Page 1 of 1 pages
Am I alone in thinking that an overload of media is part of what causes ADD/ADHD. How early are we all put in front of the television and how quickly do we become accustomed to its fast cadence of soundbite wisdom, constantly changing camera angles, and 30 second commercial spots. To clarify, I don’t think it is an actual disorder. I think it is a by product of our fast paced society. A society that sells you two often conflicting ideas: sit still, pay attention, do your work, stay in line; as well as look at this, and this, and this, buy this, consume, consume. I actually think if you can’t claim some sort of ADD symptom in this world than there might be something wrong with you (which is why the drug companies are making a killing). Because unless you can constantly shift your attention from one thing to another, you will have a hard time staying afloat in this sea of information. The downside is you are less at ease when taken out of this environment, more comfortable in the turbulent ocean than on seren shores. The author brings up a good point.
Posted by Disseminator on Apr 21, 2005 at 7:41 AM
“The problem of having too much media is where to start when we think about media reform.”
I guess I have a real problem understanding how there could be “too much media”. Doesn’t the First Amendment to the Constitution sort of make that an impossibility? Likewise how do you “reform” it? Sounds like code speak for shutting off voices you don’t want to hear.
Posted by Campesino on Apr 21, 2005 at 9:32 AM
Choices are not “pollution”. Choices are the essence of freedom. It can be a burden to make a complex choice but the only alternative is letting someone else make the choice for you. Public radio/television are the mutant offspring of a great idea (the CPB,created by congress)and the corporate weasels that manipulate the content through economic support and congressional inteference. If you think anything about public radio is courageous, you really need to seek a new media source.
Posted by Rayhorn on Apr 21, 2005 at 4:11 PM
I wouldn’t say there’s too much media.However,there is too much propaganda.Bring back the Fairness Doctrine and much of this media overload might disappear.Also,hold TV news to the accuracy standards that print media is required to follow,or have them display disclaimers that the program is strictly opinion,not fact.That,of course,would probably decimate Fox News.Then again,pro-wrestling describes itself as entertainment and people still think it’s real,so maybe a Fox Opinion Channel might still flourish.Besides,most right-wingers can’t tell the difference between fact and opinion anyway.
In the mean time,if it’s crap TV,turn it off.Having been a Nielsen viewer,albeit for a week,I realized that the networks do pay attention to what we watch.So do corporate sponsors.
The First Amendment doesn’t neccessarily suffer because of regulation.It does suffer when one political view can drown out the other.i’ve noticed Campesino’s sudden distress that the right may not keep it’s near stranglehold on the news.Funny how the right only complains about losing freedom of speech when it voice could face competition.
Posted by wwoods on Apr 22, 2005 at 6:52 AM
“Media Reform”, it is a buzz phrase for censorship. The progressive left tries ever so carefully to walk along the edge of a razor blade in their desire to silence the voice of dissent while at the same time flying the banner of free speech.
Conservatives for decades lived with a liberal press and accepted the fact our message would not be justly delivered to the majority of Americans. Before talk radio, Fox News and the internet we didn’t need reform because the only source for news and information came from a press marching in lockstep with the liberal agenda. It wouldn’t matter to the progressive left if just one company owned all the media as long as it progresses their so-called intelligent point of view. Wouldn’t it be great if Michael Moore owned all the MSM. Can’t you just imagine the screams if the government funded a line-up of conservative programming similar to PBS and NPR?
Free speech doesn’t mean it is always free, a point that drives progressives crazy. If you run a press, television network or radio station it requires money to make it work. If a show has a really big audience, advertisers pay really big money, like The Rush Limbaugh Show. If you have a really small audience like Air America, advertisers pay little or pass. Try and get this… big audience = big money (evil to you), small audience = small money (not fair to you). Most Evil Businesses tend to choose the most profitable path. This to you is both stupid and evil.
