Is the media trying to control us?

[Jerm]

Is anyone else sick of all the 'slight of hand' that the media pulls? For example is it me or did Katrina just give the media something to take our minds off of this blood-for-oil war. Don't get me wrong, I think that what occurred is a tragedy, but notice that almost none of the news channels are covering the war as much as they were. So we've traded one senseless tragedy for another.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the attempts at control and manipulation by the media. The other purpose for this thread is to point out and discuss devious advertising designed to manipulate us into buying crap we don't need. So come on people, lets hear some opinions and observations.


"I kneel and I pray everyday to my TV to tell me what's true.. ...Im surrounded by plastic and sunshine, it's just too good to be true." - 'Hollywood' by Floater (obviously sung with sarcasm)

[Jack]

Yes. Go back to sleep. Everything is under control here.

[Jerm]

Jack, if I recall corectly didn't you quote some Bill Hicks wisdom on a different thread? He was probably the greatest truth teller there has been in these modern times.

"Go back to bed America, Here, watch American Gladiators.. " -Bill Hicks

He was a genius! And he will be missed.

Remember 'It's Just A Ride..'

[sandy82]

Jerm, it's an excellent topic--but you knew I'd say that. :)

I like the way that you have divided the subject between the news media and the advertising. Each news media outlet used to have more power to manipulate because there were fewer of them. For a long time it was ABC, NBC, and CBS. There were three news magazines. Newspapers in small and medium-sized cities cut and pasted the wire services (still do). Only the large metropolitan newspapers had their own reporters in foreign capitals. The media output was limited. From what I've read, the media all said about the same thing. On the plus side, however, was the fact that each network had an independent news division. ABC and CBS were independent corporations. NBC was owned by RCA.

Now, news divisions are folded in with entertainment. ABC is owned by Walt Disney. CBS is owned by Viacom. NBC still has its original arrangement; RCA was bought out by GE. (I don't even mention the newer broadcast networks: Rupe's SkyImeanFox, UPN, WB, PAX.)

Do you think these corporate owners care about news? They care about profits. And with the cable news outlets there's a lot more competition than there was. We've got at least one propaganda network: Fox "News". A big honcho at Fox told his newsreaders that their stuff was too negative on Iraq and instructed them to emphasize troops' repairing schools and painting hospitals. So, while battles raged and IEDs exploded, Fox News showed eager enlistees doing repair work while happy Iraqis looked on.

On Iraq/Katrina, the news professionals in the various outlets are captives of the ratings and of corporate headquarters personnel who care about profits and golden parachutes. News? What's that? They switched from Iraq to Katrina because of ratings. Unfortunately, the ratings game means that they aim at the broadest common denominator--which may also be the lowest common denominator. Joe Blow understands hurricanes. He understands Scott Peterson and murders. He understands Fox News's favorite recent story: the co-ed who was killed in Aruba. None of those stories have implications for the future of the country, the prospects for the economy, the likelihood that the educational system is preparing anyone for foreseeable jobs. Joe Blow doesn't understand all that; and the ratings are everything. To my knowledge, no American media outlet has said why many of the urban poor will never live in New Orleans again: depreciation and building codes.

I bet somebody out there could tell us whether The Today Show and Good Morning America ever carried serious news. Or have they always been the fluff of Matt Lauer, the compulsory blonde, a screaming weather man, and National Enquirer-style interviews?

Thank God for PBS (the non-commercial Public Broadcasting System). Where I am, I'm lucky to get four PBS feeds..which include the BBC News, Deutsche Welle News in English, Japanese news in English, even Beijing news in English. (Beijing's propaganda is now almost believable--very skillfully done.)

The American news media are mediocre and sinking. The news on BBC World covers many American stories better than American networks do.

The advertising in American media is in an entirely different category. It's genuinely pernicious. Convincing people to buy things they don't need and can't afford. The average savings rate for the typical American household is down to -0.6 percent per year. Yep, the American savings rate is now a minus number. (You want to see the savings rate climb? The remedy is easy. Require that every actor in a commercial have dirty, greasy hair, acne, and crooked yellow teeth. A snotty nose, a drool, and an itch would be helpful. It's hard to sell unneeded stuff without sex.)

Did I mention that the Bushies are in the hip pocket of the big advertisers? Drug companies anyone? Jerm, I bet you remember when it was illegal to advertise prescription drugs on television. Doctors hate the advertising because patients come in and demand medicines they don't need. How about Lamasil? For toenail fungus. While the happy actor is wiggling his photogenic toes, the voice-over is rapidly saying--in a forgettable monotone--that Lamasil can cause liver damage, stroke, heart arhythmia and (for all I know) gangrene, beriberi, cancer of the tailbone, headaches, insomnia, baldness, dandruff, and rotten teeth. But that actor can really smile and wiggle those toes.

