I've really been meaning to discuss media in America, and now I'm finally getting around to it. Televised news programs are where the majority of our country gets their day to day news, and if not that, they go to those same programs' websites. Print media is pretty much dead, as technology continues to grow and change, and major news/media has been compromised by corporate America. So how can we trust the news anymore?
Over the past 30-40 years, America has grown more and more conservative in the idea that we need corporate deregulation. Even liberal representatives have supported and allowed for industry/corporations to govern much of the country, and the news media is a part of that. Every major news company is owned and regulated by a larger corporation, which may or may not allow certain things to be aired on TV. In a way, Americans are never really getting the full story, because of political bias and corporate ties to the news. Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC - all of these are owned by giant companies, where their CEO decides what news the public gets to hear. I'll go ahead and break down how this all works, because the average American citizen has no idea.
Let's start out with Faux News, and no that's not a typo. Faux News Channel, the conservative equivalent to CNN, is a 24 hour news channel that is ranked as one of the most watched news channels in the country. It is known for the extreme conservative bias on all stories and programming, bringing in some very insane people like Bill O'Reilly and Glen Beck to host shows. But whether or not Faux tends to hire complete morons, they are controlled by a large corporation called News Corporation. Rupert Murdoch, ranked 117 wealthiest man in the world, is the CEO of News Corp. and one of the most powerful men in America. Is it really a good idea to have someone like this in charge of what news you get to hear everyday? Of course Murdoch is known for his ties to wall street, I mean he owns the Wall Street Journal! So what happens when wall street is responsible for our country's economic collapse and its bankers and CEOs receive massive bonus's and tax breaks? Well, Faux News is going to paint a very pretty picture, fabricating the truth to make the entire situation seem okay - which is what they do every day, fabricate the truth.
But its not just the conservatives who are in the wrong here. CNN, a very liberal media, is responsible for political bias as well. Owned by Time Warner (another large media conglomerate), CNN usually brings a very liberal spin on its stories. Time Warner runs a large portion of the entertainment industry in America, including Warner Bros Studios, HBO, Time Magazine, etc. This large company controls the news it allows to be aired on its programming just like News Corp. does with Faux, which allows for the viewer to not get the truth in news.
Now a recent example of this would be with NBC. NBC, of course, is another liberal news channel. After the public found out that General Electric, one of America's largest corporations, paid no taxes in 2010 after gaining $14 billion dollars in revenue - NBC remained the only news programming not to cover the story. Why is that? Because GE owns NBC. How can we trust our news programming if large corporations get to dictate, what is acceptable news and what isn't?
Broken down a little more, there are basically 6 corporations that run the ENTIRE entertainment industry, who in turn also run a large portion of America. News Corporations, Time Warner, Walt Disney Company, Viacom, General Electric, and CBS Corporation - all have divided up the entertainment industry in America across the board. They own the film companies, the record labels, the TV programming - if you turn on your TV and go through every single channel, chances are that these six companies own 90% of your stations.
On top of entertainment ownership, which is the tip of the iceberg, these corporations have their hands in much more. They produce, own rights to, or distribute internet capabilities and energy resources, and even have a strong influence in politics. With six major corporations, comes basically 6 CEOs (some companies have more than others, this is just for example) - which is 6 people to control everything you watch on TV, everything you hear on the radio, and everything you see in a movie theater. 6 people! Do you really want your entertainment and world knowledge being controlled by 6 people? I know I don't. There is a reason we have such a divided nation. There is a reason we have such a misinformed nation. The establishment media in our country has been compromised and is merely used to keep Americans asleep, while corporations like these dictate our daily lives.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day
I hope all of you have a safe and fun Mother's Day, and I'll be back with a new blog post tomorrow about media in the United States and will be discussing which programs, if any, are the most truthful (releasing the most fact without bias).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Only Judgment Day Is August 29, 1997
As the sun shines bright again, the trees turn green, and the air warms up all I have to say is "finally, it's May." But if you're driving along a highway in the south, you may come across some warnings that say May isn't such a great month this year.
89 year old radio host and all around nut-job, Harold Camping, has predicted that Judgment Day will be May 21, 2011. Apparently, at 6pm (I guess Eastern time) there will be a great earthquake, which will be felt around the world. Jesus will take the "chosen ones" into Heaven, while the rest of us free thinkers will chill on Earth. After a period of about 5 months, the world will end in a ball of fire. I'm sorry, but I have to call bullshit on this one.
