To save our Democracy -- it needs to be taken from the hedge funds, movie makers, and merchandise sellers, and returned to the hands of journalism professionals who understand and care about it
I was watching the night Howard Dean told Chris Mathews he was willing to look into breaking up the media mess, and I've been telling everybody that's why Dean lost the election. I have not seen anybody else bring this up until now.
I certainly hope Naomi Klein subscribes to The Hartmann Report - this topic holds permanent residency in her wheelhouse.
The monolithic kingdom of information ministries must be dismanteled if we are to act in our best interests as a whole. This truth shares the space of priority 1 in the triage of our withering society. We have many good hearts here in this space we call Earth - but the mind is easily infected by those who do not. I have a number of dear friends afflicted by this condition(ing). I tell you, their hearts are pure. They are not selfish. They are not sadistic. They too want a society that functions for all.
What I see is frustration - people feeling betrayed, hopeless, and purposeless. And leveraging the anger flowering from such emotions are the scheming instigators of sellout talking-heads, their shit-for-blood handlers, and the institutional structure that is strictly media-for-money. They know - so very well - the strings to pull, the buttons to push, and the untruths to tell. They're taking our people and poisoning them to the end of creating another mindless node, one more voice to spread the gospel of greed and division into the network that is humanity.
These victims, produced by the mill of falsehoods & forgettings, are not our enemies. They are our neighbors, our friends, our family. How we share truth is sacred. The intention must come from the heart as a means to love, not win. That is something we can do about it.
21st Century journalism is a whole new animal. Thom is an expert in broadcast and has a ton of books. Maybe it would be interesting if he had someone on the show that is currently teaching journalism.
I could not resist Googling what was happening while Dean was running for President: "In 2003, Google was relatively young and the browser market was still dominated by Internet Explorer. Search was just an extension of the internet dial-up plan, daily homepage or email destination. Myspace, Skype and the Safari Web browser debut. 2003: The blog publishing platform WordPress is launched. 2004: Facebook goes online and the era of social networking begins."
Breaking up the giants is part of the solution, but so far each attempt has been a shitshow. Here's what is ludicrous considering what has been allowed, they want to prevent the acquisition of Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House.
Gargoyles guarding the Mar-a-Lago cathedral -- one of Monsignor Trump's largest and perhaps most sinister factions is the cabal of extremist religious whackos and assorted sub-crazies festering under the scab of evangelical Christianity/Trumpism. This new-age church from hell is just the latest in the string of faddish false religions sweeping through the seething mass of racists, bigots, and arrogant pissants like the medieval Black Death -- a thought virus transforming zombified zealots into screeching flying monkeys, bullying the weak-minded into submission. Rationalizing the irrational somehow makes sense to the willfully ignorant.
The erstwhile Republican Party. The Grand Old Party. Now, the butt of jokes. Say it out loud: Members of the Trump cult, down to the bottom of their shriveled hearts, sincerely do not and cannot believe in democracy. Theocracy is their thing. Their pathetic little god made in their own fascist image commands that they exert authority over heathens, apostates, and lesser human beings (cough-dark-cough-skin-cough), which is just the natural order of things.
Trumpy white Christians are the chosen ones, the superiors, the overlords, the masters. They absolutely refuse to concede power and privilege or to be ruled over by Democrats (the horror). That would be a sin. Critical thinkers are mortal enemies who represent all that is evil. (Spit out the word liberal like Limbaugh did.) "Freedom and liberty" is a code for defying everything Democrats try to do, regardless of merit. Wingnut dogma does not tolerate dissension. God's kingdom is just around the corner. The end justifies the means.
These people are beyond reach. The only way to reverse the trend is to out-vote them. And that window is closing fast.
Truer words were never spoken. This is yet another amazing summary, accurate history, brilliant analysis, and timely warning. The question is, how do we get from point "y" back to point "a"? Where do we begin? The rub is that so few people see what seems to us to be reality. But hasn't that been the problem all along? You and I and the people who tune in to FS TV were not fooled. We were not misled when these corporations and their right-wing con artists pulled off their big charades starting even before Ronnie Raygun. Are we just smarter? Or is there another explanation? Were we insulated somehow from such facile tomfoolery? Did we read the right books? Or did so many others somehow get turned off from reading by bad experiences at a crucial point that they weren't interested or able to concentrate? Did they develop a preference for finding a leader and following obediently in lockstep in order to be accepted and approved? What could be done to reverse the trend?