It’s real easy at the Evil Networks. When a TV show fails to generate audience and income the show is scraped and a new one inserted. No Problem. On the other hand, when people figure out the very liberal news divisions are heavily biased and they quit watching…Big Problem. You can’t just yank it like a TV show. You can’t get a group of liberal news executives, reporters and the like to change stripes. They don’t see a problem because they believe they are mainstream. Besides, how can liberals being of such superior intelligence be wrong? Still each month the audience continues to shrink along with advertising dollars. What do we do??
Start SCREAMING. This is unfair. The Big Evil MSM needs to be reformed. Break them up. The Evil Republicans along with Evil Big Business have hatched a Rovian plan to highjack the airwaves and print media. The majority party in congress is acting like a majority…how dare they be so mean. The GOP has turned everybody into Sheeple.
It’s actually quite simple which is why it hurts so bad. If your message appeals to people they will buy it, vote for it and spread it around. A majority will form and you will be in control. I still believe and support your right to free speech/free screech, even if your goal is to silence mine.
Posted by U Scare Me on Apr 22, 2005 at 7:55 AM
“Courageous” is no longer a word you can apply to National Privatized Radio. As someone who listened to NPR 3-4 hours daily for over 20 years (and who was always, during that time, a member of at least one and sometimes up to three stations), it broke my heart last year when they finally went over to the dark side. I was shocked when they unceremoniously dumped Bob Edwards, thinking at first that it was age-related; however, it became clear with a few short months that it was politically motivated. Mr. Edwards, a fine newsman in the mold of his hero Edward Murrow, would never have gone along with the right-wing retooling that his successors have embraced. I was shocked last summer to hear a report on the “Star Wars” missile defense syste (which should have died a merciful death long ago) featuring comments from a “missile defense expert” from the Heritage Foundation. WHAT??? There was no qualifier whatsoever from the “reporter,” no mention of the overt political agenda of the Heritage Foundation (which also should have died a merciful death long ago); a casual listener would probably have assumed the commentator had some sort of technical knowledge, rather than just a partisan viewpoint to push. As summer edged into fall, and NPR stopped pointing out the overt lies being passed out by the administration seeking election, I found myself passing into disbelief, then outrage; and since last September, I have heard only 5 - 10 seconds per day of NPR (my clock radio is still tuned to Michigan Radio), and even that is enough to make me leap out of bed screaming at least half the time. We cannot have public media unless we are willing to pay for it; the right-wing has been very successful in the past 20 years at yanking funding from our public media until our actual public contribution is almost negligible. They have successfully pushed these institutions into the arms of private corporate sponsors, so that they have become no more conscious of any obligation to the public than NBC or CNN. It does make it difficult and time-consuming to gather information; it is tempting to visit only the internet sites that promulgate your particular view of the world, because it takes a lot of effort otherwise to sift through all of the stories available, in order to try to make an informed decision. “It’s hard work,” as a certain public figure likes to say. An awfully lot of people think it’s too hard, and don’t bother. Ignorance leads to apathy; and apathy is helping drag our country down into economic, intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy.
(PS - my local PBS station DOES NOT carry Independent Lens, which recently carried a very fine film called “Sunset Story,” which I saw at a local film festival last year and wanted all my friends to see. Instead, we get reruns of “Lawrence Welk.”)
Posted by Trudi Engelbrecht on Apr 22, 2005 at 9:31 AM
Socialism or Barbarism
The “Media Problem” is not that there is “too much” media. The fundamental problem is that content of all mass media in the US is totally controlled by the needs of US capitalism and the ever more totalitarian US ruling class. I know you may dismiss this as simplistic Marxist rhetoric but it is basically true.
The above is an obvious truism of mass media. But what about NPR and PBS? This is unfortunately just as true here. NPR is focused on trivia for “yuppies”, with unending literary and poetic insights of a society that is disintegrating before our very eyes.
