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In Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, readers will find this passage (Del Rey paperback page 89): "I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them."
Bradbury has said that he didn't predict the future he was trying to prevent it.
Could this Bradbury novel be the key to understanding contemporary American culture? Earlier in the book he seems to anticipate what it would be like watching network news in the Bush and post-Bush era: "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war."
All this time liberal bloggers were arguing that the (pro-Liberal?) main stream media were joining with the conservative talk show hosts to advance Republican talking points. In fact they were, as Bradbury predicted, merely trying to make people happy and forget their miseries and that mission is getting more and more important by the day.
ABC has been ahead of the curve for a long time. Malcolm Gladwell, writing in his 1994 book, "The Tipping Point," (Little Brown and Company hardback edition) on pages 74 to 77, refers to a study that indicates that ABC has been trying to make people happy since at least 1984. This passage summarizes those pages: (starting on bottom of page 75)"Now here is where the study gets interesting. Mullen and his colleagues then called up people in a number of cities around the country who regularly watch the evening network news and asked them who they voted for. In every case those who watched ABC voted for Reagan in far greater numbers than those who watched CBS or NBC."
Watching ABC Monday (March 9, 2009), it was obvious they were still trying to make people happier by presenting only the Republican point of view. Charlie Gibson referred to the assertion that President Obama may be attempting to address too many tasks simultaneously.
Hey, Chuckie, we have a few questions for a highly paid "journalist": Did Ronnie the Ray-gun, Poppy, and Jr. all have a reputation for skimming over the details? Since they occupied the White House for twenty of the last twenty-eight years, is is possible that their sloppy and slovenly management style contributed anything toward getting the country into some messy and unnecessary wars and a possible "recession"? If so, could it possibly be that a more industrious and attentive style of management, that could, to a bunch of inept slackers, seem like it was too broad and inclusive in its goals, be the way to go?
Chickie, you overpaid propagandist, since you could be seen as being one of Rush Limbaugh's back-up "singers," and since you both dispense your pearls of wisdom from an omniscient stance, perhaps you could deign to inform your audience which style of management would best serve the country at this point in history. Could it be that President Obama would please you more if he adopted Reagan's cursory span of attention during meetings style and dozed off occasionally?
If Bradbury was correct and if reassuring platitudes and talking points will be more comforting for an audience, maybe rather than pointing out the fact that ABC might be working toward the election of Jeb in 2012, we should see if Rush buys freelance opening monologs.
If that is journalism, to offer to sell suggestions as to how Rush Limbaugh can peddle several Republican party objectives simultaneously in one - just one - of his starting diatribes, well then maybe it's time this columnist put more effort into making bucks rather than trying to make a Bradbury novel look prescient.
Does Journalistm really equal peddling Republican talking points for fun and profit?
In the Thirties Germany gave up Democracy to achieve prosperity. Tune in to ABC and look at Gibson's smiling face and ask yourself: Do you want to live in a democracy or do you want to be happy and have prosperity return? This could be Jeb Bush's big chance.
Australia's ABC is different from and better than the United States' ABC. That's just my opinion. Maybe you should ask Rush about all this.
Brian Mullen is quoted (page 76 - 77 of "The Tipping Point): "Jennings showed more smiles when referring to the Republican candidate that the Democrat, and again in a phone survey viewers who watch ABC were more likely to have voted for Bush."
Now, the disk jockey will play Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and we will blaze a trail out of here. Have a "when I snap my fingers, you will remember nothing of this" type week.
