In the final Monday pre-dawn moments of every city, you can see the work vans and work trucks turn noisily onto the highway on-ramp of the city’s suburbs and exurbs, ladders rattling over every bump. They’re city-bound, heading toward work in wealthy people’s homes within the suburbs, city businesses and crane-adorned high-rises. If you listen carefully, you can hear the drone of sports radio, country music, or―in full cabins―the compromise “classic rock” music on the construction tradesmen’s radio.
And except for the scent of second-hand marijuana smoke unashamedly lingering along the highway, you would not be remiss in thinking that it’s the same scene as the 1980s or 1990s. But this is a generation of tradesmen who have already undergone a revolution that everyone missed. This is a generation that has been unplugged from the captive media.
And it’s ready to blow.
They don’t subscribe to daily newspapers like their parents did, and they don’t watch network or cable news. Make no mistake, they’re not interested in either because they’re not interested in politics. If they consume any news at all, they get their short-term news from social media because it’s faster and more convenient than broadcast news. And any more in-depth analysis comes from a long-form podcast like the Joe Rogan Experience, not a legacy media newspaper or print magazine….
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Thomas R. Eddlem is a freelance writer published in more than twenty periodicals, holds a master degree in economics from Boston College and is a trade plasterer. He is also Treasurer for the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts.