Yesterday was a rare day in media history, the truth came out. But perhaps not the truth in which most would hope for; weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, a picture of Dick Cheney signing an order to torture, or Rush Limbaugh eating children for lunch. Instead it was a bit of truth which most have known, but refused to accept because it would mean disaster for the way in which they thought they became informed on the world.
As I drove home from a long day of teaching, I was listening to NPR and the news made a brief mention about a young boy in Fort Collins, CO who maybe disappeared in an experimental balloon which was released. Then they moved onto the next story in which they were discussing Barney Frank's committee in the House passing a bill onto the floor to regulate derivatives, which I will return to shortly. I came home, turned on the Weather Channel to see what it was going to be like tomorrow, only to find they were covering the story about the boy in the balloon. Ok, so it may have been a weather balloon, I could understand a mention. So I waited for a forecast, only to hear 20 minutes of "weather" related questions about this national tragedy which was ensuing.
I flipped channels to find all networks covering this story with the same intense devotion as election day or 9/11. I was just waiting for Wolf Blitzer to call on CNN's resident balloon expert Slink-O the Clown who has experience with kids fascination with balloons. It was at this moment of sheer terror that I realized I had been duped. This non-news story which would be reserved for the Onion if it was fake had the entire corporate media by its throat and they could no longer let go. As it turns out, the whole story was pretty much the biggest prank in US history next to the election of Bush II since the kid was hiding in a box in his attic. So either this was the biggest OOPS ever, or this kid is amazing at Hide-and-Seek because his ability for deception is phenomenal.
Now I don't want to devote any more time to the 6 year old Criss Angel who magically went from airborne balloon to attic box, so instead I'll turn to the responsible adults in the room, the media. Lets begin with that as soon as this happened the parents called the local TV station, then the police. Red flag in my eyes. Second, for hours they kept looking at the same images of the Ft. Collins UFO crashing in the barren CO landscape asking the same dumb questions to different dumb people who know idea why they actually get a paycheck. Third, when it was discovered that balloon boy was really attic-box boy, they kept on it, becoming the home for fair and balanced places for politics while being the most trusted name in news, into Comedy Central.
This story brought about a red flag in the psyche of Americans that they have been spoon fed for 24 hours of everyday "news" which holds no real relevance in their lives. The news desks of "Run It!" have fallen for the news desks of profit margins and ratings. In other words, where has the responsibility gone? With only a select few companies controlling the majority of of the information which is distributed to the public, those few companies have a responsibility to give the truth on stories which matter in the lives of the people. And by people I mean the masses, the majority, not the select few who have no lives but to flip from channel to channel searching for the latest gossip.
The country has become a nation of fast food gorging people which only 5 second attention spans. We have been trained to accept only instant satisfaction from everything around us. To steal from Louis CK, we have people complaining about how long it takes for the cell phone call to connect. Its going up to space and back, just wait for a second. Drive-up windows in fast food restaurants have clocks timing employees which are a matter of "quality control" for their cooked so fast its undercooked meat which will give you E. Coli but as long as I get it within 2 minutes while speeding down the highway while talking on my phone, its ok.
The media has become the same entity which focuses on the mile a minute society of news with tickers, side bars, and stories so brief you barely even know who was involved with the story. They look at something which will give the audience flashy lights and sirens to keep them entertained until they can find the next midway attraction to sell to them. This has no longer become news for the masses, it has become propaganda for the advertisers to keep people watching between commercials.
So what may have been missed by the harrowing tale which became the farce of the week? Well as I mentioned before, the House Financial Committee past a bill out of committee to regulate derivatives for the first time in history. What does this mean? Stock brokers can no longer use the same rules (which did not really exist) when placing bets on your investments failing. AKA, stuff which caused this mess as derivatives on the housing market only added fuel to the fire. Also the House passed a bill onto the Senate which would finally allow Gitmo prisoners to be tried here in the US to finally start restoring some credibility to our justice system.
Here is only a list of two, but two stories which I find to have great affect on the lives of all Americans. However, you cannot really sell Coors Light to stories about politics, but a kid in balloon in Colorado, I can almost see the mountains turning blue as we speak.
At what point do we as a nation begin to realize that the media is not a tool for us to become informed about the world, but that we have become tools for corporate America as we are fed the stories they want us to hear while telling us what products to buy and use. I am sure most people who will read this understand this point as well as anyone else, but it has become the duty of the people to take back the information systems of the country and the airwaves back for the people. For until we do, all we will see are fluff stories which are meant to distract the people from the real issues. Regardless of your politics, anyone can relate to desire for our media to begin working in a way which can be summarized in one word, responsible. For until that happens, America will continue down a hell-storm of lies, deceit, and greed until we are left with an oligarchy of corporate news in which there can be no return.
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