Thinking about Charlton's Theory of Mass Media

One would think that as a former journalism student, I'd have an easier time understanding what Bruce Charlton means here:

But at a more proximate level; the way the Left works can be seen by the one-and-only example of an institution which has actually grown in power, wealth, effectiveness and efficiency over the past three decades: the modern Mass Media.  

I have argued that the modern Mass Media is in fact the centre of Leftism and the central power in modern society - the Mass Media is the primary social system; and dominates all other social systems.  

And the modern Mass Media has zero social function - it is overwhelmingly destructive in its net effect - it destroys cohesion, it destroys all other social systems, it encourages a psychological state and social mechanisms which are intrinsically and open-endedly anti-functional. 

I certainly agree with that last paragraph but I'm having trouble marrying the whole of the Left to the whole of mass media. Charlton doesn't tag his posts, so I'm just going to have to stay tuned.

I do think that it has something to do with the idea I've been trying to articulate that leftism is the degenerative force of democracy and is intrinsic to democracy. Democracy, in theory and practice, is about mobilizing and amassing the desires of individuals. This, in itself, is a weakness that encourages selfish, anti-social political action. Democracy, in its demand for constant activity, will push until it has universal suffrage.

The left is the democratic force that stokes political individualism--that is, selfishness. It accomplishes this by framing issues as win-lose scenarios and pits groups of individuals against one another. As universal suffrage is achieved, it's necessary to create further divisions among society.

What we've seen in the past half-century is a relentless shaving of the majority bloc into tiny, single-issue blocs. These smaller blocs are amassed into a mob agitating against the majority. The advocate for slavery reparations has little in common with the feminist--except for their enemy, the average American.

I don't have it all worked out but the mass media is an integral part of the equation. The hottest issues--gay marriage, trans rights--are about increasingly small slivers of the population, but the introduction of each new issue equals another handful of voices shouting in the mob. The momentum grows stronger, even as there is less and less resistance.

I'll be thinking about it. And don't think that my distributist eye didn't catch the "mass" in "mass media."