EDITED FOR THE BLINDMedia bias. If I turn on the Republican propaganda channel which disguises itself as a news station, I EXPECT jingo nationalism, blatant racism, and appeals to "American values" (Something which is an amalgamation of religious fanaticism, right wing extremism, aggressive foreign posturing, and a sense of nationalism unheard of since 1914), but when I turn on a news station which I originally thought was balanced, I expect actual journalism. CNN is taking tips from Fox News.
Instead of extending the "CNN Newsroom" programming, which focuses on world events, they've now brought together the unholy trinity of Inside Politics, Wolf Blitzer, and Crossfire (Minus Tucker Carlson) under the guise of the "Situation Room," a melodramatic Fox-style news-drama which over-exaggerates minor domestic news stories (What I mean by this is tiny little stories which are fine on local channels, but are wholly ridiculous for national stations to carry, such as the rescue of a dog from a tree), airs nothing but human interest stories, and takes an hour or so per day to slander Democratic candidates and, in the style of Republican media, leave anyone who isn't Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama (The frontrunners...) alone. Oh, except of course when they say that John Edwards is a joke, which frankly, isn't news, and has no business on a NEWS network.
I already subscribe to ONE propaganda network. At least it's acknowledged that it's a propaganda network. Now, new anchors are coming on CNN and even to an extent MSNBC and they're just trashing liberalism and Democrats.
The solution to this? Read magazines like The Nation or The New Republic. The "liberal" media is anything but anymore.
Another annoying thing: corporate exploitation.
Every single day, we hear something about Halliburton's stock going up, the economy getting better (Something Fox News attributes to our gallant, victorious, untouchable, and dearly beloved President!), or the nation rebounding from the terrible events of the 11th of September (Hey, that reminds me of the whole "11 November, Niemals!" phenomenon in Nazi propaganda!). Ok, that's nice, buuuuut...
Gas prices keep going up.
Taxes went up.
I'm paying 15 cents more for coffee every morning.
Wages are going down for most people I know. Companies are going bankrupt left and right.
Loans aren't being given to as many people because of this ridiculous credit score thing.
Jobs are miraculously disappearing without being filled...
Small businesses are shutting their doors left and right.
People, having to pay more and more for basic necessities (One of which is a car and gas, since the US made those two things mandatory), are getting poorer. Either inflation is rampant, or everyone's getting screwed. And it's not ending. Very soon there will be no middle class in the United States. It used to be that the lower classes would gradually ascend to the middle class, and the middle class would gradually move to the upper classes, but that has decidedly ended. Make sure you tell one of the many Americans who will be filing for bankruptcy that, despite the fact that they're out of money, the economy is going up, thanks to their selfless sale of their future to the corporate state.
Fix this one? I'm not even going to touch this one.
Oh, inaction's another one. I'm a member of MoveOn.org as well as some other "communist liberal anti-war gay-loving religion-hating America-bashing anti-freedom" progressive action groups (Standard Republican taglines added for flavor). I've written three letters to my Congressman, my Senators already have the right idea, and yeah, I do live in the largest Democratic stronghold in the United States, but ultimately, despite the efforts of millions of Americans, this Congress has been utterly unwilling to do what it takes to end this war. The good news, however, is that it looks like the pro-war Republicans who are still clinging to relevance and the President's shoes are going to lose badly in 2008 (If their seat is up for the election). Al Franken has got a really good shot in Minnesota, and from the looks of it, no Republican challengers really have a shot at Senate seats for the incumbent Democrats who will face the polls in a year and a half.
However, we were promised action in 2006. The 2006 mid-term election was one which appealed to the desire of the American people to end this war. Overwhelmingly, people voted Democrat to end the pointless conflict in Iraq. Make Hillary Clinton's flipping an issue all you want, but ultimately, the American people simply want to end the war, and they want a return to rational governance for the people, by the people. Some Americans may call me a communist, a liberal, a hippie, but I am an American, and I am for positive, progressive change in the United States, the end of the current system of exploitation which uses the people like they are assets to the government, the end of the illegal war in Iraq which has already claimed too many lives, and the end of policies which have failed to benefit any more than the elite top 1% which control 80% of the wealth. I advocate a different kind of change than most people do, most people see the beginning of a new America with the end of the Iraq War, and I will accept at the very least, that, but ultimately, with all of these groups, with all of these people who are so violently opposed to the Iraq War, nothing is done. Protests have ceased, partly because the PATRIOT Act ensured that they could be broken up. Letters are not being answered with action by Congress. Ads are being run, but nothing is happening.
The annoyance comes from the fact that the previous Congress did too much, they authorized an illegal war and put the country where it is now, and that the current Congress has done nothing to get out of this kind of situation, and especially that, despite these blatant mistakes, there has been so little concrete action to end this war and improve this country. We all realize these things must be done, I have spoken to no less than fifty people who are staunchly anti-war and who are decidedly pro-change, but they do not know what to do. It's the inaction and the complacency of the American people, the comfort which we've enjoyed for a hundred years, which has brought us to this point, where we see the problems, we recognize them as problems, but we are unable to do anything to fix them because we are unwilling to do anything concrete. We talk, we go on TV and end up belittled and humiliated by powerful, megalomaniacal war hawks, but at the end of the day, nothing is done. The state of affairs is so depraved that, if the United States had a strong National Socialist movement, they would have very little trouble in convincing the 40% that vote that they have a good plan for America, and that they should be elected, and frankly, even with my strong left leanings, my dedication to social libertarianism, and my belief in the self-determination of peoples and universal suffrage, I would rather live in a state which does something than the one we currently live in.
I have a solution which nobody would like. It's a third way, not a Republican or a Democratic ticket, but a coalition of progressive members from all parties in the United States which wish to move forward, which wish to bring change to the United States, and who wish to reopen the dialogue which has ceased in Washington. One of the better politicians of the 21st century once said that politics is the place for the pursuit of noble causes. We must bring back political idealism, political dialogue, and peaceful, civil, non-partisan debate to America to better move forward with whatever actions the people, and not the party leaders, believe should come to pass. A country is more an idea than a place, I believe in the idea that is the United States, and it is time to return to government for the people, by the people. We must discard the party system and move forward with non-partisan and open debate on the issues which face our country, or we are doomed to repeat the past mistakes of this and previous governments.
And that is what annoys me, perhaps not on a daily basis, but I think it's still relevant.
On a side note: Spencer's back.
Edited by MSpencer, 09 August 2007 - 11:48 AM.
