Posted on 04/01/2005 10:01:00 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
So, should we pull the newspapers' feeding tubes? Yes! Yes!
Believe it or not, I have had some luck getting critical letters published in papers - even the New York Slimes.
I actually think they showed great restraint.....more than I would have been able to.
"Unresponsive, persistent vegetative state, no quality of life prospects, consuming resources with no possibility for rehabilitation or recovery" -- and they even put it in writing that they wouldn't want to go on that way.
Sounds good to me. I don't think we'll need a poll on this one.
I stopped "feeding" the print media quite a few years ago; have never regretted it, and feel no loss. Actually, with the internet available, I think I am infinitely better informed. So, I encourage everyone to "pull the feeding tube" on the print media. They're obsolete, and some of them even know that!
What about Michael Schiavo hooking up with the creepy "fringe" death cultist, Felos?
It's no secret that the vibrant intelligent life is already resident on the Internet and the institutions that formerly controlled intellectual life like the newspapers, publishers, universities and schools are lagging badly and cannot remain viable, much less competitive. They were media for their times -- and now they're not, and certainly not the leading edge in society anymore. Thus, they're still pinning those hopes that history will repeat itself and restore their prominence and lustre.
They could remain on top as long as the game was closed -- particularly the writing game. Formerly, publishers and editors were very powerful because they controlled the game -- decided who they favored and who they didn't. Many are still operating with that mentality even though the world has changed dramatically. It shouldn't surprise anyone that elitists don't want a level playing field; they want to keep the old status quo with themselves at the top, insisting that everyone has to go through them. In today's world of infinite possibilities, it's easy to go around them -- and not have to go far out of one's way. They'll keep demanding as long as anybody takes them seriously that you have to go through them.
In order to remain a big fish, they have to keep the pond so small that nobody of any talent and potential can ever challenge them. In this way they get weaker and weaker while the real writing and thought is being forged on forums and discussions like these. This is not just the old publishing/media game transposed to the Internet; it's another game entirely in which the old media falls farther behind each day. The critical readers and writers are on the Internet; the newspaper subscribers are largely those who continue out of habit or because they grew up in an age before WalMart offered everyday low prices and so they had to clip coupons to get the advertised specials -- or worse of all, because they just feel sorry for these guys -- these losers pretending to be winners.
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