Steven D posted a front-paged diary called Olbermann: No More Democracy in America today.
Right on the money, as far as it went.
But there’s more to be said.
Here’s my two cents.
From my diary It Was Only A Dream…Eddie Cleanhead Vinson.
Read it and weep for your country.
Sound familiar?
“…one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. . . “
And…
“You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow.”
Keith Olbermann.
168 to 1.
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group, did an analysis of the so-called “expert witnesses” brought onto the news programs of the major networks during the runup to the Iraq invasion. ALL major networks, 24/7 right at the peak of the flame fanning.
The results, which were shocking even to me, a long-time media skeptic, were as follows.
168 to 1 in favor of the government. “Ex”-government officials, purveyors of right wing academic studies, etc.
That’s 168 to 1!!!
It went like this. 168 men and women in Washington drag…suits, uniforms, “nice” haircuts, etc., then one nun from Topeka, 168 more media clones, 1 student from Bennington, 168 more government spokespeople, another harmless and vaguely foolish left-winger.
Well…that’s about right.
Olbermann is their token opposition. Slightly nerdish, relegated to some backwater cable station, he can easily be ignored or dismissed by the REAL people, and he is certainly useful in selling stuff to that benighted segment of the American public that still believes the media are not under a tight lockdown that is always and forever administered by one faction or another of the PermaGov.
Olbermann vs/168 other talking heads with a DIFFERENT…and fairly consistent…script.
Same old same o;d.
WIPEOUT!!!
Does he realize this?
I imagine that he does…he seems very intelligent.
Is he doing what he is doing in some cynical manner?
I think not, myself. But the question is irrelevant. Cynical or full of hope, he is always outnumbered, always outgunned.
Once again, people…when you involve yourself in a battle…when you REALLY BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN WIN THAT BATTLE…and the odds are 168 to 1 against you…
You must wake the fuck up.
“But what about the power of the truth?” you say.
What about it?
This system will destroy itself eventually. (I mistyped “destory”. Yup. That too.) Or be destroyed from without. Or a little of both. THAT is “the truth”. How do I know this truth? Every religion on the face of the earth, every spiritual discipline that has ever successfully succeeded in moderating and guiding a well-functioning society says the same thing.
From the Richard Wilhem translation of the I Ching
Evil is not destructive to the good alone but inevitably destroys itself as well.
For evil, which lives solely by negation, cannot continue to exist on its own strength alone.
Yup.
That’s the way it works.
Always and forever.
But this resident evil (See my recent diary The Existence of Pure Evil for more on THAT idea.) has gone way too far for our little segment of society to do the destroying. Or the de-storying. WAY too far. They will not even let us on the air to try to tell the real story. Not in sufficient numbers to make any real impression. They won’t even let us run the so-called opposition party. The fix is in, babies, The fix is IN.
About the only real choice we now have is to either continue to lend our support to this media-based trance system by believing that it actually works in the manner in which it is advertised (A “free press” that functions as a watchdog for the rights of the people.) …or withdraw our support from this shell, this hologram of that idea and go on about our business.
The single most effective blow that the left could land on this machine today would be to TOTALLY drop out of participating in its maintenance.
Yes…NEWSTRIKE!!!
It would be both a cultural shock and a financial one.
A sudden mass awakening among the intellectual elite of this country (“WE” are the intellectual elite? Sad. Well…everything’s relative, I guess…) would have PROFOUND effects on how the game is played. On any number of levels.
So…WHO’S WITH ME!!!???
(The silence of the lambs…)
Poor little sheeple…
Ain’t gonna happen, is it?
Nope.
Next order of business…
Those of you who DO hear what I am saying…prepare for the crash.
Fasten your seat belts…it’s going to be a rough ride.
Hunker down and hope you survive the storm.
Get to high ground if you can.
It’s about to get even nastier.
“…no one was laughing, least of all Keith and Craig…”?
“It had the appearance of two desperate men facing the gallows…”?
Yup.
Like I said…Keith is pretty smart.
HE knows what’s up.
Betcha he’s got his escape route already planned. (Money’s pretty good in broadcasting, and he’s been at it a long while. I notice that he already has a spot on ESPN radio…”Oh. Well. I’m just a sportscaster at heart…” Whatever is necessary to survive, Keithy. I understand. The family, the mortgage…)
Hunker down…storm warnings are out.
Everywhere.
And you don’t even NEED a weatherman to tell you which way the wind’s blowing…
(Whatever happened to that nice Patrick Fitzgerald fella again…???)
AG