The Neo-Cons Are Coming!
The Neo-Cons Are Coming!
Today, they've stolen how you get to perceive your world.
The old question of "Do you believe everything you read?" today officially becomes "You don't believe anything you read, see or hear anymore, do you?"
What if a story like the Holocaust was just too messy a story to run with; one that's feared might upset the American people? Or expose a campaign contributor? We can't have that, now, can we?
Thanks to Kevin Drum's blog, CalPundit, today I came upon this poll release from the Los Angeles Times of 4/2/03, taken during the invasion of Iraq. Its results reverberate today.
In reporting on the poll, Kevin focused on Americans' stated reasons for supporting the Iraq incursion. Since I was lucky enough to enjoy many years working with Lou Harris at The Harris Poll, other things caught my eye.
Today marks the death of the First Amendment as we know it. As Colin Powell's son, FCC Chairman Michael Powell, declares an end to media guidelines by fiat (a card-carrying Neo-Con, he has steadfastly insisted he would do this for the last two and a half years), it's interesting to see just where Americans were getting their daily information about the U.S. invasion.
The L.A. Times let respondents pick upwards of three information outlets. [I've included who controls the main players in each outlet. Look familiar?] The overall results were:
- Cable News shows - 69%
(CNN = AOL Time Warner; MSNBC = Microsoft/General Electric; FOX News Channel = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Newspapers - 30%
(Gannett; Knight-Ridder; The Tribune Company; The New York Times Company; The Washington Post Company; Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.; Copley)
- Local news shows - 23%
(Mostly affiliates of Networks: ABC = The Disney Corporation; CBS = Viacom; NBC = General Electric; FOX = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Network news shows - 18%
(ABC = The Disney Corporation; CBS = Viacom; NBC = General Electric; FOX = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Internet - 13%
(Cable: AOL = AOL Time Warner; Road Runner = AOL Time Warner; Optimum = Cablevision; Comcast; Earthlink / DSL: Verizon; AT&T; Southwestern Bell; Quest / Satellite: Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Radio news shows - 8%
(Clear Channel = close family friends with the Bushes; 1160 radio stations swallowed nationally since 1997; includes no liberal voices, stars Rush Limbaugh and other leading rightist commentators; started the Dixie Chicks censorship movement)
- Family and friends - 4%
("What did Uncle Mort hear from the barber this morning?")
- Other - 2%
(Includes "God's voice," where the president gets most of his information.)
What I find most striking about these numbers is how these break down into demographic groups. Most polling analysts can tell you that's where the interesting facts lie. That's where you find just how the populace fragments and polarizes, even if the sum of both sides balances the whole. Which is what happens mostly today in our fractured society.
Here, there are no fragments.
Stunningly, the numbers above represent the entire spectrum of Americans. The L.A. Times broke it down across every political division: Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, Men, Women. Each and every group was within a few points up or down of the total number. Surprisingly, this is how we ALL get our news.
You and I, we are united as a country. You and I, all 250+ million strong of us, we are all going to the informational slaughter together. Because all we'll ever know from here on in is just what a few dozen men playing golf together decide they want us to know. Period.
That's how at-risk you and I are of falling prey to a politically well-connected, corporately controlled and financed propaganda machine.
Only now, Paul Revere will never get to see those lanterns, and Tom Paine will just be bought out and closed down.
Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
posted by Gotham 1:27 PM
