the entire Middle East are now kvetching that we
didn't find any gases (yet). The same far-right journalists who insisted that Bill Clinton was a hippy who would
disband the US military and have UN soldiers defending America demonized the man who ended America's welfare
state.
They're on TV, too. In Israel, there are a few doomsday television shows. On Israel's Channel 10 is a show
hosted by an experienced journalist/editor who's worldview is that Israel is breaking apart. His stories tell of breaks in
our society. With nor hesitation nor humility he tells everyone who will listen that we won't last another 10-20 years.
The idea is simple - you don't control your life and all of the trends we'll show you are negative.
But it ain't true! The US and Israel - the two countries I've lived in - have never been stronger. The US economy,
despite outsourcing, is the most powerful beast the world has seen. Israelis have never had so many opportunities and
successes within Israel and overseas - sports, science, business, writers are but a few areas where Israelis are making their
mark.
Easy to be a cynic. Hard to build or create something. When we were kids (the 80's), they told us that Japan
was smashing American ingenuity. Americans were inventing things and the Japanese were mass-marketing them (and
therefore making the $$$ off of our ideas!). Then came the 90's - Japan's economy entered a 10 year+ recession.
Japan had a minor role in a tech bubble of the 90's.
When the economies of the US and Israel are back on top again, remind your local doomsday journalist
that things're better than ever and weren't so bad before.
Kenny Sahr
