The astute observer
need take no more than a cursory glance at the American political
landscape to comprehend its specious nature.Centrist Republican
and his corporate pals vilify rival centrist Democrat as a left
wing radical determined to take more money out of your pocket, in
the process making Big Bad Government still Bigger and Badder. Next,
centrist Democrat and his corporate pals vilify centrist Republican
on the only issues he can use to differentiate himself from his
rival, let's say abortion and gun control. On points of political
economy, however, the two rivals barely differ. It cannot be argued
that for those who believe in the left/right spectrum of Western
political thought, these two contenders occupy at best the middle
15%.
Nothing wrong
with that though, right? The middle is comfortable. The middle is
stable. Some would say centrism is a fecund creature, birthing only
more stability. Here's a second theory. It is not an original thought
to posit that the mainstream media has a vested interest in marginalizing
non-centrist political ideas. It is, however, an often-dismissed
one.
The average Dirty
Rag reader surely does not need this cycle of iniquity codified
for them, but here it is anyway: General Electric makes a lot of
stuff, some of it necessary, some not (light bulbs: yes, electric
can openers: mmm, no.) and they would love to sell all of it to
you and your close friends. Interestingly General Electric also
owns NBC, everyone's favorite creator of soporific television shows,
the very ones with all the beautiful consumer products hanging on
the beautiful peoples' shoulders and on the walls of their beautiful
apartments.
Of course NBC
also airs commercials, which push these same products in a less
insidious though equally specious manner. Revenue from advertising
is ostensibly the lifeblood of the modern television network. So
certainly it is vital to stay in the good graces of the large corporations
whose checks pay for these television programs, in the few cases
where the large corporation does not already own the television
show and its means of broadcast.
So here is the
point of this polemic, finally: NBC also broadcasts the nightly
news. Thus the source of our political/economic news and commentary
comes from a huge consumer/defense products company with a critical
vested interest in marginalizing any ideas that fall outside the
narrowly defined ideological box these sorts of organizations need
to operate with impunity. That box is, of course, unregulated, balls-out
free market capitalism. Now free market trade is perhaps one of
the great intellectual constructions of humanity's short tenure
on earth. But it is an intellectual construct, and thus should be
subject to the regulation of We, Intellectual Creatures. The more
facets of our society are moved into that 'centrist box,' the better
the fortunes of the Fortune 500.
|
A
map of the Longano political paradigm? |
As a result, when
those "too far" to the right of the dominant centrists oppose free
trade policies due to deleterious effects on the American job base,
they are marginalized as isolationists and xenophobes. When those
"too far" to the left for the centrists suggest that it is time
to join the rest of the developed world in implementing a national
health insurance plan, they are vilified as socialists and quickly
dismissed.
This sort of marginalization
has become very easy for the corporate media as of late as the American
electorate has been gently hypnotized by the potent triumvirate
of affluence, indifference, and ignorance (whether the latter two
were brought on directly by excessive TV watching is up for debate).
So what can be
done about the thought monopoly the corporate media has on our available
ideological choices? Well nothing will be done, of course, for the
same reasons above. Perhaps a review of antitrust law as it relates
to media/consumer goods giants is a good place to start.
Prohibiting media
companies from merging with consumer or defense companies might
be a good idea, though the political power concentrated in those
areas would surely prevent any such bill from becoming law. In order
to gain the approval of an already disinterested and mislead general
public any such proposals must be framed within a movement to restore
America's civil society and promote diversity of political thought
and expression. And even if nothing changes under the reign of the
centrist-white-evangelical-Christian-male we are certain to have
as our next president, you can still say whatever you want on the
Internet. at least for now. |