Posted on 05/31/2005 11:03:55 AM PDT by smoothsailing
HA!!
A mere *pea* against the hull of a "Missouri class" battleship, my friend.
No more, and no less.
"How long can the MSM continue to take on water?"
As long as the mega multinational corporate advertiser dollars flood-in to keep their bugger(s) afloat, I suspect.
~eh? ;^)
Of course "we" could always get *rid* of all that baloney, clean *everything* up, and get "patriotism" back where it belongs simply by getting rid of capitalism, but, "we" sure wouldn't wanna see that happen now, would we. ( /sarc + ;^) = :o) )
~snip~
"I've given some thought to what it would take to tear down the Ministry of Truth...I've come to believe it's a chicken and egg thing. Who gets the pink slips first, management or employees?"
My friend.
Wasn't it the Dutch who invented a parable for illustrating the folly of what you've suggested, above?
Finger, dike, Dutch-boy & all that? :^)
"I would submit that neither alone would get the job done because the internal battles would pretty much lead to a status quo. That is, it would take a complete house cleaning to exorcise the cancer. Then again, the patient may be terminal...There is no enemy, foreign or domestic, that is more of a danger to our culture and way of life than the old media."
Make time to sit yourself down and watch [a rented copy] of midget-mega-mouth Spike Lee's epic, Malcolm X, OK?
Wait for the scene an imprisoned, drug withdrawing Malcolm Little is approached {HINT: takes place in the prison latrine} by a NOI member who proceeds to give young Malcolm a little *advise*/*insight*.
Specifically informing Malcolm of precisely what he's [been] fighting, and, what Malcolm must do to fight back against the forces.
Forces a FOI is adamant are responsible for & behind his -- & all other oppressed minorities -- predicament.
Using the *hindsight* of my years, FGS, it seems to me if we were to all have the *kind* of "equality" -- visa vi Liberal-Socialist style -- we were destined to one day live in circa 2005?
Then this must've meant a herculean effort had to be made whereby the entire nation would become *equally* "oppressed", and, if my assessment's correct?
Then there's some damned good *advise* in [that] scene out of Malcolm X we could all use, today.
If for no other reason than to *help* us identify exactly *who* the enemy is?
Something I'd think quite crucial if we're to *fight* back; lest, we continue shooting peas against hulls?
I dare you, watch it.
Make my day. {g}
Then we'll talk.
...of dictionaries, dynasties and dictators. ;^)
.....Then again, the patient may be terminal .....
The decline and fall of Rome took 400 years or so. I would hope the decline and fall of the MSM could take a while less. The terminal disease is not adequately debilitating to suit me.
You are correct in your chicken and egg thought. As we have progressed in our efforts to illuminate the masses and perhaps tilt at windmills it seems to me that a shift in point of attack is in order. The masses are no longer innocent. A realization of MSM bias is pretty general.
I favor going after the bosses. The goal would be to have them ostracized from polite society. When there is a gathering, good people would shun the MSM boss. If he walks down the street, people would hug the biulding to avoid him. "Oh, he's the publisher of the New York Times, the one who lets his people tell all those lies."....That's the attitude to be developed.
Just a thought, but transnatinal or even sansnational might be a more appropriate moniker for these global giants, hmmm?
Finger, dike, Dutch-boy & all that?
These days that sorta language takes on a whole new perspective.....don't it?;^)
Forces a FOI is adamant are responsible for & behind his -- & all other oppressed minorities -- predicament.
Sounds provocative. In the meantime, I'll check in with my brother on the subject. He's seen the movie and I believe he said it was worth a look. Trouble is, I can sit at this computer for 5 - 6 hours at a whack easier than I can sit and watch a 2 hour movie. Go figger.
Something I'd think quite crucial if we're to *fight* back; lest, we continue shooting peas against hulls?
Well, you know me, the eternal optimist. 'Course having been "in the woods" for some years now, has given me a little different outlook generally. Different kind of people. Good people for the most part that too often take what their "leaders" say as the gospel. BUT, I wouldn't want to be on the other side when/if they discover they are being had. Slow to anger but tough as nails they are. And anyhow, that pea could hit a bad rivet near a weak bulkhead you know ;^)
FGS
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,410,000 for Abu Ghraib.
Results 1 - 10 of about 158,000 for Beslan terror.
Sounds like the author---Ms. Cinnamon Stillwell---is going full throttle in her conversion from a lefty to an anti-lefty. I remember that she 'came out of the closet' as an anti-lefty not too long ago in a San Francisco paper.
Tall order bert. And of course you realize they don't hang with polite society anyway. Their circle consists of "enlightened" dolts who always look like they smell something funny in the rare instances they venture into the red areas, not realizing it's their own foul stench they smell when they hit the fresh air. I can't see anything changing their hero status in the teeming cesspools they seem to thrive in. Could be wrong.
