Is This Really Us?

Issue 141, January 4, 2024

If you just landed on the planet from elsewhere, or you are a student of modern media, you might believe that America is polarized, disappointed, angry, mentally ill, always dancing in front of its mobile phones, and with a chip on its shoulder.

Is this really us? Is this who we are? The issue is whether our actions, beliefs, and values are representative of who’ve always been. Or in the current fractious environment, when societal norms and decorum seem to have taken a backseat to civil discourse, are we changing and showing new colors?

Historians influence how history is interpreted and remembered by how they record it. The media is also recording our history in real-time, and to no one’s surprise, it is also highly biased and opinionated. As individuals, we can be accused as equal participants in this syndrome; we curate our feeds according to the words, images, and voices that we feel “fit” us. We self-select what we want to hear, read, or view. It’s comfor…