PBS is now better called “Privatized B.S.” with undending corporate advertising for luxury cars and
stock market “shills”. Current affairs and news programs, even with several discussanta, do not offer serious critical thinking or critical dialogue of different points of view. Rather the spectrum of opinion varies between the Wall Street Journal, the American Enterprise Institute, or other right wing think tanks. These are all well-prepared professional propagandists armed with a slick free-market or Ayn Rand-ish “answer” to every to every question. The “alternate” view point is often from some conservative Democrat, usually outnumbered and usually less knowledgeable than the polemically astute right wing pundits.
Culturally, with it’s yuppie audience, PBS is doing everything it can to move attention from topics such as the Project for the New American Century, collapsing US capitalism, increasing impoverishment of the masses (No health insurance, no jobs, 2 million plus in prisons,). Most damning, PBS does not provide any dialogue - no challenge to the BUSH PNAC agenda of ruling the world.
THERE IS NO PROGRAMMING ON PBS (or NPR) THAT GIVES THE LABOR - WORKING CLASS POV. (Again, please excuse the Marxist simplistic short-hand description.)
For the religiously challenged among PBS there is the unending metaphysical babble of Wayne Dwyer. Not a word from a humanistic or atheistic or secular POV. No on-going criticism of BUSH and the treasonous Christian fascists who are trying to over-throw the secular United States for a theocracy!
My favorite of course is still Pacifica Network. But even here the metaphysical babble is drowning out all critical thinking.
The Nation magazine and Move-On are totally dedicated to the preservation of the Democratic Party.
With no mass media dedicated to the economic and survial interests of the american working class it is no wonder the majority of adult americans do not know what is going on. If they do vote it is only for the most demagogic of reasons.
The democratic PROCESS is totally destroyed in this country. (Discussion, dialog, mass media access to all POV, presentation of critical information,
To find more radical critical comment of current affairs, see MONTHLY REVIEW MAGAZINE (excellent independent socialist monthly), INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW, (check web-sites). Check www.commondreams.org for DAILY news and opinion from hundreds of sources around the world. Also check the daily news at www.wsws.org World Socialist Web Site. Also check www.labourstart.org for info on struggles around the world of working people to merely survive against overwhelming and lethal odds.
My own perspective: Towards a sustainable socialist humanist future.
Posted by Jeremy Wells on Apr 22, 2005 at 3:10 PM
Hi Trudy and Jeremy,
Thanks for voicing a lot of my feelings! You saved me a lot of typing.
No there is not too much media, there is too little independent media. There are only about 8 media conglomerates that put out the same story through all their many outlet newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations. And they basically all come from the same place. Corporate driven, talking heads who are using canned ideology to push the bottom line. Fed by think tanks with articles, “expert” speakers, debaters or pundits, The so called liberal pundits have checked their soul at the corporate door along with their courage to do the job of a real reporter. To see this liberal punditry in action check out “The Daily howler” website @:
http://dailyhowler.com/index.shtml
Posted by Merlin on Apr 22, 2005 at 5:26 PM
“I wouldn’t say there’s too much media.However,there is too much propaganda”
My propaganda is your information. Isn’t that just it - shut off YOUR propaganda - listen to MY information.
Posted by Campesino on Apr 23, 2005 at 8:23 PM
“i’ve noticed Campesino’s sudden distress that the right may not keep it’s near stranglehold on the news”
Frankly, no one should have a stranglehold on the news. I don’t think anyone does now and don’t think anyone should. The new media should stay open for all
Posted by Campesino on Apr 23, 2005 at 8:27 PM
Campesino,
My point exactly.However,our media has taken a distinctly sympathetic bend to the right.Look at our news.Has there been nearly as much coverage or criticism of Delay or Cheney or even Bush as there was of Clinton or Elders.Bush led us into war under the pretense that there were WMD in Iraq.By his own admission there weren’t.Where’s the media outrage?Can you imagine if Clinton had done the same thing?Get a rope! Our media is biased-TO THE RIGHT!Our media is not in favor of any political party except the one which helps its corporate sponsors maintain control.In this case it’s the republican party.
