Fox News MAY Be Biased…
I have been thinking that the word NEWS has an interesting connotation. We expect it to mean UNBIASED news. Fox news is NOT unbiased by a long shot. I just don’t know how they can even pretend otherwise it is so blatant.
Now granted, every news source has a bent. We all know the Wall Street Journal has a slightly built in capitalistic, but not too politically so, bent. The New York Times is more *liberal* than the Deseret News (okay, the Deseret News doesn’t really do much real investigative journalism, but if they did…). Le Monde is more liberal (said socialist — liberal can mean a lot of things really, more on that mis-use later) than Le Figaro and both are to the right of Le Petit Canard.
Fox “News” Channel, however, always gives me the willies by the way they pundit pound and snipe. This isn’t news with carefully obscured leanings put aside for the sake of good journalism. It is outright call to arms with extreme viewpoints with an aim to incite the hoi poloi into fighting (and viewing) mode. Other than it makes Fox News look like illegitimate inbred cousins short of the 70 IQ points needed to be released on their own cognizance, it reveals the channels disrespect for the concept of ‘NEWS’ and any responsibility to the community it is no longer SERVING but RAPING. Yes, I said RAPING. They are RAPING the remaining intelligence and dollars from the milling masses who are ready to do anything to forget about the sad position the last 8 years of Republican pillaging of its own people has left.
Why are people so mad and willing to believe this completely bigoted and biased garbage heap? Because we spent a CRAP load of money on wars and government and special interest, redirected greater profits to the top 3% of the richest Americans in hopes of ‘trickle down theory’ and reduced real wages and earnings for 75% of Americans. The average Joe is in a bad spot right now with little to NO HOPE. At least the average Joe doesn’t feel much like they can do anything about the current predicament in any large scale meaningful way. Corporate deregulation and special interest groups have taken over our political system and Cheney-Haliburton legacy will take a LOT of undoing. I am not saying it was created by Cheney, but he perfected it, entrenched, and RAPED America at the expense of the common man. It is actually a bit unfortunate Obama has been given this stink-heap to ‘fix’ because most people, especially the GOP (by design), have convenient short memories. They hope Obama cannot fix this mess (who could, really) in 4 years or even 8. Then they can swoop in with the tea-baggers (corporate America has already started funding the tea-baggers for purely economic reasons) and RAPE some more. Great. No matter what happens, it does not appear that America, the People, will be better off for it. Even if Obama ‘fixes’ things, the fixing is just as painful as sitting in the stinking heap. But maybe we will feel better about it? Hum….
The US Government Is Broken?
What this ultimately boils down to is in fact that the teabaggers are partially correct. But it is something we have always known. If we haven’t, we have been extremely naive. If you think our government was ever perfect and purport such, you are being naive. Our government and political system is NOT and has never been perfect. And as our population grows, it is inevitable our government will grow. As technology and the ability of humans expand in nefarious ways as well as in good, it will cause us to want more regulation in some areas, less in others, more protection for some things, less for others. But it is the same problem as sticky wages (at least in nominal terms), once something is established, it is pretty hard to undo. Easy to ratchet up, but hard to ratchet down. You could make a pretty good claim in this economy we are ratcheting down the wage level a bit though. It can be done, but you need a pretty good impetus.
So could our government use fixing? Absolutely. Are the democrats going to do it? Not terribly likely? Are the republicans going to fix it? Just as unlikely. I don’t think the entrenched lobbying/corporate/special interest system, with the two parties both kow towing to the de facto true American voice (because it has enough money, cohesion, and will power) of Corporate America, can do much to really change things unless it is a change that large corporations (including the health care industry) are willing to undergo or want.
Don’t ge me wrong. I believe in the power of capitalism. Enlightened capitalism. Corporate America can be a beautiful thing. Capitalism that is constructed to only look at 3 month windows on a consistent basis? Not so much. No one functions best in that scenario.
Can We Fix It?
But it is clear throughout history that by and large, what is good for corporate America is NOT always what is good for America. And moreover, corporate America should not be ‘voting’ or controlling the political system. Individuals, with single corporal bodies (not corporate boards) should be voting and controlling America. Until we figure out how to do that, we will always have this artificial Dem vs Rep facade behind which big lobbies and corporate funding really pull the strings.