Now, I'm usually very tolerant of beliefs and ideas, but things like this really aggravate me. First off, to believe this man's logic, you have to believe the Earth is less than 15, 000 years old, which has been scientifically proven false. But as I understand it, Camping decided to look through the bible for the last few decades, take some numbers, make a complicated and wacky math problem out of the whole thing, and get rich pretty quickly by developing believers. How rich, you may ask? Well, his followers and believers have paid for the entire promotion and spread of this idea, through advertisement and other means, along with donating millions of dollars to him and his cause.
Americans, so blinded by faith, willing to give away their hard earned money to a known con-man. It's a shame. Not many people remember back in 1994, when Camping said the same shit. Well, 1994 came and went, the world never saw Jesus return, and Camping got away with everything - more followers and more money. Why do we put so much trust and faith in these so-called "messengers of god?" They are simply people, just like the men who wrote the bible. It is one big scare tactic to make billions of people submit to discrimination, sexism, racism, and violence. Even this campaign for May 21st has used extreme propaganda in videos and promotion, to scare the average person (who by the way has a lot of trouble thinking for themselves).
If you viewed the video, you can see that somebody who is weak-minded, would probably be scared to death by this. So scared that they are willing to give up their rights to live freely, and just believe a random idea without question. These people all over the country didn't question Camping, because he threw some big numbers at them, and proposed the theory in an educated manner. Is it such a bad thing to question the validity of a belief? It is definitely frowned upon these days. Society doesn't like questions. Questions make powerful men look bad. And when powerful men look bad, there is a bigger chance that people realize they are being mislead, which is exactly what is happening throughout America - Americans are being mislead.
This brings me to my main point. Question everything. Challenge everything. In a world full of corruption, misinformation, greed, and total economic control by the top 1%, it is the responsibility of the common people to question what is true. Our news is controlled and distributed by the same people who control our oil, and our military, and our government. Our resources are controlled, and distributed in such a way that the majority of Americans are forced to conform and adjust. So how can we trust the information that is given to us? We can't. We can only question, and search for the truth on our own. The entire system Americans live under is a game, which has been set up carefully and tactically for the past 50 years. It's a system that helps the rich become richer and more in control, while eliminating the middle class, and keeping the lower class on its knees. And the system will never change unless we wake up and unite.
So whether you believe in this judgment day theory, or you believe in the 2012 idea, it doesn't really matter because its all a scam to create a climate of fear. As for me, the only Judgment Day I care about happened on August 29, 1997 - the day Skynet became self aware, and the war against the machines began.
89 year old radio host and all around nut-job, Harold Camping, has predicted that Judgment Day will be May 21, 2011. Apparently, at 6pm (I guess Eastern time) there will be a great earthquake, which will be felt around the world. Jesus will take the "chosen ones" into Heaven, while the rest of us free thinkers will chill on Earth. After a period of about 5 months, the world will end in a ball of fire. I'm sorry, but I have to call bullshit on this one.
Now, I'm usually very tolerant of beliefs and ideas, but things like this really aggravate me. First off, to believe this man's logic, you have to believe the Earth is less than 15, 000 years old, which has been scientifically proven false. But as I understand it, Camping decided to look through the bible for the last few decades, take some numbers, make a complicated and wacky math problem out of the whole thing, and get rich pretty quickly by developing believers. How rich, you may ask? Well, his followers and believers have paid for the entire promotion and spread of this idea, through advertisement and other means, along with donating millions of dollars to him and his cause.
Americans, so blinded by faith, willing to give away their hard earned money to a known con-man. It's a shame. Not many people remember back in 1994, when Camping said the same shit. Well, 1994 came and went, the world never saw Jesus return, and Camping got away with everything - more followers and more money. Why do we put so much trust and faith in these so-called "messengers of god?" They are simply people, just like the men who wrote the bible. It is one big scare tactic to make billions of people submit to discrimination, sexism, racism, and violence. Even this campaign for May 21st has used extreme propaganda in videos and promotion, to scare the average person (who by the way has a lot of trouble thinking for themselves).
If you viewed the video, you can see that somebody who is weak-minded, would probably be scared to death by this. So scared that they are willing to give up their rights to live freely, and just believe a random idea without question. These people all over the country didn't question Camping, because he threw some big numbers at them, and proposed the theory in an educated manner. Is it such a bad thing to question the validity of a belief? It is definitely frowned upon these days. Society doesn't like questions. Questions make powerful men look bad. And when powerful men look bad, there is a bigger chance that people realize they are being mislead, which is exactly what is happening throughout America - Americans are being mislead.
