Was talking to my South American friend today about countries that once had stable (legitimate) Democratic elections and now don’t. She remarked: the news media coverage during their transition didn’t look any different than ours. Ie, not any more alarming on the surface.
I had to think about that for a moment, but she’s right. Whatever constituted “mainstream” news media in formerly stable democracies, could be translated into English and wouldn’t look very different day-to-day as long as things weren’t aflame.
It also made me wonder what “alarmed” news media that was truly shaken would look like? Honestly? I couldn’t think it’d look different. There’s still be celebrity news, style pieces, and think pieces. I suppose the newspapers right up to March 1861 would seem same way?
I mentioned my friend’s origin even though she’s an American citizen AND a lawyer because...well. She still thinks underneath all of this, something is breaking...like it’s broken in other countries. We’re not special snowflakes. Maybe it takes an immigrant’s perspective.
The fun coda: her parents are Trump supporters. So...figure that out? It’s not a given perspective just because one is an immigrant either.
