People have been complaining about corporate media consolodation for years...hell, Ralph Nader's been doing it for decades. But something happened today that made me sigh. But before I get to that, let me just give you another example of how our media sucks ass. Yeah, the Times is going to start charging people to read it's op-eds. Because the ad revenue they get from the ads plastered all over it's site isn't enough. Paying to read corporate newspapers' op-eds is like paying to get sodomized in prison. OK, that may be stretching it...some people do pay to get sodomized.

In Rochester, we have one weekly alternative newspaper. It used to be pretty good. Note, used to be. We used to have 2 corporate papers, one's gone so we're stuck with one. It blows. In the past year or so, an independent, bilingual monthly newspaper appeared on the scene. Now, our corporate rag just bought it. I guess it's cool that the owners made some scratch off it, but it's just another independent voice biting the dust. To be honest, I didn't even like the writing or story coverage in the darn thing, but it was homegrown.

And I read them all. Why? Because to be an activist, I need to know what other people know. It helps me understand why people act, not act, vote, not vote, etc, the way they do. Even though with every word I read from them my brain gets smoother and smoother.

Blogs are supposed to be the shit now...but many of them are just as biased and slanted as corporate media...they're just slanted because the writers are fanatical, not capitalistic pig-dogs. And most of them just report stuff from places you or I don't have time to read...who the hell is going to subscribe and scour Roll Call?

The tens of you who come here probably don't go to Common Dreams or Democracy Now...so you're REALLY not going to go to some of the other off the beaten path site. That's what blogs are good for. There's not really many people posting on truly independent sites.

IndyMedia
Greg Palast
Some more at the bottom of the blog.

The thing about corporate media is the thing about corporations in general. Their profit is never enough. Companies freak and go on firing sprees (usually the laborers) when profits stay stable. I didn't say they lose money, when the profits don't increase from the year before. It's common sense that a company can't make more than the last year every year.

When I first got cable internet I would listen to baseball games from all around the country for free...I would have to hear their ads, but whatever...it was awesome being able to listen to Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully, et al. All of a sudden, MLB decided to make people pay for it. OK, I don't listen to baseball on the internet any more. But enough people just accepted it.

To me, it comes down to one thing...we're sheep. We have to have cable TV, sports, the latest electronics, etc. We don't interact any more, we work to have stuff. I do it to a degree. I'm less conerned with stuff, but I pretty much have no social life...I don't know what to do with free time. Even when I'm exhaused...well, I'm always exhausted...but I can't even sleep well anymore. We give in to advertising and the peer pressure of the masses...sure, it keeps manufacturing jobs in China & Mexico going, but at what cost to all of us?

I'm not saying it's all "you people". I'm guilty of this as well, but in a different way. I'm missing a ton of things I shouldn't be. My Niece & Nephew are growing up and I'm missing it. I don't see my family at all (even the ones I like). I'm always going to this meeting, that campaign event, etc. A guy told me that I'm not a true Green because I own a car...well, I own a car so I can go to 4 campaign events a day to get someone elected so they can help others, get environment laws passed, stop the man, etc. If I didn't screw up the environment by driving around so much, I wouldn't be able to get so much done to try to save the environment. [yes, I see the irony]

When I'm older, crapping my pants and calling everyone Joel, in my lucid moments I'm going to realize that I did all that work and the world will still be fucked up...and I never got married, never had kids and missed a lot of events in others' lives that I shouldn't have.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 3 campaign mailings, a fundraising letter and a jobs incentive platform to work on. Oh yeah, and maybe I'll pick up my guitar tonight.