I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of waiting for the Hitlerian nightmare that the corporate media promised us was coming back in 2016. Frankly, I'm beginning to suspect that all their apocalyptic pronouncements were just parts of some elaborate cocktease. I mean, here we are, a year and half into the reign of the Trumpian Reich, and, well, where are all the concentration camps, the SS units with their death's head insignia, the Riefenstahlian parades and rallies? Trump hasn't even banned the Democratic Party, or annexed Canada, or invaded Mexico, or made anybody wear color-coded armbands. If he doesn't start Hitlering relatively soon, the oracles of the corporate media are going to have some serious explaining to do.
I don't think I'm overreacting. After all, back in 2016,
The Guardian promised us an "
Age of Darkness," and the end of "civilized order" as we know it. "
Globalization is dead, and white supremacy has triumphed," one of its more hysterical pundits proclaimed. "
Donald Trump is actually a fascist," Michael Kinsley assured us in
The Washington Post. Charles Blow of
The New York Times warned that Trump's election was "the beginning of the end," the descent of the republic into "
racial Orwellianism," whatever that's supposed to mean. Thomas Friedman called it "
a moral 911." Paul Krugman predicted nothing short of "
a global recession with no end in sight." Jonathan Chait, after heroically vowing not to flee the country with his terrified family, but to stay and fight to the bitter end, guaranteed us that the "monster," Trump, would "
shake the republic to its foundations."
Comment: It's encouraging that there seem to be at least some schools that are aware of the problems media devices can cause for children and are taking steps to try to mitigate the issues. The kids at these schools likely don't know how lucky they are that they're avoiding the host of issues overuse of mobile technology would be doing to their growing brains. It's also encouraging to note that taking the phones away was not greeted with hostility from the students - maybe it's not too late for this generation.
See also: