Friday, January 19, 2007

Fairness ...

I've been saying this for years (don't have enough room on the page to link to all my posts on this subject), and the wonderful TRex says it far better than I ever could:

As you might expect (and as Taylor pointed out earlier) the Wingnut crowd is not reacting well to the notion of the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. I don't know why anyone's surprised. The Right Wing's whole stock in trade is peddling mendacious bullshit to the masses, so naturally the concept of media reform to them is like throwing water on the Wicked Witch of the West. ("MEEEELLLL-ting! MEELLLLLLL-ting! Oh, what a world! All my beautiful WICKEDNESS...MELLLLL-tiiiiiiiiiiing...!")

...

You can see the results of this kind of thinking played out on a grand scale in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans these days. And frankly, that's not particularly pretty. Pox News and the Right Wing robber barons it enables on a daily basis are taking full advantage of one of the salient truths of Hermann Goering and the Nazi party:

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If a network or program touts itself as 'news', they should be forced to tell the truth or be held accountable. Roger Ailes and the News Corp bunch should be doing jail time, or at least be sued into bankruptcy or non-existence. This is still America and we all have the right of free-speech, but a supposedly objective news organization spreading outright lies, supposition, and propaganda disguised in the veil of truth should be held accountable for the damage they do and the crimes they abet. The airwaves belong to us or have you forgotten that?

Our news media (not just Fox, but the others in varying degrees), thanks to the 'corporate' nature of the business nowadays, will not police themselves. Most news divisions at the networks are now under control of their entertainment divisions. When the news is forced to 'get ratings' to justify their existence, this mess is what you get. A good chunk of Americans don't even believe what they see on network news shows anymore. They come to us now.

It's also time for a crackdown on churches (and other congregations who enjoy tax exempt status) that are also de facto propaganda arms of the American Right. It's time for them to pay their fare share to support the war they helped get us into. Not only that, I want jail time for the preachers who exploit their position to control their ignorant, gullible flocks and meddle in affairs of state.

And we, as a people are gullible. We are lazy and greedy. Do you think you'd get all those African email schemes cluttering up your Inbox if we weren't? Do you think all these get-rich-quick schemes you see on late-night TV would proliferate? Do you think we would have elected the Chimp twice if Americans would ask as many questions and dig for the truth the way lefty bloggers do? Do you think anyone would have agreed to the Chimp's tax cuts (how's that $300 woking out for ya now) if they didn't believe the bullshit that it will 'all trickle down'? The middle class is disappearing and the gullible public is hastening the fall; their own fall.

Very soon, we'll all have to pay more taxes. It's a fact of life in order to pay this nation's obligations. If you're greedy and ignorant enough to believe we don't have to, or can defer them forever, you'd better get a grip soon because the new reality, the real reality, is gonna come as a shock. Times are a-changing. The Republicans and their henchmen (the preachers and corporate news) told you what you wanted to hear and you didn't question it. Well, I hope you had fun swimming in your denial for the past 6 years but the bills are coming due.

Whether it be higher taxes, loss of stature in the world community, and maybe even attacks on our homeland, we'll be paying soon enough. It's refreshing to see so many of you open your eyes in the past year ... finally, but as we move back to reality, you're going to be confronted with some painful truths. The spin meisters of the Right Wing Noise Machine will be out in force, to cast blame anywhere but the place it belongs. Hopefully, you people will keep your eyes open when the shit hits the fan and remember who got us into this mess in the first place.

The same people who do not want reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine.

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