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NEW at least, it was in January 2003....
The babbling brilliance heard around
bubblers and at barstools...
It's time to bring up something
that's been bothering free-thinkers, and thinking people of all ages,
sizes, and beliefs.. the Media owns us. We who live in the year 2003
cannot think on our own, apparently, without the help of Barbara Walters,
Rush Limbaugh, and The Osbournes. How do I know this? CNN told me
so.
I have a hard time having a single
discussion with anyone regarding politics. It's not that I'm opinionated...(HA!)...
it's just that I keep finding that other people let me know what "they
heard" instead of what they know. It's hard to take in a news
story for less than a minute and expect to believe that you have been
completely apprised of any candidates beliefs, voting history or morale
ineptitude. But what do I know, I'm one of those morons who sits down
at a candidates website, or at an open forum, and listens to the questions
and responses so that I can form my own opinion. Wait, an opinion?
The media certainly can't believe one of these can be held by us commonfolk.
Our news system is set up for the
Comic Book reading generation. There are lots of pretty pictures,
a pretty girl, and a dapper older man. A weatherman must provide comic
relief from those nasty stories about war, and diseases. Each story
must be told in its entirety in less than a minute. And, at any given
moment, corporate sponsorship should present itself.
Each story we are given on the
national news must be the most important thing we have heard for that
day, and must be told by a sincerely deep an dwell dignified person.
From Canada. If it's told this way, then we must have the complete
story.
We all know it's bull. For the last 18
months the United States economy has been diving deep into the land
of Cousteau. Our medical systems are folding under the top heavy weight
of HMO Administrators, and Insurance Company Malpractice insurance
lawsuits. Teachers and nurses are in high demand, and the educational
institutions are still pushing for high tech degrees. (Why?
Because the news keeps putting out these statistical numbers that
high -tech jobs are on the rise. Does anyone know who they've asked
about this?) The Media has let us know for the last year that our
only priorities should be the war efforts, and our new found disdain
for all things Korean. I had no idea that I was required to be a bigot
to be a good american, so it's good thing that CBS news let me know.
The point is, there is no way to
get any news from the television, nor is there a way to get a scrap
of news from these radio talk show talk-jocks. They let you know their
own opinions, allow you to call in, and berate you for thinking any
differently then they do. The liberal calls you a republican. The
right winger calls you a liberal. I havfe no idea what Dr. Laura calls
people, I couldn't get past ten minutes of her show without laughing
at the hypocrisy of it all.
But the media lets us know what
to where. If we don't the Joan Rivers will berate us. The media tells
us what music we like. If we like something different, we shouldn't
expect to see it on MTV. If we start to enjoy a television show, we
should expect it to be cancelled because it's not meeting the right
demographic numbers, or pulling an audience away from Friends. Oh,and
lest we forget, we are required to know all of the members of the
700 Club by name so that when they run for elected offices, we can
decide to go with god.
During the last year, I was stymied
on dozens of occassions at the lack of information coming from the
newsdesks of the American Press Corps on television. I was far more
informed by watching international news sources. It used to be that
you'd get a complete story from sources such as the New York Times,
or even the local daily printed news. But even now, that seems to
be gone the way of the advertisers first. It's as if the reporters
of today are no longer interested in questioning anyone's motives.
They accept press releases as gospel, spit them out, and then go to
the subscription newsfeed provided by CNN.
Why
don't these people question our president's motives? Why do these
people spend more time debating the rights of free speech for a senator
than the right of truth for the readers of their stories? Why? It's
easy, the World NewsWeekly sold more copies than the New York Times
last year. More people bought copies of the National Enquirer than
Newsweek for three of four quarters last year. Will we ever lose that
Jon Benet story? Of course not, she wasn't an african-american little
girl..she was rich..like those soap opera people. Why can't we get
a news story anymore?
We don't spend money on it anymore.
Imagine that. If we started putting cash into Utne, The Nation, or
other readers of our choosing, we may see a change. Suddenly it will
be a smart cash flow move to put time and money into investigave journalism.
In the meantime, we have the internet. Drudgery aside, it's the only
way to at least get part of the answers to the questions we have.
I was about to go read Newsweek, but I'm really not ready to hear
about Britney Spears new year's resolutions. Are you?
Next time... let's chat about the religions,
shall we??
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