Forum Post: Chris Hedges: The Day That TV News Died
Posted 11 years ago on March 28, 2013, 1:39 a.m. EST by justiceforzim
(-17)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
or Dem=Rep=Corporatism
I am not sure exactly when the death of television news took place. The descent was gradual—a slide into the tawdry, the trivial and the inane, into the charade on cable news channels such as Fox and MSNBC in which hosts hold up corporate political puppets to laud or ridicule, and treat celebrity foibles as legitimate news. But if I had to pick a date when commercial television decided amassing corporate money and providing entertainment were its central mission, when it consciously chose to become a carnival act, it would probably be Feb. 25, 2003, when MSNBC took Phil Donahue off the air because of his opposition to the calls for war in Iraq.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15309-the-day-that-tv-news-died
One thing that comes to mind is not allowing the media to record the bodies coming home from war. Our wars now have no faces, no people, no reporters, and no pictures. Just a "scenario" in a far off land.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Better to save that for a blockbuster movie down the track.
Details to be arranged by the producer/director.
Oh,no, way before 2003. Way before.
It started when everyones favorite 1% globalist enabler Bill Clinton deregulated the telecommunications industry and the newspapers. In 1996 50 companies controlled 90% of what we see today it is 6. Fuck the democrats they are even worse than republicans cause at least everyone knows the republican agenda.
Propaganda precedes Clinton. Not that Clinton did anyone a favor. Suppression of information precedes Clinton as well.
You and I both know how the democrats lionize Clinton. They need a reality check. Sure the economy was humming but at what cost? Two decades later it is clear who Nafta and Gatt was really for.
Libe(R)tarians.
You and I both know that he was really a nice Republican boy. Eh?
Anyone who supports free markets and not fair markets is a scumbag.
As George Carlin said- these people didnt just fall out of the sky. They are Americans. A greedy selfish public tends to produce greedy selfish leaders,
Of course they took some big blows before this happened. One of the biggest that I would pick is when they temporarily caved to the tobacco companies in the nineties. They made it appear as if they stood up to the censors and finally came through and exposed it; however at the same time while they were reluctantly coming through on this one issue they were continuing the mergers and quietly scaling back on many other stories and after a few years they stopped reporting on most of the things that the tobacco companies were doing as well.
Why would anybody own a TV these days. Mine broke about six years ago and I never replaced it. Don't miss it at all, not even a little bit. I've even thought getting of the computer. Life would be simpler.
Chris Hedges, Cornell West, Noam Chomsky these are our leaders rally round them for love of Zeus.
Chris is one of the best - but the problem - simply stated - is not "corporatism"
it is a combination of two facts
1
corporations are LEGALLY OBLIGATED to maximize profits
2
we let them buy our democracy
Bill HR 29 Constitutional Amendment XXVIII Introduced in Congress
by Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN) & Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Section 1.
Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights
The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.
Section 2.
Money is Not Free Speech
Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.
Consider your key project – jobs, military, elections, education, tax reform –
ANYTHING
Now imagine that the 1% opposition cannot spend to get their way against you
* .
This responds to hundreds of local & state resolutions and Move To Amend for a “We the People” Amendment - The movement for constitutional reforms that would end “corporate rule”. The Amendment clearly and unequivocally states that: Rights recognized under the Constitution belong to human beings only, and not to government-created artificial legal entities – including corporations, unions, and parties. and that Political campaign spending is not a form of speech protected under the First Amendment. Government belongs to the people & must not be for sale to the corporations and the wealthy and the 1% special interests. The Move To Amend coalition of nearly 260,000 people and hundreds of organizations has helped to pass nearly 500 resolutions in municipalities and local governments across the country calling on the state and federal governments to adopt this amendment. This bill is specifically different from the other proposals that have come forward in response to Citizens United because it also specifically addresses corporate personhhod. In every single community where Americans have had the opportunity to call for a Constitutional amendment to outlaw corporate personhood, they have voted to end “CP”. The Citizens United decision is not the cause, it is a symptom. We must remove big money and special interests from the legal and political process entirely with this amendment.
If you want to understand
Citizens United &
Corporate Personhood &
the Amendment Process
Please visit our OWS CU / CP / Amendment site:
http://corporationsarenotpeople.webuda.com
►►Support this bill HR29◄◄
Write & email your congresspeople house:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
senate:
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
call Rep Rick Nolan to show support 202 225 6211
Never happen in a million years. These legislators are not going to bite the hand that feeds. There will be no constitutional convention ever again. Get over it. George Washington had strict beliefs on the appropriate use of force and rebellion. We are rapidly approaching the point at which he advocated insurrection. Not there yet but once this plan fails, well we will be there. My question is once this inevitably fails will you act or just go home?
My post has nothing to do with a constitutional convention.
There never has been one.
That is a constitutional amendment you are supporting. Wow.
An amendment is supported by millions of Americans
I still remember Walter Cronkite.
Was he as good as we remember him?
I do remember, unlike today you saw the Vietnam War on television every night, not anymore with these wars
~Odin~
I don't know what happened in the US, but when those towers came crashing down, Aussie news channels ran that footage five hundred times a day for a week. Not one shot of building 7 though.
There was very little coverage on building 7 here either
I was just a couple miles down the East River, and while watching the first tower flaming and smoking
From my perspective it looked like the plane was flying by the second tower heading north, and then all of a sudden, it lit up
Then I remember thinking to myself, all the people on the floors on the top side of the fires have to do is go to the roof
Many of my friends who worked on the tug boats were involved in ferrying people off of Manhattan to New Jersey
Anyway,I hope the truth comes out someday
~Odin~
Yes, this is not the place for theorising.
If Americans accept the NIST report, then it's time to move on.
It's just the way that it has become in this country
Anyone who questions the spoon-fed version will be labeled a kook very quickly
~Odin~
Truther. And never the twain shall meet.
The language is being used and abused, just like the populace, I guess.
It's sad, but it's true
~Odin~
Healthy skepticism gets renamed.
Can't have too many big words getting around out there in the whirled.
Yes, it's all frustratingly screwed up, and a bit frightening too that we have devolved so far
~Odin~
It's not "we" that have devolved.
It's the rampant willing consumerist that has bought the bullet.
There are still many amongst us who have not taken the red pill.
We exist as we always have, and yes, we do sample the goods, and pick the ones that truly make life better for us, but we don't see the need to upgrade every five months, and neither do we see the need to perpetuate a myth about ourselves that is created by others.
But we all hold some blame for letting it get away from us
Anyway, we have learned and it is now time to get it back
~Odin~
Indeed, it is time, my friend.
And none too soon, I might add.
Not only not to soon, but long over-due
See my last comment to gnomunny about the doc
~Odin~ .
The rampant willing consumerist- good point,
Capitalism relies upon blind consumers, consuming, and wasting.
I shudder to think how many mercury-filled 'puter monitors have headed into landfill. And the amount of cables that become trash every time a phone provider upgrades to a new model.
Our oceans look vast and endless, but it won't be long before the floating islands of waste in all of our oceans bar one, get so large, we will have to figure out what to do with them. The food chain will, of course, be dead by then, so we might be able to just ignore them.