Posted by wwoods on Apr 25, 2005 at 6:40 AM
I work for a daily newspaper, so I always enjoy watching any debate over news. To the right-wing nuts, the godless press is a massive liberal conspiracy designed to raise taxes, abolish religion and turn their children gay. To the left-wing nuts, the primary purpose of American journalism is to shill for big companies, start wars and generally undermine democracy.
Self-styled media critics would be wise to remember the Areopagitica. Media saturation or data smog or whatever it is being called is not a problem, it’s a blessing. If you think everything out there sucks—and I’ll concede that much of it does—ignore it. Or better yet, read quality stuff. Can’t find a news organization that advocates your deeply held belief that Osama is an android built by Exxon/Mobile and the CIA? Then start your own. But please, well-intentioned fellow travelers, don’t try to “media reform” on anyone else’s right to publish or broadcast.
Posted by Matt on Apr 29, 2005 at 1:58 PM
I agree whole-heartedly with you, Matt. Much better written than I could have put it.
“Media reform” is code for suppressing speech you don’t like.
Put it all out there and I’ll decide what is dross and what is silver
Posted by Campesino on Apr 29, 2005 at 2:19 PM
see j chilton pearce’s Evolutions End for televison’s devestating effects of growing brains (mostly because inhibits development of imagination due to its union of image and sound thus lulling brain to sleep and inhibing its own image making response) and how this contributes to restlessness violence and effects similar to add…
Posted by wmersy on May 4, 2005 at 3:22 PM
holas lok asme el fabor de pasarme el tema de peloop traje azul por fabor desde que empeso too much que te lo pido la radio esta re buena pero estaria mejor si me pasa el tema naty
Posted by silvana on May 6, 2005 at 10:25 AM
Is that Esperanto?
Posted by Rayhorn on May 6, 2005 at 3:54 PM
No to Rayhorn. That is not esperanto.
Esperanto, like English, has only one word for
the word “the” : la. Esperanto is alive and well
around the world on the internet. Do a search
for esperanto or check out the links from my
web-page at www.infowells.com.
Mi lernas esperanton. (the “n” indicates direct
object.)
Posted by jeremy on May 6, 2005 at 9:10 PM
U scare me, are you completely crazy? Our mainstream media is so right wing it would put Joseph Geobbels to shame? You are a brain-washed right-wing robot moron, and no one is trying to silence you, which is not to say we are not prepared to call you what you are.
Sincerely, a true American.
Posted by Real Patriot on May 8, 2005 at 3:03 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages
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Reader Comments
Am I alone in thinking that an overload of media is part of what causes ADD/ADHD. How early are we all put in front of the television and how quickly do we become accustomed to its fast cadence of soundbite wisdom, constantly changing camera angles, and 30 second commercial spots. To clarify, I don’t think it is an actual disorder. I think it is a by product of our fast paced society. A society that sells you two often conflicting ideas: sit still, pay attention, do your work, stay in line; as well as look at this, and this, and this, buy this, consume, consume. I actually think if you can’t claim some sort of ADD symptom in this world than there might be something wrong with you (which is why the drug companies are making a killing). Because unless you can constantly shift your attention from one thing to another, you will have a hard time staying afloat in this sea of information. The downside is you are less at ease when taken out of this environment, more comfortable in the turbulent ocean than on seren shores. The author brings up a good point.
“The problem of having too much media is where to start when we think about media reform.”
I guess I have a real problem understanding how there could be “too much media”. Doesn’t the First Amendment to the Constitution sort of make that an impossibility? Likewise how do you “reform” it? Sounds like code speak for shutting off voices you don’t want to hear.
Choices are not “pollution”. Choices are the essence of freedom. It can be a burden to make a complex choice but the only alternative is letting someone else make the choice for you. Public radio/television are the mutant offspring of a great idea (the CPB,created by congress)and the corporate weasels that manipulate the content through economic support and congressional inteference. If you think anything about public radio is courageous, you really need to seek a new media source.
