We come to the end of another week where there were some hopeful stories only to be offset by more and more of the streaming hordes of ignorance. When I was very, very young the Korean War was in full blossom. One of the “truths” of the times was that the Chinese Communists could send wave after wave after wave of soldiers over the border with North Korea and battle on forever. We did not have the manpower to put up with that. Thus it was best that we pack up and go home.
Sometimes it feels that way. For a few hours or a day or two it seems like we have a handle on the issues and the framing then BANG out of nowhere we have a new issue with a really different framing. It does almost seem akin to a warfare with battles goimg on forever and new fronts opening all over the place. While we are often surprised when a new front opens, it is often due to planning from the right.
So while battles over campaign financing, climate change, immigration reform, unemployment insurance, SNAP, voting rights and so on and so on are being fought here comes the Cliven Bundy story out of nowhere. Seems almost like a set up. A couple weeks into Bundy I saw this online. I am not one who believes much in conspiracies, but sometimes they seem like the only things that make sense. ALEC seemed like a conspiracy to begin with, but turns out to be quite true.
As the dust is settling on that one a bit we seem to get a shot from our own side. The new chair of the FCC proposes fixing net neutrality in a way that is very favorable to the corporate giants. The chair of Comcast, a true behemoth in the news and entertainment fields, could hardly contain his glee. More than anything else, the proposed changes could hold the keys to corporations finally making it hard for voices of dissent to get real news and opinion. The internet is one of the last bastions where content is treated equally.
Last week one of the few stations left that carried progressive radio was changed by its owner, Clear Channel. Clear Channel has been owned by Bain investments for a few years and has been purging progressive radio from its line up. So progressive or liberal voices are limited to a few independent radio stations (KTNF in St. Louis Park, Minn. and WCPT in Chicago), a couple of cable stations most people don’t get (Free Speech TV, Link TV and the evenings on MSNBC).
Newspapers in most cities are in trouble. Most are owned by national corporations. What were once proud guardians of our democracy, willing to challenge power are now part of the power establishment itself. In most major cities, there is cross ownership among newspapers, TV and radio. Think of companies like Gannet or Sinclair. Once again I invoke the line that I can never find a source for: “The media in this country runs covers the spectrum of opinion from right to extreme right.”
And now Chair Tom Wheeler stands fully ready to hand the keys to the magic kingdom of the internet to Comcast and its ilk. In short order content will be screened despite all the promises in the world that it won’t be. Progressives and liberals will get a small corner just like they now have of the press, TV and radio. There will be no “fairness doctrine.” The only doctrine in play today is those with money get what they want. Without free and equal exchange of ideas, democracy withers. Our country has already been recognized as an oligopoly by some.
Carlin on the rich
Source:
http://ift.tt/Qqlmpc