Jerm, you got me started! :wink:

But now we have a new story. Harriet Miers. The perfect pin-up girl for braille calendars. The personality that can't quit (because it never started). Her biggest qualification is that the Shubbery knows her well. Yikes! But I like them bangs--real purty. Above the waist, bubba! Harriet is a God-fearing born-again single lady lawyer. She don't do nooooooo bangs below the waist. And she's really Shirley Maclaine reincarnated as Mamie Eisenhower. We're gonna miss Hurricane Katrina. 8O

[gurlbidesign]

The media are just going along with the "Short attention span theater" mentality that is so apparent in our culture these days. "Old news" doesn't sell. And with this short note, I have to leave for work.

[goldragon_70]

Edit: sorry, yea, had too many open at once. :oops:

[sandy82]

[Jerm]

gurlbidesign, quite true. The concept of journalistic integrity has been dead for at least the last decade or so. Corporate needs are steadily out weighing human rights. In these times that we as a race (meaning humanity) are in need of some form of unity and understanding, all that continues to matter is the almighty dollar. Despite the obvious need for growth and change, the public keeps shoveling in the corporately sponsored brainwashing. "I wonder what Viacom wants me to think today..."

Sandy, I couldn't agree more. But you knew I'd say that. I doubt the Today Show or Good Morning America feels the need to do a story on anything edgier then celebrity diet fads or the perfect recipe for (insert pointless holiday tie-in here...). Yes, of course they have the token blonde and the wacky yet slightly overweight weatherman. A perfect, plastic world to distract us from the cage they are slowly building around us. That world is what all of us morons relate to, or so they think. Besides, who in their right mind is that cheerful in the early morning hour. The coffee on those shows must be laced with some super potent form of corporate crack. I guess I should thank the morning news shows. I'd sure hate to have to think about something even remotely relevant.
11 minutes of commercials each half hour. Why even bother putting shows on? Whats next, the Tide laundry detergent commercial marathon? Let me get my popcorn ready...
Now you've got me started! :o

[gurlbidesign]

I think it is more a issue of giving people what they want. Journalistic integrety fits in there somewhere I guess. I try to ignore the bias and spin and take the grain of information that is there. The current fad of Reality shows is a sad comment on our society.....just like the bread and circuses of ancient Rome.

[missypuss]

An English University did a survey on some ten year old schoolkids.
Asking them what they would like to be when they grew up.
They all answered they wanted to be famous.Well the majority anyhow.
Not a famous musician,
Not a famous actor,
Not famous for inventing a cure for Aids or the common cold.
Just famous.
Thats what the media sells more than anything.
Fame.
If you have that nothing else seems to matter.

[sandy82]

Missypuss, that's a very interesting angle. The 10-year-olds want fame, but disconnected from success, or generosity, or discovery. That's the way it's portrayed on television. Of course, the children automatically assume fame is something good--they see that, too. If there were still public hangings, as Charles Dickens described them, maybe people would be more careful about merely wanting to be famous.

Fame ties right into advertising. It's great to be seen by strangers; it's great to eat Burger King burgers (note: a British-owned company :) ) because the subsurface is that if you eat BK burgers, you might become famous like the actor with ketchup artfully placed on his/her chin. The parts of the cycle reinforce one another: 19 minutes of obvious news, 11 minutes of commercials, and an over-all tone of "fame is good for you."

And as you put it so clearly, Missypuss, "nothing else seems to matter."

[missypuss]

Yes they see that fame is good Sandy,
Through advertising,through the programmes they watch,
Through the papers and magazines they read.
I asked my child to tell me who President Bush and Tony Blair were
At Eight years old my child thinks that they are famous ,
"they are always in the papers and on the TV mommy".
but not what it is they are famous for....
Maybe thats my parenting.....
But my child knows who they are now.
Another interesting media concept is that as fast as someone can become famous,
They can have it all taken away from them,
With just one wrong move.
Look at Kate Moss right now.............

[goldragon_70]

The media, is just trying to keep the ratings, Business opens the door to greed. The media is not the only body that is using smoke and mirrors. There are things going on and around that are being paid no attention to by the media that they are just now seeing.

