We all pay to learn in one way or another.
Whether it's private school, college, vocational, internship or even flipping a quarter at the news stand for the ritual daily paper, an exchange is tendered.
Cable news. A special service providing us with information for a fee. Wow, special news just for people who can afford it. Stories picked by hand and carefully prepared for the discerning viewer. We all want to fly in first class. Up front, where the truth has a lot more legroom.
You guys with regular old Plain Jane news get the local stories, but these guys in the Elite Media Club go all around the world exclusively for US, and all from their magical desks.
Oh goody, here comes my fancy entrée of global reality. I'm totally willing to pay these premiums to get rid of all those pesky commercials! Hey, what's with the commercials? $70 a month to see if Anna Nicole's death was somehow drug related?
Not only is cable news NOT commercial-free, IT'S NOT EVEN FREE! What the Hell is going on here? We accept all this new trash like it's always been this way. Well, it hasn't. We used to hate garbage, and now we consume it day and night.
We're under some sort of Media-Spell. America is being put under by glittery table magic news. Shiny diversions to dazzle and lull us while our collective wallet is stealthily slipped from our national pocket.
Celebrity gossip stories aren't news. How can they waste our time with this skull numbing lint while our young battle every element there is all at once and the Earth groans under the weight of humanities industrial arrogance?
We are being shown a length of yarn on a stick, as if to keep kitty distracted while he gets driven to the vet. "Oh boy yarn! Must paw at the yarn! Love yar..." (Snip, snip) "OW! Hey, my balls! They're gone! I should have been paying more attention... But I love yarn. Gimme more yarn! Must have yarn!" Humans aren't the only species capable of being OCD. Kitty had a very busy day planned, no time to look into the world around him. I wonder how many of us will wake up in time to land gracefully on OUR feet.
"The liberal Media needs to be balanced out!"
Lets have a look at this "Lefty Media" for a moment.
CNN - Supposedly the flagship for the Liberal Media that's dominating the industry. Nobody can fault them for not being liberal, except maybe actual Liberals. They are where "The Center" has been carefully placed. Lou Dobbs and Wolf Blitzer are the crazy hippies with their fringy perspective on national events.
"We take you around the World every twenty minutes".
That is either the motto for CNN, or the busiest prostitute on the street.
CNBC - Money people all going crazy, and no wonder. Better brush up on your Chinese, fellas. For people who are still pretending to be wealthy. As interesting as watching someone else read to themselves. Celebrity deaths keep the lights on over there.
MSNBC -How 'bout that? They hired ( the courageous to the point of heroism) Keith Olberman by accident and now they can't afford to lose the ratings by firing him, no matter who he pisses off. Exquisite. The demand for him supercedes the fact that he gnaws on the hand that feeds him. It's the Simpson's Syndrome, too big to cancel.
Oopsy daisy. The power of greed, manipulated towards something good. An age of miracles indeed.
FOX - Which of the many creatures under the Sun is better suited to take charge of the hen house than the noble and trustworthy fox? FBC is a handjob for the Id. Rewarding the lowest elements in us until we embrace our "Inner-Golem".
The Media have harnessed our Great Beast - Pride itself! Everyone is sensing that something's wrong here, but some just won't listen to their gut. Pride is a sin because it makes us reject things that would be in our best interests to give greater consideration. If you're wondering what that strange buzzing noise is, it's the sound of the American public being played like a kazoo.
Here's a little test:
If we defend a newscaster - ANY newscaster to the point of violence, then we are under some kind of media induced dummy-trance. Of course I don't mean you and me, wise reader. I mean all those other poor souls out there. No clue. Luckily their mes-moronic treachery has yet to effect me. Progressives can't be programmed, right? I mean, if we could, then we'd all show up for rallies and stuff...
Nobody wants to admit that their brand new car is a lemon. Instead we say "It's great. Never happier." The same is true for those who took on their bitter political philosophies to go along with their bitter upbringings. "Well, my President may have his flaws but at least he believes in what he's doing." It's pride, the stupidest of all our many behaviors.
The big difference between the car I paid for and the news I paid for is that at least the car will try to warn me when something's not working right. Can't watch the TV screen AND our own warning lights at the same time.
"Next on Larry King, Brittney Spears explains why she's still HOT, even with a shaved head." Really? Well goodbye, whatever else it is I was planning on doing because this I've GOT to see. I'm told I should love Brittney Spears, so okey dokey. She is kind of foxy, even if only in that "I-know-this-can't-possibly-last-and-that's-fine-with-me" kind of way. Hold on - What was I just talking about? Oh yeah, I was talking about how the media has become a Distract-Tatorship. Hold on, is that McCartneys ex DANCING? Whoa, wait a minute. Gotta shake that one off and clear my head.
How did the behavior sneak into my life? By putting my life on hold to hear all about hers. Only a remote controlled toy would find this Skull-Routing-Culture-Cancer to be engaging journalism.
Cable news is not good for us. I watched avidly for years, but just don't trust them as much any more. Now it literally makes me ill. "All misery, all death, all missing blonde women all the time." No wonder they always put ads for medicine in there between those toxic stories. "Make 'em sick and sell 'em the cure!" The oldest snake oil racket in the business. Extortion. Present a problem and then offer to withhold it for a hefty fee.
As legend has it, there's only one way a vampire is able to enter your home - you have to invite him in. We should care about this more, but we probably won't. "I'm too busy. What can I do about it anyway?" It's not what you do but what you no longer do. Stop watching! Free up some of that time and actually learn something somewhere else.
It's down to the internet, some radio shows, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The last of the things employing both electricity and truth simultaneously. Treat them as precious, because we will surely miss them when and if they're gone. Protect them today.
Now, a moment from the new movie NETWORK 2007.
Howard Beale: "I want you to stay on the sofa, and in a tone that does not disturb your neighbors - I want you to say ' I'm complacent as Hell and evidently I WILL take it some more'..."