Sometimes I’ll come across something – an article, a video – that causes me to sit up and take notice. Below is a Youtube interview that does exactly that.
Politics is a national sport in France in which many of its citizens take a fervent interest. The French are pretty well educated (and cynical) about present day politics. And how can they not be? There’s a lot to be cynical about, plus we’re inundated with the scrutiny and chatter of politics daily. France has come a long way since the Mitterrand, Chirac, even Sarko days. Fed up to their eyeballs with cronyism, corruption and the illicit dealings of their politicians (which still continues), the French electorate has become sans pitié (pitiless).
In contrast, in North America there’s not enough analytical political discourse in prime time and mainstream media. For a nation as large and powerful as the USA (and whose policies have such wide-reaching consequences), there seems to be a scarcity of serious TV and radio talk shows in which politicians and their policies are discussed in-depth, challenged and debated. Is that scarcity deliberate? Keeping the masses dumb and uninformed to better manipulate them could be one reason for this. Deliberately avoiding the limelight (politicians) while dodging accountability for their crimes and misdeeds could be another reason. Here’s another reason –
Ownership of American news media is concentrated in the hands of six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses and music labels. The six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Together, the “big six” absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the United States.
Most North Americans don’t stop to think about who is feeding them the endless hours of news and entertainment that they constantly ingest. Most North Americans don’t seem to care who owns the media. They should. Many are deeply influenced by the messages that are constantly being pounded into their heads by the mainstream media. An example of manipulative propagandizing is Rupert Murdoch’s FOX “News” with it’s shallow, blatantly right-wing and racist agenda.
Anyway, I listened to this American Pulitzer prize-winning author on YouTube and wanted to share it with you because what he says is edifying. You’ll never hear this in the mainstream media.
Hedges is a journalist, activist, author, Presbyterian minister and humanitarian.
“We don’t live in a free market society. We live in a society where corporations at will loot the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve and are bailed out by the taxpayer.”
“We don’t understand the pathology of the rich. People of immense wealth are presented as leaders, oracles, even – we don’t grasp internally how morally bankrupt they are. We need to shatter this delusion that if we work hard enough and study hard enough, we can be one of them.”
“The fact is the people who created the economic mess that we’re in, were the best educated people in the country. The issue is not education, the issue is greed.”
“They (the power elite) have sophisticated mechanisms of public relations and well-publicized acts of philanthropy to hide their private faces.” I guess he’s referring to people like Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.
Why America is in decline. Listen to what Hedges says about Obama and Obamacare.
This is indeed edifying. Thanks for this. (Could be too highbrow, though, for some folks.)
Folks should make the effort to educate themselves. I did.
Thanks for this post – very, very true.
A perfect example, Lynette, of anger and reaction of the electorate is what happened in your own province, Alberta (Rachel Notley). That was magnificent. Let’s hope it has a domino effect.
Yes! I was delighted to see the back of the PC party, finally.
Edifying indeed. Every single American should listen carefully to this man’s words.