My rant for May is an important one and it can be condensed to one quick phrase: Stop Talking About the Cart and Talk About the Horse! We will accomplish nothing of value if we don’t fix the engine that drives our agenda home.
This week I attended a Move On meeting that was trying to get people to succinctly talk about issues. The problem was the issues discussed were fantastic but presently unreachable at the same time. I’ll explain: who amongst us doesn’t want a cleaner environment, better schools, less crime and and end to war? We want terrorists caught and poverty fought, affordable and clean energy and a better life for children.
But please understand, none of this will happen with platitudes and slogans. None of it will happen if we have a slight majority of Democrats in Congress and the Senate. There is one huge reason why and that is we have lost the Mainstream Media for the time being. It is owned lock, stock and barrel by a triumvirate of Corporations, Republicans and Religious Extremists.
Just to give you a quick peek, on the last NBC Nightly News we had a report from the Indonesia earthquake by a group called “Operation Blessing” based in Virginia Beach, VA. Need I say more? Yes, there is more and that was the second news piece on the Pope and his visit to Poland where he proclaimed that the previous Pope reiterated his desire to make the previous Pope a saint on a fast track just like Mother Theresa. For those of you that weren’t raised Catholic this is nothing short of selling the Corporate Brand via the biggest publicity push possible. The church for centuries has had a lengthy vetting process that is being circumvented like never before in recent history for one reason and one reason only: to rally the base. Here is the Catholic Church as Home Depot and it won’t be changing anytime soon.The media is right there covering their press releases with no evaluation. It was the same last week when Tweety shilled for Opus Dei from their very own headquarters (which women must enter via the side entrance!).
There is one way only that this can change, do you want to hear it? It’s a 2-pronged assault on our system and it must be dealt with or we will continue fighting our fight on a playing field slanted like a treadmill fixed on 90% incline. We must reinstate the Fairness Doctrine so we can have at least the semblance of balance. Before Reagan killed this doctrine in 1988 there were no unfettered rants by Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Fox News and all of ‘hate radio’ without the opposite view being expressed, to do otherwise was to risk not only losing your FCC license to broadcast on the public’s airwaves but to incur heavy fines. If we could balance these relentless untruths we could recreate the forum we used to have for more coherent debate in the United States.
The second thing we must do is demand the FCC Regulate Media Ownership which was abolished by Michael Powell when he was head of the FCC under George Bush. This was hotly debated and when Powell and the FCC were forced to have open hearings around the US, over 95% of all people testifying vehemently argued against the passage of this bad idea. This has allowed Networks and Newspapers and TV and Radio stations to be owned by ever fewer and larger corporations so there is little independent or varied voice left in the media and the majority of it is in just a few hands. If you have any doubts about who won in this debacle it was none other than Corporate America and their best buddies the Republican Party. The huge problem is that since this happened the Democrats have become just as bought and sold via corporate donations so the public is in a lose-lose situation. It is the worst possible predicament because as an increasingly poorly educated population turn on their tv and radios they get the smallest spectrum of information we have ever received.
I cannot argue this point strongly enough, if we don’t demand all progressive candidates accomplish these two things, nothing else they do will ever gain any traction. The corporate media owns almost everything you tap into save the internet and they are closing their grip by the minute. If we squeak by and elect the Democrats of today to a slim majority very little will change because the debate will still be controlled by the corporate owned media and the flood of hate radio and slanted cable and network television will stop any real discussion in its tracks. Do you wonder why Bush with the same 29% approval rating as Nixon upon his resignation doesn’t even sweat the notion of Censure or Impeachment? The media gives cover to this Administration as much as possible and drops the ball at every turn. Do you think this is sheer coincidence? It is coordinated and has been implemented in a determined fashion over the past 2 decades.
If you can’t see the media rallying behind Bush right now to get his poll numbers up, you need to put on your glasses. This group sings in heinous harmony. We dance to their piper and it’s time it stopped. This is the only way anything will ever change. The wool needs to be pulled off the heads of Americans and this is absolutely the only mechanism that will accomplish that.
cross-posted at Liberal Streetfighter.
