We don't want to be told the truth, we just want to be validated.
I want to be told the truth.
I don't think the media will get better because I think it is tightly controlled. The polarization was no accident. If all of a sudden there was true free market ideology applied to the media I don't think it would work, because Americans are already too divided.
I don't have any faith that all of a sudden we will have a Mainstream Media that operates as an unbiased bastion of truth as opposed to the Fourth Estate. No matter how much money you can make selling ads, controlling people's minds is so much more valuable.
Don't be a baby. Criticizing a position is perfectly aligned with liberal free speech. If you like you could defend the legitimacy of your position instead of hiding behind outrage.
I don't understand what you mean when you say criticizing a position/liberal free speech part...
I'm talking about the silencing of people who don't agree with the mainstream. They might think that God Hates Fags or whatever... but I respect their right to be a assholes. Also I'm talking about the people who go online and use their "outrage" (self-righteous indignation and undeservingly-assumed moral highground) to cause people to lose their jobs, friends, essentially their livelihoods, over their opinions. That is a very slippery slope, and within a few decades you will have a population afraid to make even the most mundane of statements for fear of retribution.
I'm all for criticizing people, and each other over opinions, because it at least creates a dialogue.