The Right Persuasion
By Paul Moomjean 06/25/2009
Mad as hell
General Motors? Check. Banks? Check. The television networks? Double check.
As many of you are probably aware, ABC television is planning on running what is essentially an infomercial for President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans for the country. What Obama would like to do is make sure that every American has health insurance, just like postal workers and congressmen get from the federal government. The problem is that those people work for the government. The others decided to work in the private sector. But this article isn’t about health care, but instead about how ABC television plans to promote, without including diverse opposition, the president’s plans. In fact, when Rick Scott, the chairman for Conservatives for Patients Rights, asked to buy a 60-second ad to propose an alternative solution immediately following the prime-time special, ABC refused the ad. So, for all you social conservatives who think TV is all about making money, I guess ABC proved you wrong. Good news — turns out ABC television isn’t about making money — it’s more about indoctrinating you.
Now why would the Disney-owned ABC, known for churning out such television classics as According to Jim and The Bachelor, want to become the American Barack Company? Maybe because Mickey Mouse isn’t as innocent as you want to believe. It is not television’s job to promote the ideas of the president; but instead, it is to report the ideas of the president. We are not Cuba or North Korea, where the television stations lovingly embrace the political philosophies of their leaders. Our networks should not be in bed with the president, but instead should be reporting and wondering if he’s making his bed properly. Government propaganda for the masses should not be found in prime time.
But it gets more interesting. NBC’s top newsperson, Tom Brokaw, was appointed on June 17 to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Brokaw is now being promoted to an advisory position within the Obama administration to help selected White House Fellows who work with top-ranked government officials within a one-year term. What makes the honorable selection so interesting is that it comes only a few weeks after Brokaw interviewed Obama on June 5 for NBC news. I guess the secret to success is to throw the president a few softball questions, and then you, too, might get onto a prestigious committee.
Let’s do a quick roll call. ABC is basically giving Obama his own variety show, and NBC’s top newsperson is working on a committee for the president to select interns. Unbelievable. Let’s also not forget his cameo on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report a week ago. Gosh, at this rate, I’m expecting him to show up as Charlie Sheen’s new wing-man on CBS’s Two and a Half Men.
So what can we do? I’m not sure. But in the words of Howard Beale from the movie Network, “I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad. So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ ”
Because we just aren’t mad. We aren’t mad that our President is throwing us into debt, taking over the American car industry, forcing quasi-socialist healthcare reform down our throat, bailing out banks and using the television networks to promote his entirely new vision for America. Maybe if we got some fire under our belly, we would stand up against this overhaul of America; instead, we just sit back and hope that as long as we have our 100 channels and two weeks paid vacation, Western Civilization will continue on regardless. Well, that pipe dream just isn’t true. And today, all I ask is that you get mad. It’s a small step, but a step nonetheless.
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