Istook’s Insights: The media sinks, and no more playing ‘tag’

How low will America’s news media sink?

Twenty years ago, most of us trusted our mass news media. But now that trust is at its lowest ever. The Gallup Poll says those expressing any trust are down to only four out of 10 Americans.

The biggest slump is among young Americans. Among those ages 18 to 49, just over a third of them (36 percent) believe what news reporters and editors have to say.

Who does trust America’s news media. 55 percent of Democrats tell Gallup that they do. It’s no surprise that liberals would trust their liberal media friends. But 32 percent of Republicans do not, and neither do 33 percent of independents.

With faith in the media dropping for twenty years now, you’d think they might change their ways. Nope. But if a true turnaround happened, now that would be big news.

Elsewhere in the news, why should playing tag be banned?

A school in Washington State has outlawed playing tag. It’s so that no student gets their feelings hurt because they’re slow and get tagged.

There’s a national trend to coddle students so they never feel bad. Instead, they’ll be so fragile that they become dysfunctional.

So that transgenders don’t get their feelings hurt, they get to shower with the opposite biological sex, ignoring their feelings about privacy.

Campus speech codes muzzle students lest they offend a thin-skinned person. The First Amendment is disregarded.

Comedians like Jerry Seinfeld say they don’t perform at colleges because political correctness creates too many taboos.

How about classroom ‘trigger warnings,’ which excuse students who might find a topic uncomfortable. Instead, they can get a day off, like Ferris Bueller.

The result will be a generation of wimps. We’ll have to tell them, “You can’t handle the truth.”