Radio, Radio
(A little Elvis Costello (very little as a matter of fact))
We live in an age where we decide what we believe is true based on the information we're given. That information is funneled to us by people who pick and choose what they decide we should see, hear and read. If they deem something inappropriate, then we won't see it. It's secretive censorship at the highest level.
We are at the mercy of these corporate CEO's whims; we watch, read, listen and despair at what we're shown: the scandals, feuds, and the non-news that used to be relegated to entertainment shows like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. More people in this country know the name of Tom and Katie's child, Angelina's children, Jennifer Lopez's twins than have any idea where Darfur is.
Truth has been supplanted by entertainment because ratings (and dollars) have become more important than humanitarianism. And what's to be done? None of the politicians this election season has spoken on control of the airwaves. Since Reagan repealed the Fairness Act in 1987 that had been in place since 1949, we've had fewer and fewer options in this country to get the truth. Now I've got to seek out foreign sources to learn what's happening in my own country.
For more on the Fairness Act: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2053
Where's the outrage? It's focused on the judges of American Idol when they dispatch our favorite underdog. It's there when we frown at who got kicked off Survivor. It rears its ugly head when our favorite next top model or top chef is sent packing. No longer does the plight of the homeless, poor, hungry, disenfranchised, and refugee incite us to take action. If we even hear about it, we think, glad that's not me as we pick up the remote control and start surfing through hundreds of channels of mind-numbing drivel because we need to escape from reality.
What about those whose reality consists of begging for food, or wondering if they're going to survive the night because soldiers are burning their villages, or who wonder where they're going to live now that they had to foreclose on their home?
It's time to be outraged. It's time to start demanding all those supposed news stations start reporting the real news and leave Britney, Ashley, Jennifer, Tom, Brad, Paris, and all the rest of them to the entertainment infomercials where they belong.
The airwaves are ours; they belong to the American people. It's time to take them back.
Feel free to share this with everyone you know via copying, forwarding, or linking. Thanks.
Peace,
Gary . . .
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garyfrank) wrote,
angry
