THE MEDIA EDITION: ISSUE 78, VOLUME 108
AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH
The Making of an Idiotocracy
by Malik Isasis
The corporate media are spending literally millions of dollars in resources to cover and convert the Michael Jackson death into a soap opera, to be milked for months to come. Their multi-million dollar newsreaders are discussing Michael’s love life, family problems and other innuendoes of his sexuality that have absolutely nothing to do with nothing. There is no value in the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death beyond the initial news for the American public, the value for corporations however, is to keep Americans obtuse and uninformed in the Matrix, cleverly disguised as news.
The people in Iran are still in the streets being bloodied, beaten and killed, but where’s the coverage? Did you know that Israel seized a shipping vessel of activists trying to deliver medical supplies to Palestinians in Gaza? Among those activist being detain by Israel is an American former congresswoman. Did you know that? (read here)
Entertaining Ourselves to Death
The corporate media has predictably formed a circle jerk with wall-to-wall coverage revealing themselves as the pornographers they really are. According to the US Census Bureau, television penetrates at least 98.2% of American homes. The late media critic and media studies founder, Neil Postman stated in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death that “The clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation (8).” The 98.2% penetration rate of television suggests that Americans main form of news consumption is through the television.
In June of 1994 a television phenomenon occurred. A once famous football player, Orenthal James Simpson, better known as O.J. Simpson, was watched by millions in a low speed chase with California State Patrol. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her alleged boyfriend, Ronald Goldman’s bodies were found mutilated, stabbed and lying in a pool of blood at O.J. Simpson’s estate. It was dour, like a made-for-television movie, set in Hollywood. It had all the ingredients of an American taboo, a wealthy black man, who dated and then married an attractive white woman, who would end up dead at the alleged hands of her famous husband. Hollywood couldn’t have written a better set up.
Also in June of 1994, as the low speed chase occurred down the interstate with hundreds of people cheering O.J. Simpson on, half a world away, thousands of bloated and decomposing bodies were floating down the Kargera River, emitting a stench so foul it could be smelled in the neighboring Uganda. In thirteen weeks after April 6, 1994, an estimated 800,000 people were killed in 100 days during the Rwandan genocide.
Here we are today, with the corporate media making a cottage –industry out of another black man, who coincidentally, like O.J. Simpson has astute issues with his black skin.
It seems when the corporate media has a choice, it always choose the path of least resistance. The corporate media’s main goal is to penetrate our consciousness and sub consciousness every second of every day with its news, images, and products. In ‘94, the media had made a choice, and that choice was to exploit the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, over exposing genocide in Rwanda. Today the choice has been made to cover the death Michael Jackson ad museum, over the Health Care, the Iranian Revolution, and holding the Republicans accountable for the last generation of trickle-down economics, which has trickled jobs and dollar value right down the drain.
Media critic Ben Bagdikian stated in his 1998 book The Media Monopoly, "At issue is the possession of power to surround almost every man, woman and child in the country with controlled images and words, to socialize each new generation of Americans, to alter the political agenda of the country" (Bagdikian, IX).
Under this new imperial paradigm, corporate expansionism, and acquisition and ownership of mass media by industrial corporations such as newspapers, book publishing, magazines, broadcast and cable news has allowed these corporations to exercise unprecedented influence over national legislation and government agencies. The corporate media has created an illusion that the American people are well informed, have choices and are in control of the information that they receive.
The malfeasance of the corporate media keeps my fire lit, and citizen journalism is just the antidote to awake the people from their stupor, and the Matrix, which has us completely surrounded.
AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH
The Making of an Idiotocracy
by Malik Isasis
The corporate media are spending literally millions of dollars in resources to cover and convert the Michael Jackson death into a soap opera, to be milked for months to come. Their multi-million dollar newsreaders are discussing Michael’s love life, family problems and other innuendoes of his sexuality that have absolutely nothing to do with nothing. There is no value in the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death beyond the initial news for the American public, the value for corporations however, is to keep Americans obtuse and uninformed in the Matrix, cleverly disguised as news.
The people in Iran are still in the streets being bloodied, beaten and killed, but where’s the coverage? Did you know that Israel seized a shipping vessel of activists trying to deliver medical supplies to Palestinians in Gaza? Among those activist being detain by Israel is an American former congresswoman. Did you know that? (read here)
Entertaining Ourselves to Death
The corporate media has predictably formed a circle jerk with wall-to-wall coverage revealing themselves as the pornographers they really are. According to the US Census Bureau, television penetrates at least 98.2% of American homes. The late media critic and media studies founder, Neil Postman stated in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death that “The clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation (8).” The 98.2% penetration rate of television suggests that Americans main form of news consumption is through the television.
In June of 1994 a television phenomenon occurred. A once famous football player, Orenthal James Simpson, better known as O.J. Simpson, was watched by millions in a low speed chase with California State Patrol. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her alleged boyfriend, Ronald Goldman’s bodies were found mutilated, stabbed and lying in a pool of blood at O.J. Simpson’s estate. It was dour, like a made-for-television movie, set in Hollywood. It had all the ingredients of an American taboo, a wealthy black man, who dated and then married an attractive white woman, who would end up dead at the alleged hands of her famous husband. Hollywood couldn’t have written a better set up.
Also in June of 1994, as the low speed chase occurred down the interstate with hundreds of people cheering O.J. Simpson on, half a world away, thousands of bloated and decomposing bodies were floating down the Kargera River, emitting a stench so foul it could be smelled in the neighboring Uganda. In thirteen weeks after April 6, 1994, an estimated 800,000 people were killed in 100 days during the Rwandan genocide.
Here we are today, with the corporate media making a cottage –industry out of another black man, who coincidentally, like O.J. Simpson has astute issues with his black skin.
It seems when the corporate media has a choice, it always choose the path of least resistance. The corporate media’s main goal is to penetrate our consciousness and sub consciousness every second of every day with its news, images, and products. In ‘94, the media had made a choice, and that choice was to exploit the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, over exposing genocide in Rwanda. Today the choice has been made to cover the death Michael Jackson ad museum, over the Health Care, the Iranian Revolution, and holding the Republicans accountable for the last generation of trickle-down economics, which has trickled jobs and dollar value right down the drain.
Media critic Ben Bagdikian stated in his 1998 book The Media Monopoly, "At issue is the possession of power to surround almost every man, woman and child in the country with controlled images and words, to socialize each new generation of Americans, to alter the political agenda of the country" (Bagdikian, IX).
Under this new imperial paradigm, corporate expansionism, and acquisition and ownership of mass media by industrial corporations such as newspapers, book publishing, magazines, broadcast and cable news has allowed these corporations to exercise unprecedented influence over national legislation and government agencies. The corporate media has created an illusion that the American people are well informed, have choices and are in control of the information that they receive.
The malfeasance of the corporate media keeps my fire lit, and citizen journalism is just the antidote to awake the people from their stupor, and the Matrix, which has us completely surrounded.
posted by Malik Isasis at
3:42 PM
1 Comments:
You never really think about the freak show the news stations put on until someone puts it in our face like you just did. Wow thanks for the splash of cold water on my face. It sad because as a people we are ill informed and the media does feed us what THEY want not what we should now. Why do you think they don't cover more on what's happening in Iran? Thanks for the great post.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home