Though these old Bloom County comics mocking media excesses were (and still are) hilarious, in retrospect I have to wonder if they helped contribute to today’s misinformation epidemic by promoting distrust in mainstream media. For all their very real flaws, most mainstream media institutions are still far, far more reliable sources of information than things posted by random people (whether it be a celebrity, a “doctor” with no real credentials or your cousin’s friend) on social media, and yet, as comments on this very website prove, many people are happy to declare all mainstream media as hopelessly biased or “fake news”. Likewise, jokes about how all politicians are hopelessly corrupt and useless may have helped lead to people voting for a crude, bigoted and clearly unqualified former reality show host as president since they were convinced he couldn’t be any worse than those already in charge (of course he proved over and over that he could in fact be much worse, but now his supporters are too committed to admit that).
Though these old Bloom County comics mocking media excesses were (and still are) hilarious, in retrospect I have to wonder if they helped contribute to today’s misinformation epidemic by promoting distrust in mainstream media. For all their very real flaws, most mainstream media institutions are still far, far more reliable sources of information than things posted by random people (whether it be a celebrity, a “doctor” with no real credentials or your cousin’s friend) on social media, and yet, as comments on this very website prove, many people are happy to declare all mainstream media as hopelessly biased or “fake news”. Likewise, jokes about how all politicians are hopelessly corrupt and useless may have helped lead to people voting for a crude, bigoted and clearly unqualified former reality show host as president since they were convinced he couldn’t be any worse than those already in charge (of course he proved over and over that he could in fact be much worse, but now his supporters are too committed to admit that).