Someone told me recently
that another friend was worried
about me. I’ll have to stop sending my friends my writing as it seems to upset
some of them. The problem with this is
that every writer wants an audience -at least one person.
My friend shouldn’t worry-I have the mute button
I am watching News 24 with the mute button switched on.
A tasteless mix of poisonous drama, disaster, crime,
tragedy. Information , disinformation and disinformation served with in a thick slimy sauce of patronising
entertainment
Murder in Adelaide …murder in Sydney… star wars…earthquake in
chile…. terrorism ,…then Santa in Adelaide… an aboriginal death in custody …. then
football.. and the weather. What an
inappropriate and sour cocktail of poison
mixed with lollies to make it more palatable (How patronizing) sweeten it.
News
anchors, experts , career pundits, politicians and celebrities all of then
white -involved in an orgy of mutual masturbation- vying with each other to see who can brown-nose most
earnestly. Their objective is to bring themselves
and the viewer to the ultimate orgasm. Again
and again. They shoot horses –don’t they? They must think the public are
capable of maintaining ourselves in a state of constant excitation–do they
think we are all women?
In the 1930s economists tell us the world became self
sufficient: we were able to produce enough goods to feed and shelter everyone
on the planet. Since then production has increased exponentially and yet we still
don’t seem to have enough goods for billions of us while others have more than they need. The
former group are seen by the latter group as a threat. Not a surprise - and so
they should be.
The reality is there is no need to produce and overproduce
as we have been doing. Why should some of us
have to scramble for goods when there are more than enough goods? Because the greedy want more and more. Those
who have jobs don’t give a damn about those who don’t because there is no sense
of community anymore. The losers are not included in the community –they are
now outsiders-dangerous to the
insiders-those with work.
How has it come to be like this?
After the industrial revolution people lost their identity.
Because they were moving around looking for work they lost their sense of place
and community. Communities disintegrated: the city was born.
Human beings can’t live without a sense of identity-so they replaced their original sense of place, identity and belonging with something else. They started
to seek identity through the accumulation of material things –like houses, cars
and boats. This breakdown of community brought disunity and so people achieved
some sense of unity and belonging through gangs, stadium sports and ultimately Nationalism. This necessitated the demonization
of other groups and ultimately led to
the world wars.
One of the consequences of overproduction is that there is
not enough work for everyone to do. There is nothing for us to do anymore …so
we entertain the 'un' and underemployed by manufacturing ‘news’ (ratings driven entertainment) and presenting
it as –infotainment. This business model
keeps the news ‘industry in work but miseducates the public and keep them in a
constant state of anxiety and fear-either of
outsiders –or of vulnerable but dangerous groups within society-eg welfare recipients, religious or
ethnic groups.
Consequently, we live in a permanent state of neurosis: no
wonder half of people in Australia will have suffered a mental illness before
they are 21.
No, we don’t have war, crushing poverty, famine or systemic corruption in Australia
(yet) but we are all neurotics. Africa and South Americans have all of these but
they are mentally healthy and know how to enjoy life. They are happier than we
are.
Young people in Australia don’t watch the mass media –they try to avoid
it. But they can’t: they are swimming in it –it is everywhere and they still are damaged by its negativity and amorality.
The mass media should confine themselves to investigative journalism. They can not be
trusted to disseminate news or current affairs.
I would close them down and
imprison them for crimes against their own people if they persisted.
News is not entertainment .
Unfortunately, as it is Christmas there is nothing else for
me to do in Adelaide as everything has closed down. Adelaide has stopped. Even
the social clubs have stopped. The voluntary activities have stopped. Even the
ABC has switched to its even more tedious
Christmas programming.
For the settler In Australia with a family, Christmas may be
a busy time –but for the migrant it is the dullest time of the year–even more
boring than usual. If I could I would 'fast forward' to February.
There is nothing else for me to do but write or watch the commercial
tv channels which are ten times worse. They are unwatchable
So… I write
And I have pressed the mute button on News 24
Seasons Greetings to you all!
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