Nobody buys American?

Before it recedes too far into the rear-view mirror of history, it is worth noting some of the more revealing prejudices exposed during the auto "bailout" debate. My favorite, heard from countless talking heads on the news networks: nobody wants or buys American vehicles.

Now, of course, we know that this is patently untrue. The data clearly shows what everybody in the car business knows: GM, Ford and Chrysler still dominate the U.S. market, they just do so to a far lesser extent than they did years ago. It's not even really a close call.

So what's to learn from this? It's just another prime example of how profoundly, radically out of touch the major media outlets are with mainstream America. Just because the producers, directors, copywriters, and talking heads at CNBC (or any other number of countless broadcasts from Manhattan) don't find domestic cars and trucks attractive does NOT mean the rest of the country doesn't, but precious few of them even have sense enough to be aware of their own prejudice. This is disturbing enough, but it's really scary to think about the extensions into every other facet of cultural and political life in America. For a lot of Americans- from Wichita to Walla Walla- these outlets, both broadcast and print, constitute their main base of reference (which is scary enough in and of itself).

As someone who had a "cup of coffee" in that environment, interning at a prominent Manhattan-based political magazine in college, I can tell you that it's NOT a liberal, humanist, urbanist, democratic plot. It is simply human nature at work. Manhattan in general and journalism in particular just happens to be full of urban liberal humanists who vote democratic, most of whom are perfectly decent people. It's just that too often, they forget their own prejudices, and we forget that their circumstances and surroundings prejudice them, as they would anyone.

What we need is something to more constantly remind us of this pernicious effect- either that, or physically relocate the bulk of broadcast media to locales more closely reflective of mainstream America- like, say, Indianapolis.

On the other hand.... maybe we just need the occasional reminder.