In his June 18 letter, Brian Spinger of Canyon Country scolds The Signal editorial board’s position on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and the accompanying protests. Mr. Spinger also reveals the source of his angst by saying things like, “images … viewed over and over in social and news media,” and, “yet we see report after report on media outlets,” asking if it’s unreasonable for the public, himself included, to become alarmed.
One of the things we were taught in political science class is that the “media,” social, mainstream, or otherwise, is purposefully designed and operated to do just that: to get the public alarmed. Why? Because it gets your attention and it sells. In other words, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Whether the content is complete or factual is debatable, but it gets the job done. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye, Mr. Springer, and you are not privy to all that’s going on, yet you feel justified in casting stones based on images you’ve seen on what I would categorize as digital tabloid, in other words. Ironically, I do not find it unreasonable that the public would still fall for such tactics, which is why they are still used — because they work.
Arthur Saginian
Santa Clarita
