Subject changed for clarity. murdoch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > > > What I wanted to add was even a bit more offbeat. I was thinking the > other day of some of the excellent farming-related and rural-related > posts that we sometimes see here and elsewhere. And I was asking > myself why we see relatively little coverage of such matters in major > press-areas. And I think it's in part because city-folks, including > many journalists, have little but city-issues in front of their faces. > So, even though they may want to take some interest in other issues, > they go with the lifestyle and issues that present themselves readily > rather than issues that might make a more well-rounded presentation > and might appeal to a broader range of readers. This is not to say > this can't be changed in part.... just to try to figure out why there > is (in my view) this disconnect where some challenging rural issues > don't seem to get as much 4th estate coverage as I would have thought > they warranted.
In my experience, mass media coverage is about selling advertising space, so the objective is to cover topics with the biggest audience appeal. So long as the majority of consumers are urban, urban topics will win out. Increasingly, I find that urban and suburban dwellers have less and less comprehension of how rural issues affect them. There is some sort of blinders in effect - they think food comes from a store, and seem to have no perception of the industries that hide behind the loading dock of the local grocery store. (In more or less reverse order) Transportation, meat packing, slaughtering, animal husbandry, animal feed, rendering(!), growing crops, food preservation, storage, harvesting, planting, land and facilities preparation, planning, the fisheries, fish farming, etc. It's one of the reasons I grow some food plants for harvest, and encourage others to do the same. It isn't any expectation of becoming self-sufficient, but rather it's the awareness of the seasons, cycles, nature, the environment and our connection to all of that. Plus, a sense of independence, an empathy for our food producers, the opportunity to explore crops that may not be available at the local grocer (especially "heirloom" varieties), and just generally an opportunity to continue learning (goodness knows I still have plenty of that to do), push boundaries, and exposure to a time-cycle other than 9-5, Monday to Friday. I think it's going to take a lot of education before the urban majority sees beyond their chemically-produced lawns, and I don't expect the mass media to be an educational force in this area as much as a market follower. Case in point. A few years ago, I grew some ornamental flowers on the "city" property between mine and the road. Never managed to pick one myself (my plan was to give my wife a bouquet on occasion during the flowering season). Other folks helped themselves. Last year, I planted the same area in beets, carrots and radish (all root crops). Never saw any evidence of any looting of those vegetables. After conversations with my neighbours (one of whom sent city by-law officers to visit me because I had destroyed my lawn), I have concluded that the root vegetables are safe because very few of my neighbours recognize what they are in their natural form (before they are harvested, frozen or canned or bagged and put on store shelves, forms they will recognize). Hmmm, I think I'm going to start a few extra cherry tomato plants this year, just to give away to other folks, to see if I can encourage them to start their own "box" gardens. I'm hoping to get some "failures" from a friend who is getting back into pottery to use as plant pots, so that would make a good combination. Thanks, MM, for triggering the thought. Darryl McMahon Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
