According to Urban Dictionary, the above video is a Saturday Night Live skit written by Robert Smigel which was intended to be a parody of the educational cartoon series “School House Rock.” The stimulus for the video, according to a few sources I read, may have been the firing of Norm McDonald by SNL management.
Its message is focused on the impact of media-opolies going on in the US, the fact that companies such as GE, Westinghouse, Disney have become our country’s media giants. It was aired just once on 3/14/1998 on NBC, cut out of all the reruns, and never aired again. The fact that NBC is owned by GE may or may not be a coincidence.
While I am not, for the most part, a conspiracy theorist, it is certainly food for thought.
While we do have the guaranteed right of freedom of the press here in the US, that only guarantees the right to be free from interference from the government – it does not free our reporters from having to answer to their bosses, and their bosses to “corporate.” Other people choose what news we are allowed to see, that is a plain and simple fact. How much of what we are allowed to see is propaganda as opposed to actual news is up for debate.
Not necessarily Pagan in theme this week, but when you think about how modern Paganism is handled by the media it is certainly, if nothing else, as timely now as it was more than a decade ago.
Blessings
Mama Kelly
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By J.J. Sedelmaier on Aug 4, 2009 |
It not only aired once, but it actually didn’t appear that evening on the feed to the west coast. It was deemed not funny enough. . .
By FaerieKat on Aug 4, 2009 |
Ever since I found out that the Federal Reserve isn’t a “Federal” reserve, isn’t run by the Government (but once was), but is run by privately owned international bankers, and is our country’s main source of money (for which we are being charged outrageous interest and which accounts for the largest percentage of our country’s debt), the world became much easier to understand. Especially the role the media played, is playing, has to play, and will continue to play. Information is money, information provides control, and control of information and money is power.
Neither am I a conspiracy theorist, but I suspect that within many conspiracy theories there is a tiny piece of the overall picture of what is really going on behind the closed doors of those who are pulling the strings, raking in the money, and making the (bad) decisions that created and are affecting our country’s past, present and future.
By Jan on Aug 4, 2009 |
We are carefully charted, noted and guided as we shop, learn and just live our lives. Even on the Net — as soon as a corporate name is montioned by anyone at any time — that corporation is informed thanks to sophisticated tracking software. Our lives are run by Top People who makes many millions each year. And THEY tell us — We The Peasants — how to live! Chemical, drugs, entertainment, sports corporations all run our lives! Please note that NO media entity of ANY kind (even Pagan) ever mentions (to save its own skin) who is at the top of these mega-corporations — and on the boards of directors — and their inter-connected web. Just imagine our shock (as We The Pesants) if we really knew who was running the campaign against Health Care Reform? Or how about the real Bankers? Or the folks at your Insurance Corporations? (how about those bonuses on Wall Street? gee — I know that those guys really do care about We The Peasants ….. right SURe they do!) And JUST ask where many of the top government officials — even military — end up working for these corporations …..
Jan at Rosemary Cottage
By Mama Kelly on Aug 4, 2009 |
JJ – Wow I had no idea
FaerieKat – the role of the media, and how that has changed over the past decades is what fascinates me so much in this issue
Jan – I agree there are too many unknowns, and too many decisions being made for me by strangers with power