For an off-year election, turnout at the polls this week was high. But the lack of a decisive victory for one side or the other portends at least two more years of hyperbolic rhetoric, demonization of our opponents and a lot of partisan loathing.
The one thing we can probably all agree on, though, is that our major news outlets perpetuate this cycle of loathing. When future generations examine our contemporary media to learn about us – who we were, what we cared about, what we aspired to do and to become – they will conclude that ours was an uncivil, corrupt and scandal-ridden society.
Future reviewers of our media may also conclude that we were a society that lived in fear. Our news stories tell us a lot about the threats we face – for example, the danger of terrorism. We know that we need to fight against extremism, violence and oppression of individuals.