If however you're talking about flyover country, there may be some possibilities. I wouldn't know where to begin; have you given it some thought?
FGS
In any event it was a good read and provoked some interesting posts on this thread.Thanks for the input!
Ha ... You are of course, correct. Raising a stink that will not be smelled in the rarified air seems futile.
My thought was that the raising and harping on the concept of individuals being responsible for bias might eventually get through to enough minds to cause discomfort. Consider our plight in the fall of 2000 and compare that with now. Change has occurred. Our part in that change is debatable, but the change is a fact.
How much directed, consistant thought? Not a great deal. I don't have the passion nor the time to engage as I did before.
Call 'em what you like, my friend.
All I know is "Americans" are no longer "in charge" of corporations doing business in the United States of America for the most part, any longer.
And we can see the result of that lack of control.
*Why* in the world would said corporations do *anything* "patriotic"?
It's a silly unrealistic expectation, don'tcha think?
OK let's take the Australian Rupert Murdoch for example.
Not including his publishing empire, his American broadcast television interests run the whole spectrum from "news" (with the FNC), to "sports" (with MLB/NBA/NFL/NAZZZCAR) to "entertainment" (with FoxTV & FX) and it was recently reported he dominates *all*??
Wow.
Notice what's happening at his nets?
Murdoch "plays to the room" with the FNC and one needs their head examined if they believe FNC is "conservative".
Yet America's political right is so desperate for representation they've elevated FNC *&* its owner to near demigod status?
Think that's an accident, or, the behavior of and result of being corralled?
Given what's happening at Murdoch's FX & FoxTV et al, the filth, smut and Lord knows what else the man's responsible for being broadcast on America's airwaves he's personally "covered" because of his FNC.
Nuts, just nuts.
Murdoch has single handedly pushed the proverbial "envelope" further than the other 3 sewer-nets, combined.
And he's succeeded in 9 out of 10 instances, too.
And why not?
Ever seen what televison looks like in Australia, England or Europe in general?
If not just watch Murdoch's nets & you'll get a reasonable taste.
And if at some point you realize you've *not* been watching anything reminiscent of "America", it's because it ain't American.
What you/we see is what Murdoch & Co *think* is American be it good, bad or indifferent.
But whatever it is he gets away with impunity, unscathed and making scads of loot.
Sex has always sold inasfar as "entertainment" goes, so Murdoch didn't do anything "creative" or "innovative" by employing the most guttural bottom-of-the-barrel programming content at his entertainment nets.
Hardly.
What Murdoch is, *is* courageous -- if not full to overflowing with a degree of chutzpah never before witnessed in our lifetime -- for *trying* because apparently he took the 1st Amandment, literally.
Because prior to his coming the other 3 nitwit-nets wouldn't have dared airing the kind of smut he does, out of an abject & well placed fear of sponsor backlash, eh?
But what happens when sponsors -- like P&G, Ford et al -- are no longer majority American owned/operated "American" interests, but rather "global"?
What of the corps who were traditionally America owned & operated but are now, unbeknownst to a huge majority of Americans, no longer bound by our customs & mores?
Furthemore what of those corps *&* their BoDs who hold The United States of American, for whatever reason(s), in contempt?
Think they'd object to all manner of shit being smeared around the country of our birth via our airwaves?
Or, are they *responsible* for it?
The kind of change which has so many "old school" Americans so angry and upset only happened after the traditional American MSM became [quite] emboldened, and that happened after they'd witnessed the success Murdoch had peddling shit *and* the total absence of consequence.
Only then did ABCNBCCBS rush hell-bent for the lowest possible denominator to be the content of their programming, too.
Mr.C?
Why do you suppose foreign entities are prohibited from owning broadcast mediums -- of any type -- in other nations like say Japan, to name just one?
What do leaders of other countries know that ours don't?
Has anyone who's advocating coporate America take the lead in "cleaning things up" thought much about what the three Murdoch interests are actually doing in an effort at understanding how the shell game's now being played?
Methinks not; hence, the angst.
>Finger, dike, Dutch-boy & all that?
"These days that sorta language takes on a whole new perspective...don't it?"
HA!!
I was deliberately gender specific, my friend.
Your close & prolonged exposure to MSM rays has, I'm afraid, taken a toll. {g}
>Forces a FOI is adamant are responsible for & behind his -- & all other oppressed minorities -- predicament.
"Sounds provocative."
It is.
OBTW you *did* notice *who* recently -- or soon to be -- "qualifies" as a "minority" in The United States of America?
The demographics my friend, they are-a-changin'.
The world you & I knew as youngsters was a "culture" Mr.C...and today it may be said it's a dead culture.
I do not say that to be provocative or controversial, hardly.
Just stating a fact.
The United States of America will continue [on] for many, many years to come; however, it will not be an America you & I recognize because that America's been destroyed.
