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Journalism Shouldn’t Have to Save Every Last One of Us
It shouldn’t take reporters and Kickstarter campaigns to rescue ordinary Americans from the ravages of unchecked corporate greed
In modern America, everyone is a charity cause for 15 minutes. If you’ve spent any time online these days — and judging by the state of things, you’ve probably spent most of your time here — you’ve been asked to donate to a Kickstarter or a GoFundMe to help pay medical bills for a family member or a friend of a friend who is either sick or dying. This is an inevitable, and deeply depressing, side effect of Americans not having access to universal health care, among other basic entitlements. Rampant corruption and governmental neglect have conspired to force every American with inadequate coverage, and other financially crippling woes, to delve into the world of digital panhandling.
But that’s been the case for a while now. There’s a hot NEW way of crowdsourcing that all the cool kids who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt are doing now. It involves hoping that journalists notice how shabbily the healthcare system is treating you, hoping that other people then notice that journalism, and then hoping that the healthcare entity in question then notices that those other people have noticed, and then un-fucks…
