...BECAUSE THEY ARE THOUGHTS THAT I THINK I AM THINKING ABOUT
Both ‘The Words That Maketh Murder’ and ‘This Glorious Land’ are songs about war and social inequality from one of my favorite singers, the amazing Polly Jean (PJ) Harvey. Where we have major artists (paging Toby Keith) and actors ramping up support for the troops, the protest about the wars has quieted to a murmur as the Congress struggles with the budget, threatening not only the welfare of civilians here, but imperiling the families and state of mind of those who are in harms way (and WHY are we occupying both Afghanistan and Iraq??).
I think it is utterly amazing how Faux News continues to amble on but it really isn’t that surprising. Roger Ailes and not Rupert Murdoch controls the TV operations, issuing directives on not only what stories they will cover and how, but even going as far as giving them scripts for talking points to hammer home whatever version of events that they want people to believe. He is the real puppet master and his sinister handiwork has been evident behind ever GOP President since Nixon.
One reason I think that the Lord Voldemort of the conservatives and those on the right get away with the crap is that people are stupid. No, I mean that sincerely. I can’t imagine some of these idiots like Bachmann, Cantor, or a milquetoast like Pawlenty envisioning any of them as anything more than candidate for a local school board, let alone daring to think they could hold national office back in the 70’s… but maybe that is a nostalgia bias talking… but since ‘Dubya’ was elected President, it seems the bar has been lowered considerably for national office, not to mention the attention span of the voter.
Watching Faux News is an experience similar to Alice’s journey through the looking glass… absolutely NOTHING is ever as it seems. The angle on the debt ceiling and the horrible coverage of the tragedy in Norway are two of the most glaring examples of their unapologetic bias. And it is frightening how easily people are convinced of the obvious propaganda that is streamed by the network.
As I dragged along doing my workout, the Presidential Address and the Repuglican reponse was on the TV. There were two other cats, one a early 20’s cat and another in his late 20’s, working and watching. When they ended, the cat in his late 20’s was like, “I don’t care if someone making $250K pays more taxes…”, but the younger guy was unsure if that was fair. Now what could make him think that way? I mean, he looked to be a working stiff and unless he knows something that he wasn’t sharing, he seemed to be the kind of cat who is going to be working for someone most of his life. Even assuming that, he didn’t seem like he came from a moneyed background, so why does he think that the top 3% of the population should get a pass on shared sacrifice?
The coverage of the Christian extremist by Faux was a joke. First, they jumped the gun and blamed it on an Islamist, then, as was done with the coverage of the Newscorp scandle in England, they blamed everyone else for reporting that the cat was a Christian fundamentalist. A deliberate effort was and prolly is continually going to be made to paint ‘the liberal media’ as villians for making the incident about idealogy.
*sigh* PJ’s songs along with Norway’s ‘Timothy McVeigh moment’ seems to confirm a feeling that I have had only since I became self-aware and developed consciousness… that differences we percieve between people are false and we all live in the same world.
NEXT: TRYING TO STOP THIS NOISE THAT’S SCRATCHING INSIDE MY HEAD
8 comments:
I do believe you are righter than rain.
I have longed since given up watching faux news. I just can't take the assault on my intelligence and I hate to think my fellow Americans thinks this is news reporting. But then again Reality Shows are still hot commodities.
I used to think people were stupid too. But I don't anymore. I think everyone is self-absorbed...if it ain't happening directly to me I don't care. Oh sure we will rally around trials and tribulations a world away, but folks walk past the homeless & hungry everyday right here....and they carry bibles and quote scripture too. Maybe I am being harsh or self-righteous and judgmental.
OK Michelle Bachman is STUPID! there I said it. Forgive me.
PJ has it right....
And now Bill O'Reilly (Douche Hose # 1) claims the Oslo killer is not a christian conservative when he is exactly that!
Love some of the entertainment shows on Fox (Hell's Kitchen, Master Chef), but cannot stomach the news. It is a shame people buy into the nonsense hook, line, and sinker.
Politics is easy. The Liberal's stance is "I am my brother's keeper". The Conservative's stance is "Every man for himself".
What strikes me as funny is that the Conservative Far Right - all those "I got mine and screw you if you can't take care of yourself" people, profess to be Christians - and yet Christ taught that you ARE your brother's keeper.
Seems to me there's a conflict in the ideology of the Right. Maybe THAT'S why they're so screwy - their unresolved conflicts are driving them crazy.
It's one thing to be a "brother's keeper"; quite another to tell him how to live his life and impose laws to make sure that's the ONLY choice in life (i.e. light bulb options!? Really, can't choose what kind of light bulb you want?!). Freedom of choice is the basis of this country, but those are being eliminated by people enacting laws to protect the "uneducated". Plenty of educated people do stupid crap too!!
Quite a few (not all) liberals hate anything remotely religious to be mentioned in an educational setting because that "causes confusion". But not all liberals are atheists, and not all conservatives are religious, but that's the fact people like to look over and focus on the stereotype.
The problem is both sides of the aisles have too much crap in their ears to allow open debate to occur, thus no open minds to even see an alternative perspective on the same issue.
thanks :) and hell yes pj harvey! she's the shit.
I prefer PJ O'Rourke. And I don't have a TV, so...
There is a strange phenomenon in which lower economic earners tend to think of themselves as in a higher bracket. Something to do with "if you fawn all over them and help them, you'll become like them." I liken it to the smart kid who lets the jocks cheat off of him on tests in hopes that they'll like him. They don't. They're just using him.
I hate to use this kind of terminology, but the "lower class" tends to think of themselves as "middle class," and the "lower middle class" tends to think of themselves as "upper middle class." (I'm using that terminology based on income, not any sort of lifestyle judgment.) So although the young man in the gym will probably never get close to making $250K a year, for some reason he wants to protect them from paying more, which HE would probably benefit from!
It's a really weird psychological thing that I find very perplexing.
Post a Comment