In a recent article Rand Clifford quoted WC Fields from the 1933 Paramount motion picture Tillie and Gus: “There comes a time in the affairs of men, when we must take the bull by the tail, and face the situation.”
Could that time be now as the Occupy Wall Street protest continues into its third week?
Has anyone noticed that corporate media have placed the protest under a dome of silence? It is interesting to consider why corporate media and NPR have relegated the protest to nothing to see here folks; just move along.
But the people keep coming and their numbers are growing. The protest has expanded to Boston and San Francisco.
How can this be? Corporate media have deemed this protest a non-reportable story?
Have corporate media reported on corporate bankers watching the protest? The picture of the bankers sipping champagne and laughing at the protesters has gone viral on Internet blogs, but corporate media (NYT, Cable “news” networks, NPR) would rather report on the current political silliness rather than what is happening in the Big Apple: Will Palin enter the 2012 presidential race? Will Governor Christie be persuaded to toss his hat into the ring? Who cares, except corporate media as they try to gin up interest in a pitiful political charade?
Other than up-to-the-minute weather reports, corporate media offers little for their expensive subscriptions. They do not offer news.
Shall I repeat that information? Cable television does not offer news; it offers selective propaganda.
Why then do people spend good money for programmed propaganda?
Some believe that television viewing can easily become addictive. [2]
That thinking is consistent with findings from Developmental Psychology and Communication Systems research. That is why corporate advertisers love the medium and pour billions of dollars yearly into cable programming. Advertisers want and need people to believe that they present the truth rather than Wizard of Oz nonsense.
Corporate media believe that their “sauce” is too powerful for the American people to reject. They really believe that we are caught in a net as tight as that used to corral the Wall Street protesters. But I digress . . .
How can we join the Occupy Wall Street protest without leaving home?
The power that the American people could exercise if they cancelled cable subscriptions en masse for 30 days; 60 days would be better but 30 days would send the propaganda industry into convulsions. Real change would happen and it would be much more powerful than signing a petition or even sending pizza to the protesters.
If even 10 percent of all American cable subscribers cancelled their “service” this week bankers and CEOs would stop laughing and sipping champagne; corporate media would begin to pay attention to the American people and what they are saying through the Occupy Wall Street protest.
Just think what would have happened in Germany if the people had returned their “free” radios and chose not to listen to Joseph Goebbels in 1933.
We have just that much power in our grasp today. Think of the gratification of joining the protesters in their brave endeavor without having to face what they are enduring: arrest and or police brutality such as being caught in a plastic net and pepper sprayed by one of NYC’s “finest” police officers.
It is raining in NYC and yet the protesters endure.
Can cable subscribers let go of propaganda for even 30 days?
It sure beats being arrested and arrests continue as I write, in NYC, Boston and San Francisco.
We have the power! Will we use it? To quote W.C. Fields again: “There comes a time in the affairs of men, when we must take the bull by the tail, and face the situation.”
And that time is now!
Sara DeHart, MSN, Ph.D. (dehart.ss@frontier.com) is a freelance writer and democracy activist, living in the Seattle, Washington area.
Very well put, should be on all Net Works. This will work just as the truckers strike did. How many people remember what happened when the truckers shut em down. The Teamsters are already involved in OWS