How does a certain topic or argument become a full-on controversy throughout the whole country of the United States so quickly? Over the summer there were numerous tragedies that occurred in many predominately African American churches in the south. Many patrons of the church were attacked in some way or another. Because of this and other issues that have arisen a debate was sparked around the country over whether or not it should be illegal to buy or sell the flag of the confederacy. Although it is a step towards a more accepting society, how did the argument become relevant anyway?

While certain African American churchgoers were attacked by those who are extremely prejudice this past summer the media decided to take their own course of action. They choose to focus on another aspect of racial problems in American society. Although the first attacks on predominately African American churches were covered in detail by numerous different media outlets across the country, after the first couple of attacks the media began to change its focus and began discussing the appropriateness of the confederate flag.

Because they switched the focus of their output the media was able to successfully switch the populations focus too. As soon as the different media outlets began to discuss the confederate flag millions across the United States also joined in on the discussion. For the last couple of months different social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and even Tumblr have been saturated with debate about the confederate flag. On these outlets both sides were clashing on the issue. Additionally, the huge controversy about the confederate flag also caused many protests around the country where people fought for the flag to be taken down and for it to stay where it is.

Although it is a positive thing that many citizens of the United States have reached a consensus on how the confederate flag is negative it can also be seen as a distraction from bigger causes.

When thinking about the media it is important to remember that almost every large media outlet has an agenda. These different agendas can be more liberal or conservative in nature. So when multitudes of media outlets across the United States began to focus more on a flag that has lost relevancy long ago instead of several different massacres that were enacted because of prejudices, it is evident that the media is trying to make us ignore a more important topic. They are doing this instead of leading our concern to where it truly should be placed.

The media has become one of the most corrupt aspects of modern America. The hidden agendas behind each television station are dangerous, but what is even more dangerous is that the media has the power to change and affect people’s minds. So next time the media does another distraction, we as a country cannot take it lighly.