whats up with fox news

It's not balance though. Having to useless news stations is just a double-barreled shotgun blast of ignorance that a saddening amount of people don't even recognise. It's funny to people that are at least mildly aware but it's harmful to people that aren't and depressing for people that are. I mean, it's not as flagrantly offensive and damaging as outright propaganda but getting news that's more objective than objectionable shouldn't be difficult in the age of the internet and 24-hour news cycles.

I used to feel a lot of concern about it but it's really not a ridiculous problem. People naturally follow. No matter where you look on every level 95% of people and 100% of social groups (ranging from friend circles to global politics) have leaders and power structures. The problem is that with mass media it's on a global scale and the number and diversity of power is concentrating itself but as bad as it can get I ultimately trust the system to work itself out. There will be times in the future where unimaginably terrible people gain immense influence but there will also be times of peace and prosperity. The phrase "history repeats itself" applies not only to mistakes but to successes. As long as free-thought and critical thinking survive in a handful of people humanity can keep going in a positive direction.

In the event that independent thought truly becomes extinguished humanity will just atrophy and die. Look at North Korea. It's probably the most tightly controlled dictatorship in the world and it's one of the worst countries in the world. You might turn to China or Russia as examples of successful dictatorships (my ass they're democratic) but they only gain power when they become more liberal and open and the best area of China is Hong Kong which is essentially the China Town of the English Empire. Societies that don't create new things can only advance when they're surrounded by societies that do. Like i said, killing free thought leads to atrophy and eventually death.

I suppose that was sort of a tangent to media control but it's how I see it. Humanity isn't at any greater risk for what I guess I would call "turning to shit" than it ever was, really. Unification will probably just make the highs higher and the lows lower.