Can one rely of the constitution today?
A constitution which has become increasingly irrelevant and/or meaningless with every passing day?
I don't *think* so.
How about the ballot box?
Vote on/for anything going against the grain of some *ideal* devised by *someone/body* and within a short period of time the election & will of the people's negated, annnnnd done so by a *single* member of our judiciary, to boot.
In fact that bullshit's become quite routine, huh.
Minimal standards for "decency" for our media?
That too has gone out the window because what's considered "decent" in the United States is not the same as [in] another part of the globe.
As they say, "possession is nineteenths of the law," eh?
Ask Rupert if I lost ya on that one, OK? :o)
Malcolm X was handed a dictionary and told -- matter of factly -- he was to read the book from the very first word on the very first page to the very last word of the very last page.
When he was finished, thoroughly knew *&* understood the meaning of every word contained within that dictionary?
He was to then use every one of those words against "the man" [read: white man].
While today it isn't the "white man" who's necessarily the target of such rage any longer, that rage is directed toward a specific *ideology*; but, it does serve nicely as a metaphor, don't you think? :o)
In any event methinks someone's used the words I learned growing up, against me, just the same.
"In the meantime, I'll check in with my brother on the subject. He's seen the movie and I believe he said it was worth a look. Trouble is, I can sit at this computer for 5 - 6 hours at a whack easier than I can sit and watch a 2 hour movie. Go figger."
That is precisely why I told you "Sit yourself down".
>Something I'd think quite crucial if we're to *fight* back; lest, we continue shooting peas against hulls?
"Well, you know me, the eternal optimist."
And may God richly Bless you for that optimism, my friend.
But I caution you against seeing exactly what you want to see, at the same time.
That'd be the first sign of a fool, and a fool you're not.
"'Course having been "in the woods" for some years now, has given me a little different outlook generally."
Now that I occupy this mountain top parcel tucked away here in Wisconsin's Kettle Moriane, I can *relate*. ;^)
"Different kind of people. Good people for the most part that too often take what their "leaders" say as the gospel."
Good people all, and soon to be victims.
Yet these *new* victims will never enjoy the luxury of "victim status" either, for by the time they've officially recognized their situation the definition will have changed.
Their angry reaction(s) will be labeled "extremist", "Militant", or whatever else marginalizes 'em.
"BUT, I wouldn't want to be on the other side when/if they discover they are being had. Slow to anger but tough as nails they are."
Their numbers won't be nearly large enough to constitute an "army" I'm afraid. and it's only an "army" who commands respect in a place where things have become so screwed-up and convoluted.
Whether or not "they" *agree* with that which they discover is their immediate fate they'll nonetheless be expected to do as they're told, or else.
Those will be the rules.
"And anyhow, that pea could hit a bad rivet near a weak bulkhead you know"
HA!!
Optimists.
What I wouldn't give right about now.
...for a good slingshot. ;^)
I dunno bert. Maybe the best we can do is continue to spread the word, although I'd like nothing better than to rub the media mogul's faces in a steaming pile. Just a hunch, but I believe the Ministry of Agitprop has GOT to be feeling some, uh, confusion right about now. After all, they're the wunderkinds; why won't anybody listen to 'em any more.
Consider our plight in the fall of 2000 and compare that with now. Change has occurred. Our part in that change is debatable, but the change is a fact.
Indeed it is! If nothing else, we helped to create an environment in which to smack 'em around a little. I believe we were also instrumental in creating a heightened "vigilance" on FR re media shenanigans. There are thousands of voices that emanate from FR and the impact on the lurker audience can't be measured, but I suspect it's substantial.
Hearsay only. But if only some of it is accurate, it's a wasteland. Smut is cheap.....and it sells. I've never seen audience demographics but I'd be curious to see who actually watches this stuff. Any guesses?
But whatever it is he gets away with impunity, unscathed and making scads of loot.
And it runs headlong into the 1st amendment....ostensibly. The media and the courts said so! Did our founders even consider the peddling of smut when they penned the 1st? Probably, but since it generally could not be construed as political expression, they gave it no weight? Left if to the states, where it belonged. Enter, interstate commerce....
Anyway, a question I've asked several times on FR(without much response) is, does a society/culture have the right, the duty even, to demand certain minimum standards from its members. The answer, to me is obvious. Standards tempered with God given "rights"? Does anyone have the God given right to view/read/hear smut? I don't think so.
We "hire" people to enforce those standards; representatives, judges and the like that should be answerable to the ones who created the standards, no?
Thought provoking stuff you've written Dan, but gotta run for now. Speaking of run, deer have been using my yard for a freeway lately. Fun to watch, since they come through with head high, ears up, and high steppin'. They shouldn't worry. I haven't popped a cap on one in years ;^)
Later my friend,
FGS
bumping for knews hound
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.