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We’re All Normal!

I’ve written a few posts in the last couple weeks about news misinformation and just wanted to follow up a bit…

Don’t you find it strange that all local network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) TeeVee ‘news’ looks the same, are formatted the same, take commercial breaks at the same time, and the stories are either the same or similar, and mostly in the same order? The national newscasts on these same channels line up in the same manner.

It’s been a couple years since the Sinclair Broadcast Group, who owns a large number of local TV stations across the country, was revealed to have scripted a segment for all of them to recite on air. According to NPR, ”The broadcasting behemoth has a consistently conservative, pro-Trump bent and has required local stations to run right-wing commentary segments, including segments by former Trump advisers.”

Here’s an compelling video created by ThinkProgress that illustrates how easily propaganda functions.

It’s also revealing to pore over the reasons why William Arkin left NBC and MSNBC in 2019. In part he said, “Even without Trump, our biggest challenge as we move forward is that we have become exhausted parents of our infant (and infantile) social media children. And because of the ‘cycle,’ we at NBC (and all others in the field of journalism) suffer from a really bad case of not being able to ever take a breath. We are a long way from resolving the rules of the road in this age, whether it be with regard to our personal conduct or anything related to hard news.”

Read his full email here. And Caitlin Johnstone may have said it best and in the most forthright manner: “Plutocrat-controlled and government-enmeshed media networks hire reporters to protect the warmongering oligarchic status quo upon which media-controlling plutocrats have built their respective kingdoms, and foster an environment which elevates those who promote establishment-friendly narratives while marginalizing and pressuring anyone who doesn’t. It’s absolutely bizarre that it should be unusual for there to be a civilian analyst of the US war machine’s behaviors in the mainstream media who is skeptical of its failed policies and nonstop bloodshed, and it’s a crime that such voices are barely holding on to the fringes of the media stage. Such analysts should be extremely normal and commonplace, not rare and made to feel as though they don’t belong.”

For another interesting take on the media, The Listening Post, an online project by Al Jazeera (English), created an animated video titled “Roland Barthes - How to Read the Signs in the News.”

In Barthes’ own words from Mythologies (Preface to 1957 Edition), “The starting point of these reflections was usually a feeling of impatience with the "naturalness" which common sense, the press, and the arts continually invoke to dress up a reality which, though the one we live in, is nonetheless quite historical: in a word, I resented seeing Nature and History repeatedly confused in the description of our reality, and I wanted to expose in the decorative display of what-goes-without-saying the ideological abuse I believed was hidden there.”

And Noam Chomsky, who joined the University of Arizona faculty in fall 2017, also is featured in a video (also from the Listening Post–Al Jazeera) titled “The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine.”

Bear Down, Noam.

I touched on the subject of news sites and how they are rated a bit back in February and named a few of the sources I tend to read. I mentioned NPR as one that generally seems to impart some real news but did not mention the caveat that Comcast, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase are all financial supporters.

NPR, to their credit, is currently running a series titled Untangling Disinformation that may be of some service. For instance, a recent post claims “Just 12 People Are Behind Most Vaccine Hoaxes On Social Media,” an article worth a read.

On a related note, President Biden speaking at the G7 is making the argument that the fundamental struggle in the post-pandemic era will be democracies versus autocracies. It’s reported that the first test may be whether he can persuade the allies to denounce China’s use of forced labor and, in the words of a senior administration official who briefed reporters, “take concrete actions to ensure that global supply chains are free from the use of forced labor.” It is unclear, American officials said, what kind of language about rejecting goods or investments in such projects would be included in the meeting’s final communiqué, which will be issued on Sunday.

What I’m not seeing reported on any major news outlets is Biden’s use of the high and mighty banner of democracy to call out the labor practices of other countries which makes us either the pot or the kettle. OK, so I use midwestern colloquialisms. That’s nice. Almost half the workers in our country are barely making a livable wage with a median wage of $10.22 an hour, and a median annual salary of $17,950.

According to greenamerica.org, “Studies show that paying people more will benefit everyone. EPI estimates that raising the wage floor would ‘generate $118 billion in additional wages, which would ripple out to the families of these workers and their communities’—meaning what is good for families is good for the economy. A recent report by the National Employment Law Project details that about a third of Black and Latinx [sic] workers, and about 17 percent of other workers of color currently make wages lower than $15 an hour. 

It’s important to dispel the popular myth that raising wages causes unemployment. The nonprofit Business for a Fair Minimum Wage synthesized research from various economic institutes and the department of labor since the 1960s and found that when the minimum wage is raised, unemployment tends to go down, not increase. One reason for this is that when workers are paid more, they stay in their jobs longer, and less turnover is less costly for employers overall.”

Also reported by greenamerica.org is that non-English speaking “workers in US restaurants, farm fields, domestic labor situations, and workplaces tied to national corporations like Walmart, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s, they are regularly subjected to sweatshop-style working conditions. Because they may still be learning English or may be unfamiliar with US labor laws, recent immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are among the most exploited workers in the country, enduring wage theft, dangerous working conditions, discrimination, and even physical assaults.”

Not to get too far off the rails, but perhaps this is just part and parcel of the narrative that the Biden Administration wants the United States to remain the world’s undisputed superpower. An opinion piece in Al Jazeera by Marwan Bishara postulates just this point: “The Europeans see China as an economic competitor or at worst, a rival, and are content with a multipolar world. But Washington looks at China through a different lens. It reckons China is determined to become an Asian hegemon and insists on containing its rise before it becomes the world’s leading power. America wants to remain the world’s undisputed superpower.”

On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see a president who actually laughs and can successfully mingle and engage with other human beings. There was a moment when Queen Elizabeth quipped: "Are you supposed to be looking as if you're enjoying yourselves?"

"Yes," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson replied. "We have been enjoying ourselves in spite of appearances." A very English thing to say.

In the meantime, something to look forward to…
FUTURE, n. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured. – Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary

He thought he was the King of America
But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams
A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals
The words of love in whispers
And the acts of love in screams
I wish that I could push a button
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this lovin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake
I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake

– Elvis Costello, Brilliant Mistake

And now, enjoy Val Kilmer as Doc “I’m In My Prime” Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone. Pow!

…and not to put decartes before de hoss…