This brings me to my main point. Question everything. Challenge everything. In a world full of corruption, misinformation, greed, and total economic control by the top 1%, it is the responsibility of the common people to question what is true. Our news is controlled and distributed by the same people who control our oil, and our military, and our government. Our resources are controlled, and distributed in such a way that the majority of Americans are forced to conform and adjust. So how can we trust the information that is given to us? We can't. We can only question, and search for the truth on our own. The entire system Americans live under is a game, which has been set up carefully and tactically for the past 50 years. It's a system that helps the rich become richer and more in control, while eliminating the middle class, and keeping the lower class on its knees. And the system will never change unless we wake up and unite.
So whether you believe in this judgment day theory, or you believe in the 2012 idea, it doesn't really matter because its all a scam to create a climate of fear. As for me, the only Judgment Day I care about happened on August 29, 1997 - the day Skynet became self aware, and the war against the machines began.
Monday, May 2, 2011
American Empire
I'm sure many of you woke up this morning to check your facebook accounts, finding thousands of status's about Osama Bin Laden's death. Yes, it is official, the face of global terrorism has finally been killed. I'm sure this is a day of much emotion for many across the country, especially for those effected by the events of September 11, 2001. There has been rejoicing in the streets, unity among our government leaders, and overall celebration... but I think we need to understand that the reality of the situation is that America created the monster.
Now, I don't want to offend anyone, but it's the truth. America's foreign policy, actions during conflict between Russia and Afghanistan, and global empire (especially stationed in the middle east) has created people like Bin Laden. Do you really think people commit mass murder for the hell of it? No. Muslim extremism is a reaction and revolt to America's actions over the past 40 years, and can even be traced back to global religious war from the crusades. The fact remains, America created the monster, and when he used us for our supplies and our money, he turned against us. There is something to be said here about America's foreign policy and empire.
Since WWII, America's priority has been global domination, it's no secret. We have military presence in every major region of the world right now, which is what we call an empire. Our control over land and resources has always been justified in the name of freedom, where the only freedom that arises is our leaders' freedom to do whatever they want. When I talk about leaders in this country, I honestly mean the corporate machine that controls our country's policies. America hasn't fought for freedom since WWII. Every conflict and war since the 1950's has been waged and carried out for other people's resources and to make our elites, even richer. And we expect nobody to resist?
If you take a look at history, you will find that the Central Intellegence Agency (CIA) financed, supplied military weapons, and fully supported Bin Laden, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. We helped to train Bin Laden's men, gave them plenty of money, and gave them the weapons they needed... Big mistake.
Fast forward to last night. American special forces find Bin Laden hiding out in a mansion/compound in Pakistan. I thought Pakistan was our allie. Truth is, nobody in the middle east is our allie. The region is overrun with religious extremism, theocracy, and corruption. You want to know why it took the U.S. 10 years to find Bin Laden? Money. As we know, money rules the world. Only the rich have power, and Bin Laden has a lot of money. Millions actually. He hasn't been hiding in caves like a wild animal, which is the assumption America has made over the last decade.
Pakistan knew where he was, as I'm sure numerous other countries did. I'd go as far to say that the American government had officials who may have had information as well, but like I said, pay offs and corruption have kept Bin Laden safe for decades.
It's even more mind blowing to me that we don't put more blame on former former administrations who had the opportunity to take Bin Laden into custody. It's obvious the Bin Laden family's ties with American industry and corporations influenced previous presidents to NOT deal with the situation. Less than two months after 9/11, George W. Bush had an opportunity to capture Bin Laden, when the Taliban offered to turn him in. When you have a president who doesn't care about the truth, only empire and money, justice cannot be served. Bush didn't care if Bin Laden planned 9/11, because he convinced our Congress and nation that Iraq was more important. Our global empire has become nothing more than one corrupt system, where even the most wanted man in the world can buy his way out of anything.
I guess we will find out in the days ahead, what will happen as a result of Osama's killing. It's almost certain, there will be blood. There will be violence. The death of Osama Bin Laden will not sit well with the middle east, and retaliation is inevitable. I call on you, the people, to stand up not only against religious extremism, but against the corporate machine that has fueled it. We must not let these atrocities go, and we must truly unite to fight a war of our own. Because this is our world, it does not belong to a god, and it does not belong to a CEO.
