Placing Limits On Choice
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With the scandal of the Pentagon propaganda and the military analysts they had working for them, mouthing their policies as dictated, endlessly mimicking what the White House wanted us to hear, and how outraged WE are over it, the lack of reaction from the media has been… interesting to say the least. I’ve been curious as to why there was nothing anywhere. Until I read this piece from CommonDreams.org. That’s when things started to make a whole lot of sense.
In days gone by there would have been outrage from the media as well as from you and I. But that was then and this is now. It seems there is good reason for the lack of attention or enthusiasm from the media. And it isn’t all their fault. It is those that own the media. Did you know that there are only 6 companies in the United States that provide ALL the media outlets? With little competition, they have gutted their news rooms, fired the investigative reporters, and left us with nothing but the sound bytes they release.
This incredible story, brought to you by CommonDreams.org explains a lot. I hope you will read the full text of the article…
Why Big Media Needs Propaganda to Survive
by Megan TadyThe mainstream media are as likely to report on Pentagon propaganda — and thus, themselves — as President Bush is likely to cede that “mission accomplished” was poor phrasing. That is, it ain’t ever gonna happen.
The mainstream media have instituted a news blackout on the New York Timesexposé, casting a dark cloak over the story with the wave of a magician’s wand. Perhaps with this media sleight-of-hand, we’ll soon forget that that this story ever existed.
To avoid being duped, we need to understand not just why the mainstream media are mum on this scandal, but how they created the scandal in the first place. Just how does propaganda creep unnoticed into everyday reporting?
If you haven’t heard already, just six corporations control most of what we read, watch and listen to every day. These corporate giants are motivated entirely by profit, not public service. So as Big Media get bigger, gobbling up more newspapers, radio stations and TV networks through consolidation, our media system actually gets smaller. Corporate execs have gutted newsrooms, shuttered foreign bureaus and slashed spending on investigative reporting.
And this is just the media. Consider health care. In my local news recently was an article about a hospital and doctors in a dispute with a healthcare insurance provider. Their rates had gone up and the hospital decided it was too much. The woman was 8 months pregnant if I remember correctly. (I can’t find the article even knowing which TV station did it and what the article was about!!!) She had been seeing this doctor her whole life, but because of this dispute, she was told she would either have to cover the cost of the visit herself or find another doctor. THAT IS WHAT THE LIMITING OF CHOICE HAS BROUGHT US TOO!!!
So, now we see the effects on the media. With only six companies competing, with their news rooms gutted and no one there doing any investigative reporting, sound bytes are all we get.
I’ve wondered why, for the past 6 years, I could watch any news channel from around the country on the same day and see the exact same articles. But there isn’t any mystery any more. It is one reason I no longer bother with the news. I only turn them on to see the weather. Should that prove to be in the same category as the rest of the news, and just as inaccurate, I’ll stop watching it all together.
It seems that big corporations control everything. They control Congress because Congress has their hands out to the big corporations. Our Congress people LOVE the money that Big Corporations line their pockets with.
For instance, go to OpenSecrets.org and look at Nancy Pelosi’s funding. You will see what I mean. Here is the direct link: Now you tell me why Impeachment is off the table??? Did you notice the list of contributors? Lawyers, Real Estate, LOBBYISTS, Goldman Sachs? Ah yes, and don’t they just have their fingers in EVERYONE’S pie??? And it is this way for ALL of Congress. I don’t care who you pull up. I’ve checked them all out. On the left you can do a search for your Congresswoman or man by alphabetic search. Go ahead, see for yourself. Unless we throw them all out and start over, unless we can get strong and stop looking for handouts from Lobbyists and Corporations, America as we’ve known her is LOST! There aren’t any two ways about it.
Corporate owners have a vested interest in keeping courageous and intelligent reporting a journalism-school dream, especially when it comes to the Iraq war. After all, General Electric doesn’t want its reporters at MSNBC to question the war while it’s busy churning out Apache helicopters. It turns out that everyone — from the military analysts espousing Pentagon rhetoric to the corporate news owners to the government itself — have shared interests in leading the American people to war.
To consolidate their control, Big Media owners like Rupert Murdoch have cozied up to Washington, deploying legions of lobbyists and lawyers to craft U.S. communications policy, while doling out millions of dollars in campaign contributions to squelch any challenge from elected officials.
I did a search for General Electric and Apache Helicopters and came up with 280,000 results. In the link I put in for Wikipedia, if you look down under the header Design, you will see the information on General Electric.
The limiting of choices is only good for the Big whatever, big media, big pharma, big corporations, big healthcare. The less choice you have the more control they have. it is no longer good enough to sit back and let others do the work for you, you MUST GET INVOLVED. You must take control by contacting congress, by joining those groups dedicated to bringing you the truth or fighting for your right to know, to be informed, and to have a choice. If you do nothing, nothing will change.
Everywhere we turn today our CHOICES are being limited, from the food police to the so-called health advocates, you name it and someone is trying to limit your choices, all in the name of a good cause no doubt. The problem is, where does it end? If you are only free to choose what certain people decide is a good choice, how is that being free to choose anything? This country is becoming a nanny state and freedom will soon be a thing of the past. Right now issues facing us are big media, tomorrow it may be what you can read, where you can shop, what car you can buy, or how many children you can have.
And any others you can think of are a good start. Mostly you need to contact congress though and get involved there. Let them know you have had enough of this crap. Let them know you aren’t going to take it any more. That business as usual will be the end of their careers in Congress… There are WAY more of us than there are Big Whatever… We can and MUST do this. This is OUR Country! Let your Voice be heard!
Congressional Switchboard Toll Free Numbers:
800-828-0498
800-459-1887
800-614-2803
866-348-9281
866-338-1015
877-851-6437
It is up to you and I. Don’t wait, get involved. This isn’t just a personal fight, this is a fight for the United States of America…
America, The Beautiful Lyrics
by Katharine Lee Bates - 1913
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR… AMERICA IS OURS!
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OMG how true this all is. I’ve been saying for years that the so-called “free press” is no longer free. So-called ‘investigative reports’ are a joke. The most blatant of them all was the June 2006 Surgeon General’s “report”. If anyone bothered to browse through the 727 pages behind the press release, they would have discovered that the SG outright LIED, as a good 85% of the conclusions in that report did NOT support his statements. He also did not include one of the largest studies done, because those results did not even come close to agreeing with him.
People don’t seem to understand that you can’t pick and choose about what choices people can have. The religious right totally piss me off with their “pro-life” stand……especially since I’d bet the farm (if I had one) that not one of them has adopted any unwanted child OR been a foster family to any unwanted child. These same “pro-lifers” then bitch about welfare rolls, and social programs. They want everyone to live by their standards, NO CHOICE AT ALL. The biggest hypocrisy is that Free Will is God Given and these fools are trying to take that away!!!
I could go on forever about this crap! I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!!!
Hi there! Thanks for the awesome comment. Yup, I agree with everything you said. I’ve read that surgeon general’s report, well the conclusions anyway and you are right, he outright lied! No wonder he retired in disgrace and wasn’t offered any other jobs. They KNOW he lied… Choice is the best freedom we have in this country. To have it circumvented in ANY way, is wrong.