I wouldn’t say there’s too much media.However,there is too much propaganda.Bring back the Fairness Doctrine and much of this media overload might disappear.Also,hold TV news to the accuracy standards that print media is required to follow,or have them display disclaimers that the program is strictly opinion,not fact.That,of course,would probably decimate Fox News.Then again,pro-wrestling describes itself as entertainment and people still think it’s real,so maybe a Fox Opinion Channel might still flourish.Besides,most right-wingers can’t tell the difference between fact and opinion anyway.
In the mean time,if it’s crap TV,turn it off.Having been a Nielsen viewer,albeit for a week,I realized that the networks do pay attention to what we watch.So do corporate sponsors.
The First Amendment doesn’t neccessarily suffer because of regulation.It does suffer when one political view can drown out the other.i’ve noticed Campesino’s sudden distress that the right may not keep it’s near stranglehold on the news.Funny how the right only complains about losing freedom of speech when it voice could face competition.
“Media Reform”, it is a buzz phrase for censorship. The progressive left tries ever so carefully to walk along the edge of a razor blade in their desire to silence the voice of dissent while at the same time flying the banner of free speech.
Conservatives for decades lived with a liberal press and accepted the fact our message would not be justly delivered to the majority of Americans. Before talk radio, Fox News and the internet we didn’t need reform because the only source for news and information came from a press marching in lockstep with the liberal agenda. It wouldn’t matter to the progressive left if just one company owned all the media as long as it progresses their so-called intelligent point of view. Wouldn’t it be great if Michael Moore owned all the MSM. Can’t you just imagine the screams if the government funded a line-up of conservative programming similar to PBS and NPR?
Free speech doesn’t mean it is always free, a point that drives progressives crazy. If you run a press, television network or radio station it requires money to make it work. If a show has a really big audience, advertisers pay really big money, like The Rush Limbaugh Show. If you have a really small audience like Air America, advertisers pay little or pass. Try and get this… big audience = big money (evil to you), small audience = small money (not fair to you). Most Evil Businesses tend to choose the most profitable path. This to you is both stupid and evil.
It’s real easy at the Evil Networks. When a TV show fails to generate audience and income the show is scraped and a new one inserted. No Problem. On the other hand, when people figure out the very liberal news divisions are heavily biased and they quit watching…Big Problem. You can’t just yank it like a TV show. You can’t get a group of liberal news executives, reporters and the like to change stripes. They don’t see a problem because they believe they are mainstream. Besides, how can liberals being of such superior intelligence be wrong? Still each month the audience continues to shrink along with advertising dollars. What do we do??
Start SCREAMING. This is unfair. The Big Evil MSM needs to be reformed. Break them up. The Evil Republicans along with Evil Big Business have hatched a Rovian plan to highjack the airwaves and print media. The majority party in congress is acting like a majority…how dare they be so mean. The GOP has turned everybody into Sheeple.
It’s actually quite simple which is why it hurts so bad. If your message appeals to people they will buy it, vote for it and spread it around. A majority will form and you will be in control. I still believe and support your right to free speech/free screech, even if your goal is to silence mine.
