GEN-WE Blog

Thankfully, the brainwashing being practiced by the news and entertainment conglomerates is neither foolproof nor complete. The members of Generation We themselves are acutely aware of the effects their destructive media environment is having on them and their peers. In our focus groups, they spoke a lot about their dissatisfaction with the media—about the trivialization of news, the pro-corporate and pro-government slant of most media, and the sense that vital information is being withheld, distorted, or buried in an avalanche of irrelevant details. Generation We loves the Internet, and the power it brings to tap into myriad sources of information. But they also wonder, “How are we supposed to sort out what’s true from what’s false?” Many are searching for answers.

Some people might feel that the erosion of human rights and the corruption of the communications media by pro-government and pro-corporate interests are less significant problems for the average person than the environmental, health, and economic challenges we’ve described. “After all,” they may say, “I’m not a journalist, a political activist, or a human rights lawyer. So issues like Constitutional rights and media freedom don’t directly concern me.”

This may be true. Yet in a broader sense, our diminishing liberties may be the most serious of all the problems the Millennials face. After all, finding solutions to all the other issues we are struggling with depends on the existence of the freedoms we take for granted—freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and petition for redress of grievances, freedom to demand the truth from our elected officials, and so on. If we allow corporate interests to completely take over our government and our news media, how will the needs of average Americans even get a hearing on Capitol Hill or on the TV news?  How will dissenters get their voices heard by their fellow citizens?  How will candidates who advocate genuine change have a chance to win power at the polls?

You may be tempted to think that abstract principles like human rights and freedom of the press are “none of your business.” In truth, they’re the business of every citizen—which is why our ancestors fought and died to defend those rights. Generation We must treat thischallenge as seriously as our Founders did.