Bread and Circus.
I'm appalled that I'm living through this.
Posted by God Of War at June 9, 2006 12:16 PMAnother nail in liberties coffin thanks to Patriotdaily.com. NSA is linking to social network sites to vacuum up people's lives.
When will bubba wake up--perhaps not until he wakes up in the gulag?
What kind of world to these BushCo people want for their kids? A totalitarian hell?
Posted by Nobody at June 9, 2006 01:09 PMTelevision works wonders, doesn't it.
Posted by gail at June 9, 2006 01:12 PMyou can only rile the American people up with hate. hate the brown people, hate the gays. they are dumb as a post - they are the walking dead. they only want to eat to obesity and watch TV. So the consumers will eat themselves - "america" is dead. all of liberal blogland is counting on this november as some kind of salvation. what a joke. its over. the dems are part of the problem- that has become very obvious. its time to move on and save yourself.
Posted by jj at June 9, 2006 01:16 PMSo has anyone figured out how/why it is that the Chinese Govt has just banned the DaVinci Code? Just what kind of relationship does the Catholic Church have with the Chinese? I mean, this is strange.
Posted by mainsailset at June 9, 2006 01:22 PMSteve, the problem is that none of the Democratic leadership or so called "strategists" that I have ever seen on any of the MSM or cable news programs state the issues and the high stakes like you, or Glenn or Digby do. Until we get some straight talk about what the hell BushCo and its Congress are really doing to this country, Joe Sixpack is not going to be concerned. Jesus, he might not be concerned, even if he heard the truth, that's what scares the crap out of me. What does it take to get guys like you on the TV screen, which is the only medium that most of the citizenry consult?
Posted by Via at June 9, 2006 01:29 PMI don't think the general public could believe what is happening if they noticed. They take it for granted that we will always live in a democracy. They have no idea what's really going on.
Posted by pissed off patricia at June 9, 2006 02:55 PMThey'll start growing up when it's too late. I'm amazed it's gotten this far. I didn't think the torturers would get a second term.
Posted by cali4nian at June 9, 2006 03:47 PMThey will "grow up" this time the same way they did the last time, when they have no choice. 77 years ago, the stock market crashed and the great depression almost destroyed the American economy. It did destroy, for a generation, the idea that everyone in America will get rich if the government just stays out of the way. Without the depression, the new deal would not have been possible. Economic class matters, however in America is is popular to pretend that it doesn't until the reality of it becomes unavoidable.
Posted by herbal tee at June 9, 2006 04:06 PMThey take it for granted that we will always live in a democracy.
No, sadly, I think pessimist has it right. They don't understand what democracy is or give a frog's fat ass about why it might be important. Leave politics to the politicians, they think. It doesn't concern us.
More people voted for the American Idol than have ever voted in one presidential election. Could there be a more perfect modern manifestation of "Life is a Cabaret?"
Well, old chums, when everything does finally crash down upon all our heads, I will not be going gently into that good night, but I also won't be helping out the likes of the nitwits whose mass nonchalance allowed it all to happen. The good folks who did nothing will get no sympathy from me.
Posted by Liveliest Crib at June 9, 2006 05:26 PMThis study looks at the effect of TV
on turnout:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/FACSEMINARS/events/applied_microecon/pdfs/2005_12_9_Matthew_Gentzkow.pdf
TV encourages apathy:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/news/ComCon56.html
Democracy can't exist without social capital,
and social capital (at least enough of it)
doesn't exist when people are glued to the tube.
The only way America can truly be a reality-based
society is if Americans (especially liberals)
escape from their fantasy TV-Land.
If liberals gave up TV, then it would be liberals
running the nation, undoing all the damage done
by Bush and the Republicans.
http://www.tvsmarter.com/documents/democracy.html
http://www.trashyourtv.com/node
http://www.whitedot.org
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com
Remember TV = Soma
Posted by Terry at June 9, 2006 08:56 PMGod of War: "Bread(McDonald's) and circus"(TV and video games). I salute you, my fellow Roman Cohort!
The punishment for Bush-crimes in early Rome was to sew the perp up in a bag with a monkey, a snake, and a duck, and toss him in the river.(Potomac?)
The walking braindead deserve Bush and the future decade of his haunting legacy from hell.
Posted by TIKI AL at June 10, 2006 12:33 AM"I don't think the general public could believe what is happening if they noticed. They take it for granted that we will always live in a democracy. They have no idea what's really going on."
Patricia, they have no idea because the media will not allow such information to reach them. While we have the luxury of spending hours on the Internet, millions of Americans don't have the Internet because they don't have computers, or they have no time to research and read all the information that the media refuses to disseminate. When you have the TV news media and news print controlled, the first step to fascism, it becomes harder and harder to get the truth to people. Without a "free press" we are doomed as a free society.
Posted by Judith at June 10, 2006 03:54 AMI'm with jj on this. November will not mean a thing. The Democrats have no intentions of holding Bush accountable, ending the war, ending corporate governance, bringing health care to all citizens, ect. Just read their own words. Unless and until this economy falls completely on it's ass will people really wake up to what has been done to this country. By then there might be an uprising, but there will be nothing left. We slept right through the end of fairness and democracy.
Posted by Monica at June 10, 2006 10:53 AM"it's becoming very obvious that the American people don't care a whit about who is running their country into ruin as long as they can pretend there is nothing wrong."
And then a comment:
"Bread and Circus" which I agree with, but todays circus, TV is orders of magnitude greater in it's effect as a distractor.
Americans are spending over 4 hours a day in front of the tube. That is about 2 hours a day for those working full time, and 6 to 8 hours for retirees, the unemployed school children, etc...
The *huge* time drain has transformed society. It has destroyed civil society, and without civil society democracy cannot survive.
Since this site does not seem to accept websites in the comment sections, see:
Wikipedia: civil society
Google: television + alpha waves
Remember the printing press brought about the Age of Reason, who needs to burn books when we've entered the Age of Entertainment.
Posted by Terry at June 10, 2006 11:09 AMAlso check out "Brave New World" and "Bowling Alone"
Why would anyone be afraid to take on Cheney? Two words: Paul Wellstone.
Posted by Angel at June 10, 2006 04:26 PM