“Courageous” is no longer a word you can apply to National Privatized Radio. As someone who listened to NPR 3-4 hours daily for over 20 years (and who was always, during that time, a member of at least one and sometimes up to three stations), it broke my heart last year when they finally went over to the dark side. I was shocked when they unceremoniously dumped Bob Edwards, thinking at first that it was age-related; however, it became clear with a few short months that it was politically motivated. Mr. Edwards, a fine newsman in the mold of his hero Edward Murrow, would never have gone along with the right-wing retooling that his successors have embraced. I was shocked last summer to hear a report on the “Star Wars” missile defense syste (which should have died a merciful death long ago) featuring comments from a “missile defense expert” from the Heritage Foundation. WHAT??? There was no qualifier whatsoever from the “reporter,” no mention of the overt political agenda of the Heritage Foundation (which also should have died a merciful death long ago); a casual listener would probably have assumed the commentator had some sort of technical knowledge, rather than just a partisan viewpoint to push. As summer edged into fall, and NPR stopped pointing out the overt lies being passed out by the administration seeking election, I found myself passing into disbelief, then outrage; and since last September, I have heard only 5 - 10 seconds per day of NPR (my clock radio is still tuned to Michigan Radio), and even that is enough to make me leap out of bed screaming at least half the time. We cannot have public media unless we are willing to pay for it; the right-wing has been very successful in the past 20 years at yanking funding from our public media until our actual public contribution is almost negligible. They have successfully pushed these institutions into the arms of private corporate sponsors, so that they have become no more conscious of any obligation to the public than NBC or CNN. It does make it difficult and time-consuming to gather information; it is tempting to visit only the internet sites that promulgate your particular view of the world, because it takes a lot of effort otherwise to sift through all of the stories available, in order to try to make an informed decision. “It’s hard work,” as a certain public figure likes to say. An awfully lot of people think it’s too hard, and don’t bother. Ignorance leads to apathy; and apathy is helping drag our country down into economic, intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy.
(PS - my local PBS station DOES NOT carry Independent Lens, which recently carried a very fine film called “Sunset Story,” which I saw at a local film festival last year and wanted all my friends to see. Instead, we get reruns of “Lawrence Welk.”)
Socialism or Barbarism
The “Media Problem” is not that there is “too much” media. The fundamental problem is that content of all mass media in the US is totally controlled by the needs of US capitalism and the ever more totalitarian US ruling class. I know you may dismiss this as simplistic Marxist rhetoric but it is basically true.
The above is an obvious truism of mass media. But what about NPR and PBS? This is unfortunately just as true here. NPR is focused on trivia for “yuppies”, with unending literary and poetic insights of a society that is disintegrating before our very eyes.
PBS is now better called “Privatized B.S.” with undending corporate advertising for luxury cars and
stock market “shills”. Current affairs and news programs, even with several discussanta, do not offer serious critical thinking or critical dialogue of different points of view. Rather the spectrum of opinion varies between the Wall Street Journal, the American Enterprise Institute, or other right wing think tanks. These are all well-prepared professional propagandists armed with a slick free-market or Ayn Rand-ish “answer” to every to every question. The “alternate” view point is often from some conservative Democrat, usually outnumbered and usually less knowledgeable than the polemically astute right wing pundits.
Culturally, with it’s yuppie audience, PBS is doing everything it can to move attention from topics such as the Project for the New American Century, collapsing US capitalism, increasing impoverishment of the masses (No health insurance, no jobs, 2 million plus in prisons,). Most damning, PBS does not provide any dialogue - no challenge to the BUSH PNAC agenda of ruling the world.
THERE IS NO PROGRAMMING ON PBS (or NPR) THAT GIVES THE LABOR - WORKING CLASS POV. (Again, please excuse the Marxist simplistic short-hand description.)
For the religiously challenged among PBS there is the unending metaphysical babble of Wayne Dwyer. Not a word from a humanistic or atheistic or secular POV. No on-going criticism of BUSH and the treasonous Christian fascists who are trying to over-throw the secular United States for a theocracy!
My favorite of course is still Pacifica Network. But even here the metaphysical babble is drowning out all critical thinking.
The Nation magazine and Move-On are totally dedicated to the preservation of the Democratic Party.
With no mass media dedicated to the economic and survial interests of the american working class it is no wonder the majority of adult americans do not know what is going on. If they do vote it is only for the most demagogic of reasons.
The democratic PROCESS is totally destroyed in this country. (Discussion, dialog, mass media access to all POV, presentation of critical information,
To find more radical critical comment of current affairs, see MONTHLY REVIEW MAGAZINE (excellent independent socialist monthly), INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW, (check web-sites). Check www.commondreams.org for DAILY news and opinion from hundreds of sources around the world. Also check the daily news at www.wsws.org World Socialist Web Site. Also check www.labourstart.org for info on struggles around the world of working people to merely survive against overwhelming and lethal odds.