[drydreamer]

Gurlbidesign hit the nail on the head. The media is just trying to give us what we want (depending on who we happen to be.) Fox News is definitely handing out right-wing propaganda, but that's because there is a large segment of the population who wants that. They are undoubtedly the ones who voted for President Bush, who is also feeding those same people what they want to hear. So far, it has been successful for his political career, which has always been his paramount concern. Lately, his popularity is on the decline, so maybe the old pendulum of public opinion is about to swing in the other direction. But politics has always been driven by what the voters want; and I believe the media is also driven by the same concern. The Fundamentalist Christians have their own TV stations and news programs to ensure that all news is described according to their beliefs. They want to keep their heads safely buried in the sand so they can continue to live in their own little make believe world where everyone quotes scripture and behaves like sweet little angels. They are just as deceived as the heathen they despise. For everyone basically believes WHAT THEY WANT TO BELIEVE! We each develope opinions about the world around us because of the experiences we have in our lives. Some of these opinions are based on lies and misperceptions; but we have bought into them so heavily that it would turn our lives upside down to deny them! Therefore our friendly media is ready to give us whatever slant we want so we can continue to believe whatever we want to believe. Some people sincerely believe we are being invaded by beings from another planet or dimension. Others believe that there is some kind of mysterious force called LUCK that drives everything in the world. Still others believe in ghosts and other strange paranormal energies. And to each of them, these beliefs have taken on a life of their own - regardless of whether there is any real TRUTH in them! So it is my belief that we each pick and choose the things we want to believe, and THEN we go looking for evidence to support our beliefs. The Christian Bible says that faith is the evidence of things NOT SEEN, and the substance of things HOPED FOR! I submit that that kind of blind faith is what everyone, including the atheists, are living by! If your faith is not in God, then it is given to luck or some other mysterious concept, AND THEN you go looking for proof. The media is giving us the "proof" for whatever we want to believe. Just change the channel until you hear what you want. Objective TRUTH has nothing to do with it (or very little, at best!) drydreamer

[sandy82]

[Ceot]

My school thought I was a retard in kindergarden, couldnt tell the diffrence between depression and a learning dissorder and kept takeing me down into the boiler room for speech theropy.

God I miss grade school.

As for the T,V.
I wanted to be a fireman because of toys.
Race car driver cause of my dad.
Sceintist because of disney.
Medic because of cubscouts and boy scouts.
But I wanted to be a marine most of all because of the t,v
, Not to mention bank robber.

But now a days. I just want to be me.
Pitty I,ve forgotten who that was.

Oh well. Turns on the telly and looks for a memory.

[gurlbidesign]

Daydreamer, I watch Fox about as often as every other news agency and have heard this administration get slammed more then once on assorted issues. I would have to give them at least a C+ when it comes to being fair. After considering our local fish wraps that claim to be "news" papers I would maybe bump that grade up to a B+. If the current administration came up with a new germ killing soap the Times and P.I. in Seattle would run a headline reading "Millions die due to Bush!!!" nor would there be one positive thing said in the main body of the story.

[sandy82]

[gurlbidesign]

I have to say I don't agree with the common Left wing view on WMDs, just because they weren't there when we had finally had an honest chance to look for them doesn't mean they were never there. I seem to recall a find of tens of thousands nerve gas shots for the treatment of those exposed to nerve gas, you don't keep that around unless there is nerve gas to respond to. That is just one example. As for the missing WMDs, I would start looking in Syria. There were all those trucks heading in that direction just before we got on the scene, not to mention the intercepted calls to their commanders about getting rid of the stuff. I can't accept the premise that because they haven't been found they were never there.

[Mallic]

Frankly, I don't believe that the media is involed in some sort of global consricy (sic), but unintentionally they are influncing our view on whatever issue.

[sandy82]

[gurlbidesign]

Sandy, I don't think you are listening to the soldiers who are there. They say that real progress is being made and there is gratitude. The schools opened and the hospitals that are back in business don't seem to get the press that suicide bombers do (none of whom are Iraquis by the way). The source of the African uranium story was reported in the famous speech and the British still stand behind that claim (and I believe I have heard about some corroborating evidence that has since surfaced).

[Mr_Oblivious]

Even Mr. Oblivious knows that nobody ever claimed Saddam had succeeded in buying yellowcake from Niger, so there was no claim to whittle down. That Valerie Plame had been working openly as a CIA employee at the Langley headquarters for years, so there was no covert career to ruin. That CIA officials have testified that Joe Wilson's report supported the intelligence of Saddam trying to buy yellowcake from Niger, unlike what Joe Wilson claimed his own report said when he went public in the New York Times. That blackouts often occur in American cities as well. That "happy crowds" in many locations of Iraq were broadcast live across the world during the war, even though many seem determined not to remember them today. That the Turks can use brutal tactics against guerillas that the Americans cannot, if only because the world media doesn't really care so long as it's the Turks that are doing it instead of the Americans.