Now, I don't want to offend anyone, but it's the truth. America's foreign policy, actions during conflict between Russia and Afghanistan, and global empire (especially stationed in the middle east) has created people like Bin Laden. Do you really think people commit mass murder for the hell of it? No. Muslim extremism is a reaction and revolt to America's actions over the past 40 years, and can even be traced back to global religious war from the crusades. The fact remains, America created the monster, and when he used us for our supplies and our money, he turned against us. There is something to be said here about America's foreign policy and empire.
Since WWII, America's priority has been global domination, it's no secret. We have military presence in every major region of the world right now, which is what we call an empire. Our control over land and resources has always been justified in the name of freedom, where the only freedom that arises is our leaders' freedom to do whatever they want. When I talk about leaders in this country, I honestly mean the corporate machine that controls our country's policies. America hasn't fought for freedom since WWII. Every conflict and war since the 1950's has been waged and carried out for other people's resources and to make our elites, even richer. And we expect nobody to resist?
If you take a look at history, you will find that the Central Intellegence Agency (CIA) financed, supplied military weapons, and fully supported Bin Laden, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. We helped to train Bin Laden's men, gave them plenty of money, and gave them the weapons they needed... Big mistake.
Fast forward to last night. American special forces find Bin Laden hiding out in a mansion/compound in Pakistan. I thought Pakistan was our allie. Truth is, nobody in the middle east is our allie. The region is overrun with religious extremism, theocracy, and corruption. You want to know why it took the U.S. 10 years to find Bin Laden? Money. As we know, money rules the world. Only the rich have power, and Bin Laden has a lot of money. Millions actually. He hasn't been hiding in caves like a wild animal, which is the assumption America has made over the last decade.
Pakistan knew where he was, as I'm sure numerous other countries did. I'd go as far to say that the American government had officials who may have had information as well, but like I said, pay offs and corruption have kept Bin Laden safe for decades.
It's even more mind blowing to me that we don't put more blame on former former administrations who had the opportunity to take Bin Laden into custody. It's obvious the Bin Laden family's ties with American industry and corporations influenced previous presidents to NOT deal with the situation. Less than two months after 9/11, George W. Bush had an opportunity to capture Bin Laden, when the Taliban offered to turn him in. When you have a president who doesn't care about the truth, only empire and money, justice cannot be served. Bush didn't care if Bin Laden planned 9/11, because he convinced our Congress and nation that Iraq was more important. Our global empire has become nothing more than one corrupt system, where even the most wanted man in the world can buy his way out of anything.
I guess we will find out in the days ahead, what will happen as a result of Osama's killing. It's almost certain, there will be blood. There will be violence. The death of Osama Bin Laden will not sit well with the middle east, and retaliation is inevitable. I call on you, the people, to stand up not only against religious extremism, but against the corporate machine that has fueled it. We must not let these atrocities go, and we must truly unite to fight a war of our own. Because this is our world, it does not belong to a god, and it does not belong to a CEO.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Long Weekend
I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts lately. I've been working hard to pay the bills. New post tomorrow for sure, but for now... watch the hilarious video from The White House Correspondents' Dinner! Obama's intro, birth video, and total pwnage of Donald Trump is excellent. Whether you like President Obama or not, he's definitely more qualified than anyone in the GOP right now (Trump, Palin, Romney, etc.) Check back tomorrow for a new post. I think I'm going to take weekends off from this blog, and only make it 5 days a week. Everyone needs a break, right?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Freedom of Choice: Part 2 (Money Is Power)
Yesterday I posted a video of the one and only, George Carlin, speaking about choice in America. I wanted you to watch the video, in hopes that you would have a day to really sit and think about your life and how much choice you have on a day to day basis. I wanted you to think about, maybe even research, the fact that America isn't run by the federal government, but by the people who own it. The public information, that nobody seems to know about, explains it simply... our society is run by corporate America.
Since WWII, America has created a capitalist society like no other, one where corporations and industries run the government, not just the economic structure. Essentially, there are really only a few corporations that control the resources of this country. In sociology, this is explained through Conflict Theory, the idea that elites control the wealth and the resources, therefore controlling the people. But that is really what we have in America. Corporations and groups, that own the "choice" we have to make in our daily lives. One example is AOL/Time/Warner. This corporation actually controls and profits from numerous other companies. They own companies in almost every aspect of a person's daily life (TV, film, music, magazines, comic books, internet, etc.). Another example is General Electric, one of the wealthiest companies in America, which made $14 billion in profit last year, paying ABSOLUTELY NO TAXES. On top of this, NBC didn't cover the story about this issue, because NBC is owned by General Electric. If that isn't power, I don't know what is.