My own perspective: Towards a sustainable socialist humanist future.
Hi Trudy and Jeremy,
Thanks for voicing a lot of my feelings! You saved me a lot of typing.
No there is not too much media, there is too little independent media. There are only about 8 media conglomerates that put out the same story through all their many outlet newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV stations. And they basically all come from the same place. Corporate driven, talking heads who are using canned ideology to push the bottom line. Fed by think tanks with articles, “expert” speakers, debaters or pundits, The so called liberal pundits have checked their soul at the corporate door along with their courage to do the job of a real reporter. To see this liberal punditry in action check out “The Daily howler” website @:
http://dailyhowler.com/index.shtml
How much more media do we need before certain truths are covered?
http://911blimp.net/vid_fakeOsamaVideo.shtml
http://911blimp.net/aud_BushImplicatesBush.shtml
“I wouldn’t say there’s too much media.However,there is too much propaganda”
My propaganda is your information. Isn’t that just it - shut off YOUR propaganda - listen to MY information.
“i’ve noticed Campesino’s sudden distress that the right may not keep it’s near stranglehold on the news”
Frankly, no one should have a stranglehold on the news. I don’t think anyone does now and don’t think anyone should. The new media should stay open for all
Campesino,
My point exactly.However,our media has taken a distinctly sympathetic bend to the right.Look at our news.Has there been nearly as much coverage or criticism of Delay or Cheney or even Bush as there was of Clinton or Elders.Bush led us into war under the pretense that there were WMD in Iraq.By his own admission there weren’t.Where’s the media outrage?Can you imagine if Clinton had done the same thing?Get a rope! Our media is biased-TO THE RIGHT!Our media is not in favor of any political party except the one which helps its corporate sponsors maintain control.In this case it’s the republican party.
I work for a daily newspaper, so I always enjoy watching any debate over news. To the right-wing nuts, the godless press is a massive liberal conspiracy designed to raise taxes, abolish religion and turn their children gay. To the left-wing nuts, the primary purpose of American journalism is to shill for big companies, start wars and generally undermine democracy.
Self-styled media critics would be wise to remember the Areopagitica. Media saturation or data smog or whatever it is being called is not a problem, it’s a blessing. If you think everything out there sucks—and I’ll concede that much of it does—ignore it. Or better yet, read quality stuff. Can’t find a news organization that advocates your deeply held belief that Osama is an android built by Exxon/Mobile and the CIA? Then start your own. But please, well-intentioned fellow travelers, don’t try to “media reform” on anyone else’s right to publish or broadcast.
I agree whole-heartedly with you, Matt. Much better written than I could have put it.
“Media reform” is code for suppressing speech you don’t like.
Put it all out there and I’ll decide what is dross and what is silver
see j chilton pearce’s Evolutions End for televison’s devestating effects of growing brains (mostly because inhibits development of imagination due to its union of image and sound thus lulling brain to sleep and inhibing its own image making response) and how this contributes to restlessness violence and effects similar to add…
holas lok asme el fabor de pasarme el tema de peloop traje azul por fabor desde que empeso too much que te lo pido la radio esta re buena pero estaria mejor si me pasa el tema naty
Is that Esperanto?
No to Rayhorn. That is not esperanto.
Esperanto, like English, has only one word for
the word “the” : la. Esperanto is alive and well
around the world on the internet. Do a search
for esperanto or check out the links from my
web-page at www.infowells.com.
Mi lernas esperanton. (the “n” indicates direct
object.)
U scare me, are you completely crazy? Our mainstream media is so right wing it would put Joseph Geobbels to shame? You are a brain-washed right-wing robot moron, and no one is trying to silence you, which is not to say we are not prepared to call you what you are.
Sincerely, a true American.
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