http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2080574Oh my.
Oscar Wilde, the large-proboscised primitive.
Cyrano (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 11:55 AM
Original message
Republicans aren’t the problem. The media is the problem.
The early 20th century journalist, H. L. Mencken, said “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.â€
In other words, America has far too many know-nothings/bigots/and people who are too damn stupid to know that they’re aiding and abetting their own destruction.
And there’s one simple reason for this – the media. Virtually everything these people see on TV “news,†and virtually everything they read, is propaganda. It’s propaganda that’s being fed to them by the owners -- those who own the media, own the politicians and, in effect, own all of us.
All the sit-ins, marches, occupying Wall Street, lttes, petitions to representatives, and everything else we do isn’t enough to force change. Nothing will change until we rip the means of mass communications from the bloody hands of those who control it.
In every revolution, since the age of mass communications began, the first target of the revolutionaries has always been the radio and TV stations. It’s because those who control the message control everything else.
The web has some influence, but it’s not reaching those who can’t, wont, or don’t pay attention. Watching five minutes of Fox “News†in some waiting room somewhere has more influence on them than every sane word ever spoken or printed on the internet.
So here’s my question. How do we get through to the masses that have let themselves get screwed their entire lives and just don’t get it? How do we overcome the billions of dollars that are being spent to keep them in ignorance and servitude?
Nice hand-wringing there, Oscar. Also nice projection, great projection.
pintobean (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 11:59 AM
Response to Original message
1. 'Americans are sooo stupid' posts never get old.
Cyrano (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. The truth can't be repeated often enough
The skidmarked underwear primitive, the disconsolate older middle-aged farmwife in eastern Iowa:
Skidmore (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:03 PM
Response to Original message
2. Corporations own both the Rs and the media.
The rotund aspylad, for whom capitalism sends him a welfare check every month:
Odin2005 (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
4. Capitalism is the problem.
Cyrano (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. Unregulated capitalism is the problem
It worked fairly well between the end of WWII and 1980 because there were rules, regulations, and watchdogs to enforce them. Then St. Ronnie came along and began the destruction of oversight.
The result is, capitalism, as it exists today, leaves us sheep in a jungle of predators who hire the shepards.
Hmmmm.
I guess I'll have to nadin "shepards." Later.
TBF (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:17 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. Exactly. There's no way to regulate or contain it. It's a system that is inherently unequal and barbaric. It has to go.
Cyrano (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. And replace it with ... what?
Yes, unregulated capitalism sucks as much as any fascist system.
But here's the problem. If we had the power to totally destroy capitalism, we'd require a theory of how to organize a fair and equitable society/community. And as far as I know, we don't have one.
So that would leave us with anarchy. Do you really want something like a "Mad Max" society?
Jack Sprat (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:49 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. A mixed economy that regulates limits of capitalism and permits enough Socialism to provide full employment, healthcare, and social security. That's what we had prior to 1980 when Reaganism began stripping all the socialist elements of our economy. A good economy that would make no promises of individual wealth, but shared prosperity for the majority. In my town while growing up in the 1950s, the business owners lived in the same neighborhoods as the business employees and went to the same schools. The social fabric broke down when attaining wealth became the goal of judging personal success.
At some point, we need to concede that socialism has provided the foundation of middle class growth that made America #1 across the world; until Reagan made it and government the enemy of the people instead.
Boojatta (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-08-11 12:10 PM
Response to Original message
5. Start small, and build an audience.
The initial goal cannot realistically be to be a competitive threat to Fox. That's a good thing. What seems small and unimportant flies under the radar.
Think big, but start small. What is small but real eventually triumphs over what is big but phony.
Another day, another whine from Oscar.....