I was watching the night Howard Dean told Chris Mathews he was willing to look into breaking up the media mess, and I've been telling everybody that's why Dean lost the election. I have not seen anybody else bring this up until now.
Thanks Thom!
I certainly hope Naomi Klein subscribes to The Hartmann Report - this topic holds permanent residency in her wheelhouse.
The monolithic kingdom of information ministries must be dismanteled if we are to act in our best interests as a whole. This truth shares the space of priority 1 in the triage of our withering society. We have many good hearts here in this space we call Earth - but the mind is easily infected by those who do not. I have a number of dear friends afflicted by this condition(ing). I tell you, their hearts are pure. They are not selfish. They are not sadistic. They too want a society that functions for all.
What I see is frustration - people feeling betrayed, hopeless, and purposeless. And leveraging the anger flowering from such emotions are the scheming instigators of sellout talking-heads, their shit-for-blood handlers, and the institutional structure that is strictly media-for-money. They know - so very well - the strings to pull, the buttons to push, and the untruths to tell. They're taking our people and poisoning them to the end of creating another mindless node, one more voice to spread the gospel of greed and division into the network that is humanity.
These victims, produced by the mill of falsehoods & forgettings, are not our enemies. They are our neighbors, our friends, our family. How we share truth is sacred. The intention must come from the heart as a means to love, not win. That is something we can do about it.
Truth is like water; it flows freely when not impeded.
21st Century journalism is a whole new animal. Thom is an expert in broadcast and has a ton of books. Maybe it would be interesting if he had someone on the show that is currently teaching journalism.
I could not resist Googling what was happening while Dean was running for President: "In 2003, Google was relatively young and the browser market was still dominated by Internet Explorer. Search was just an extension of the internet dial-up plan, daily homepage or email destination. Myspace, Skype and the Safari Web browser debut. 2003: The blog publishing platform WordPress is launched. 2004: Facebook goes online and the era of social networking begins."
Breaking up the giants is part of the solution, but so far each attempt has been a shitshow. Here's what is ludicrous considering what has been allowed, they want to prevent the acquisition of Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House.
Gargoyles guarding the Mar-a-Lago cathedral -- one of Monsignor Trump's largest and perhaps most sinister factions is the cabal of extremist religious whackos and assorted sub-crazies festering under the scab of evangelical Christianity/Trumpism. This new-age church from hell is just the latest in the string of faddish false religions sweeping through the seething mass of racists, bigots, and arrogant pissants like the medieval Black Death -- a thought virus transforming zombified zealots into screeching flying monkeys, bullying the weak-minded into submission. Rationalizing the irrational somehow makes sense to the willfully ignorant.
The erstwhile Republican Party. The Grand Old Party. Now, the butt of jokes. Say it out loud: Members of the Trump cult, down to the bottom of their shriveled hearts, sincerely do not and cannot believe in democracy. Theocracy is their thing. Their pathetic little god made in their own fascist image commands that they exert authority over heathens, apostates, and lesser human beings (cough-dark-cough-skin-cough), which is just the natural order of things.
Trumpy white Christians are the chosen ones, the superiors, the overlords, the masters. They absolutely refuse to concede power and privilege or to be ruled over by Democrats (the horror). That would be a sin. Critical thinkers are mortal enemies who represent all that is evil. (Spit out the word liberal like Limbaugh did.) "Freedom and liberty" is a code for defying everything Democrats try to do, regardless of merit. Wingnut dogma does not tolerate dissension. God's kingdom is just around the corner. The end justifies the means.
These people are beyond reach. The only way to reverse the trend is to out-vote them. And that window is closing fast.
Truer words were never spoken. This is yet another amazing summary, accurate history, brilliant analysis, and timely warning. The question is, how do we get from point "y" back to point "a"? Where do we begin? The rub is that so few people see what seems to us to be reality. But hasn't that been the problem all along? You and I and the people who tune in to FS TV were not fooled. We were not misled when these corporations and their right-wing con artists pulled off their big charades starting even before Ronnie Raygun. Are we just smarter? Or is there another explanation? Were we insulated somehow from such facile tomfoolery? Did we read the right books? Or did so many others somehow get turned off from reading by bad experiences at a crucial point that they weren't interested or able to concentrate? Did they develop a preference for finding a leader and following obediently in lockstep in order to be accepted and approved? What could be done to reverse the trend?