How the Media Makes Me Dumb

I need the media.

We all do.

When a president attacks it, that’s scary.

All of the above is true.

Also true is that the media blunts my intelligence.

Stated another way, the media makes me dumb.

Let’s take a look at how I found out.

Climate

We live in a hyperpolarized country, or so I’m told.

In this version of reality, we have the forward-thinking blue states that care about the environment and the backwards red states that want to return to coal.

To confirm this, I went to Wikipedia.

Per 2022 data, of the ten states that produced the most total electricity using renewable sources, four were red (in the 2024 presidential election).

Of the ten states that had the highest percentage of their electricity coming from renewables, six were red.

But this had to be out of date.

So I found newer data, courtesy Governing.

In 2024, among the five states with the most total power generation from renewables, four were red.

Among the five states with the largest share of electricity generation coming from renewables, again, four were red.

Confused, I decided to switch topics.

DEI

In the same polarized country, I’m told that virtuous blue states promote DEI programs to right past wrongs and create a more just society.

Meanwhile, racist red states eliminate such programs to return to the Jim Crow era.

I went back to Wikipedia.

Of the ten states that have elected the most African Americans to the US House of Representatives, six are red.

I flipped to US News & World Report, where I found that of the 20 medical schools with the highest proportion of Black students, nine are in red states.

Finally, I pulled up data from Black Teacher Collaborative and found that among the ten states with the most Black teachers, six are red.

Still confused, I moved on.

Education

Here, I was sure I would find what I was told I should be looking for—wealthy blue states that value education and poor red ones that do not.

I went back to US News & World Report and pulled up the 2025 ranking of the top public colleges and universities.

Of the top 20, nine were in red states. Of the 11 in blue states, six were in just one—California.

Perturbed, I was left asking a few questions of the media:

Are we really polarized?

Or do you just want us to be polarized?

Do you even try to understand the country outside your coastal echo chamber?

Can you not see why trust in you has waned?

Do I have too much time on my hands?