Mr. Oblivious could go on, but even he can't stop people from being Willfully Oblivious.

[sandy82]

[gurlbidesign]

Note to self, never get into a quagmire political discussion while trying to clean house. If somebody wants to come over and fold laundry while I continue to vacumn and dust, I will concede to any points they wish to make....the sky is green, Bush is an idiot, blood for oil, any silly thing they want to push, I will be all for it.....honest. 8O :D

[Mr_Oblivious]

Mr. Oblivious doesn't even know where to begin with Sandy's post, except to say that he is amazed Sandy would rely on "press reports" as the basis for so much of his argument in the same post Sandy ends with words about the media's power to manipulate. That he truly doubts someone worried about preserving her cover would work openly at CIA headquarters. That the American criminals at Abu Ghraib were turned in by other American soldiers and were under investigation before the story ever appeared in the media, and that they are now going to jail themselves, unlike what you would find in a Turkish prison. Still, Mr. Oblivious is glad that Sandy now admits there were "happy crowds" in Iraq.

Mr. Oblivious could go on, but he senses more anger and cynicism than honest analysis of a complex situation.

[sandy82]

[morrcomm]

I have to go with gurlbidesign on this one. I have family that will most likely be in Iraq shortly, and I've had friends serving there from the start. What I've always heard from them is a very different picture than what I always see presented in the media. Without them, I would probably believe that Iraq was nothing more than car bombs and hopelessness as well, rather than that being just one sliver of what's really going on there.

This really got driven home to me during their election earlier this year. I remember seeing reporter after reporter and so-called expert after so-called expert being shocked at what they were seeing. They'd missed what had been right in front of them all the time, but what the people many of us know there had been telling us all along.

"Hotel Journalism" at its finest... :wink:

[gurlbidesign]

Let me savour this....I actually have people agreeing with my point of view. Morrcomm, are you married???? Do ya want to be? I like a guy who thinks I am right once in awhile. :D

[morrcomm]

Sorry, gurlbidesign, I'm already married, but I'm flattered by the offer! :wink:

[gurlbidesign]

Always the bridesmaid............ :? :wink:

[sandy82]

[sandy82]

[gurlbidesign]

Sandy, you have been pretty vocal against the President....I haven't heard of any knocks on your door. Not getting to us via WiFi from some gulag are you? What freedom of speech have you lost? Active duty military have always been under different rules....The Uniformed Code of Military Justice. As a retired service member I lived under those rules for many years.

[sandy82]

[morrcomm]

[gurlbidesign]

What freedoms have you personally lost, speech or otherwise. I certainly haven't lost any. And "those people at rallies who were arrested", what was the charge against them? I doubt they were just sitting there minding there own business.

[sandy82]

[sandy82]

Morrcomm, very interesting post. Many thanks.

[Mr_Oblivious]

[Mr_Oblivious]

[MsOblivious]

[morrcomm]

[skot]

[missypuss]

I think you should entitle this whole thread." Is a certain forum member trying to control us ?" and be damned at the fallout from it...... :twisted:

[skot]

[skot]

[sandy82]

[Ceot]

Just so were at it i,ve been on and off for a couple years now.
Enjoy finding my long lost posts under all my stupid names.
Shouldnt be to hard, I dont use punctiation.

I,ll let you know if you found me or not.
That should take you some time.
Enjoy....Ken...

[thisguy]

i was browsing first posts on this topic and i'm amazed.. not because people still keep themselves "informed", but because whatever this media does on you, you still seem to have no direct understanding HOW or WHY. it's still about details, not the purpose or method.

even the first question: whether "something is going on" .. everything is going on right now.. and sad part is not whether you or me TRY to understand it.. sad part is, that it WORKS on majority of people who don't even have such question in their head, nobody put it there!

as you should know everything you do affects you. under hypnosis the effects are just stronger, but effects are everywhere. Pushing messages and pulling toughts is ALL THERE IS about media. no info - no thought, fake info - fake thought.

I was writing a piece few years ago labeled (translated) "When did you last time think your own thought?"

this controlling thing begins much MUCH earlier than in media.. media is just one form of it.. it's really everywhere.. at one point it's just society keeping tiself functioning, but the same information pathways can be and are constantly used for different agendas.. and it's truly futile to engineer yourself out of this mess.. because it's also advertised from the same channels, that being "too much different" in anything, is something that needs to be corrected.. so infected information carriers spread it further.. and beginnings of those pathways are very well guarded for obvious reasons..

..so only way is to build your own channels. you know if you did it right, when the "official" channels start labeling you.. after that it's quickly over. and i'm not being even slightest bit paranoid, just honest :)