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Quitting—Not Nicotine, the
Mainstream TV News
- by Rob Kall
www.OpEdNews.com
- It wasn’t exactly intentional. Up until the November 3rd
elections, I was a total news junkie. I’d leave the TV tuned to
CNN most of the day and occasionally check out FOX (I get a
rancid, feeling of disgust just writing the name now) or MSNBC or
one of the major networks.
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- Then there was the election and all of a sudden, it was almost
like I developed an allergic reaction. I can’t stand to watch the
pure crap that is broadcast on the airwaves that we the public are
supposed own, anymore. It’s almost like I’m taking that medication
that alcoholics take that makes them sick if they drink. I turn on
the news for a few minutes and I realize, I CAN’T DO THIS ANY
MORE, and I shut the damn thing off.
-
- Occasionally I’ll find myself in front of a TV. Yesterday, at
the gym, I was on a treadmill and there was a bank of TVs on. By
habit, I positioned myself in front of the CNN tuned one. A
message was flashing TERRY SCHIAVO UPDATE 3:00. It was 2:15 and it
wasn’t like any major development had occurred. They lowlife media
programming pimps were directing their news anchor and reporter
whores to prostitute Terry Schiavo and her family’s trials and
struggles at a higher pitch than ever. This just reinforces my
initial gag reflex that led me to consciously decide to cut back
massively on my time spent watching and listening to the news.
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- My news aversion is no accident. I firmly believe that one of
the strategies of the right wing is to drive people in one of two
directions—either towards sensationalistic, dishonest, distorted
Fox news and its copycats, or away from watching any news at all,
because it is so transparently dishonest, shallow, pandering,
unreliable and therefore untrustworthy.
-
- This is a strategy that will help the right wing and hurt
their opposition, and … the truth. These are sad and dangerous
times we live in. I have been lecturing and writing on positive
psychology for over 20 years and I have a hard time, when my mind
dwells on US politics, thinking positively. Hope for humanity, at
this point, must look outside the USA. The right wing has been
taken over by feudal corporatists and fascist theocrats, both
traitors to the USA and more loyal to their money and their
deranged and twisted religious (not spiritual) politics than they
are to this nation.
-
- The bad news and good news is that the right wing is leading
America down a path that will cost the USA her economic world
sovereignty and that downfall will lead to the failure of her
leadership as a power broker. This is good news because the
policies espoused by the right wing fascists who lead America
today are bad for the world, bad for humanity. Perhaps, after the
corrupt, failed leadership of the right wing actually does drop
the US a few pegs, enough of the mind-numbed, hypnotized masses
will wake up and rescue the USA before she falls to far for too
long.
-
- So far, the Democrats have shown no or few signs of great
leadership that will help us out of this mess. Certainly,
centrist Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, do not have a clue.
-
- So I sit here, with my TV turned off, or when it’s on, it is
tuned to a movie or the Sci Fi channel. I’ll check my internet
news sources and listen to some progressive talk radio, though
there’s no local station I can tune to, even though I live in a
suburb of Philadelphia, a huge metropolitan area that is
predominantly democratic.
-
- We’re working on bringing the Thom Hartmann show to this area,
and I know other groups are working in other metropolitan areas to
bring progressive talk to their home towns.
-
- I wish I had a solution for the TV news. Someone should start
an independent TV news show, or a batch of them, or even a full
network.. If they build it the people will come. There are a lot
of people like me who are hungry for truth on TV.
Rob Kall rob@opednews.com
is editor of www.OpEdNews.com You can
read more of his articles at
Rob Kall Archive
He is also president of Futurehealth, Inc
and organizer of the
The
Futurehealth Meeting on
Neurofeedback, Biofeedback,
qEEG, Optimal Functioning, Positive Psychology, Transpersonal Integration,
Story Summit, Energy Therapies and Medicine, Inner Revolution and Awakening.
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