“We are living in a time with so much sensory overload and so many stories that in any other year would be the story of the year."
“As a radio host, I interview a lot of different people and hear a lot of different stories, so I’m immersed in 2020 whether I want to be or not. Having been in journalism for almost five decades, what I find not only surprising but sort of otherworldly is the fact that we are living in a time with so much sensory overload and so many stories that in any other year would be the story of the year. There's on average three or four stories a week that normally would be the story of any year. It’s had such a numbing effect, I think, on the American people that they can’t even grasp it.
Let’s take today for example. One of the stories today was that the President of the United States said he would not necessarily accept an orderly transition of power. Well, that's the story of most decades. It might be the story of this decade. But that was just this week. We also have the Breanna Taylor verdict today. And our governor and his wife tested positive for COVID. And the son of the President of the United States is going to be required to testify in what might be a criminal investigation. My point is that we have so much going on that people almost can't process it.
The other thing that has been more striking this year has been the severity of the blue silo, red silo divide. It seems more pronounced this year than ever before in our lifetimes. People are working from entirely different information bases. So there's no debate in the country, at this point, on any kind of meaningful issues because we're not dealing with the same set of facts.
Now, the flip side is that there are many stories of human kindness and resiliency and compassion that happen every day, in every state, in every community and that's the great thing about our country. It goes across lines, it’s not a red thing, it’s not a blue thing. And then you think about the frontline workers. I’ve never had to risk my life to go to work, you know, and these folks are doing it every day. Think about all the acts of heroism, 9/11. There is something about our country that always seemed kind of magical about that, risking ourselves for others, and I don't know that it's unique to us particularly, but that’s still there. That's still there." -- Ray #Missouri
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