But these companies aren't the only ones. This is seen all over the place. It's called corporate synergy. The idea is that major companies will greatly succeed financially if they merge together. This creates more wealth for less people (2 companies that originally required 2 CEO's, now only needs 1 CEO) and with more wealth comes more power. Now these few people have total control over the resources and distribution of resources, probably the greatest power of all. They control the price of food, the price of gas, the price of water, and they even control the media. In a society where the number of free thinkers decreases daily, we have corporations controlling the information and news that gets to us. They decide what we are allowed to hear about, and what should be hidden from us, which is just a way of controlling thought.
Even our financial system has been tainted by this ridiculous system. Remember the $700 billion the federal government gave to the banks to bail them out? That's more than we spend on defense every year in our budget! And why? So bankers and business thugs can give themselves big bonus's, leaving the poor and middle class to rot. That my friends, is power. When you have the United States government in your back pocket, you can get away with anything. Isn't it interesting, that after one of the worse economic meltdowns in American history, not one single person has seen jail time? Its been established for quite some time, that wall street and corporate America drove the country into the ground on purpose, as they made as much money as possible - yet not one person went to jail for it. This is power, greater than any the world as ever known. These corporate elites control our lives and what we can and can't do. If they want a law passed, they get it passed (Koch Brothers and Governor Walker in Wisconsin - eliminating worker rights). If they want money, they get it. The top 1% of this country owns 80% of the wealth, and the number of poor is growing, while our middle class disappears.
In the end, you have no choice, because most of the time, your "choice" really just feeds the machine that enslaves us all. For all of my Simpsons fans - you can either choose Kang for president, or Kodos... it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day, you're going to be a slave. And that is exactly what we are.
Since WWII, America has created a capitalist society like no other, one where corporations and industries run the government, not just the economic structure. Essentially, there are really only a few corporations that control the resources of this country. In sociology, this is explained through Conflict Theory, the idea that elites control the wealth and the resources, therefore controlling the people. But that is really what we have in America. Corporations and groups, that own the "choice" we have to make in our daily lives. One example is AOL/Time/Warner. This corporation actually controls and profits from numerous other companies. They own companies in almost every aspect of a person's daily life (TV, film, music, magazines, comic books, internet, etc.). Another example is General Electric, one of the wealthiest companies in America, which made $14 billion in profit last year, paying ABSOLUTELY NO TAXES. On top of this, NBC didn't cover the story about this issue, because NBC is owned by General Electric. If that isn't power, I don't know what is.
But these companies aren't the only ones. This is seen all over the place. It's called corporate synergy. The idea is that major companies will greatly succeed financially if they merge together. This creates more wealth for less people (2 companies that originally required 2 CEO's, now only needs 1 CEO) and with more wealth comes more power. Now these few people have total control over the resources and distribution of resources, probably the greatest power of all. They control the price of food, the price of gas, the price of water, and they even control the media. In a society where the number of free thinkers decreases daily, we have corporations controlling the information and news that gets to us. They decide what we are allowed to hear about, and what should be hidden from us, which is just a way of controlling thought.
Even our financial system has been tainted by this ridiculous system. Remember the $700 billion the federal government gave to the banks to bail them out? That's more than we spend on defense every year in our budget! And why? So bankers and business thugs can give themselves big bonus's, leaving the poor and middle class to rot. That my friends, is power. When you have the United States government in your back pocket, you can get away with anything. Isn't it interesting, that after one of the worse economic meltdowns in American history, not one single person has seen jail time? Its been established for quite some time, that wall street and corporate America drove the country into the ground on purpose, as they made as much money as possible - yet not one person went to jail for it. This is power, greater than any the world as ever known. These corporate elites control our lives and what we can and can't do. If they want a law passed, they get it passed (Koch Brothers and Governor Walker in Wisconsin - eliminating worker rights). If they want money, they get it. The top 1% of this country owns 80% of the wealth, and the number of poor is growing, while our middle class disappears.
In the end, you have no choice, because most of the time, your "choice" really just feeds the machine that enslaves us all. For all of my Simpsons fans - you can either choose Kang for president, or Kodos... it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day, you're going to be a slave. And that is exactly what we are.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Freedom of Choice
George Carlin, probably the worlds greatest comedian, really explains this better than anyone could. There is no choice in America. I will post more about this tomorrow. Until then, really sit down and think about your role in society, and whether or not you have a real choice in what you do everyday.
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