tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post3215374195618603018..comments2024-03-18T19:14:18.804-04:00Comments on Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org : Rise of the MediacracyDaniel Greenfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-86023209054479747982014-01-01T08:16:25.885-05:002014-01-01T08:16:25.885-05:00What is the difference between an editorial endors...What is the difference between an editorial endorsement or slanted news story and a political ad?<br /><br />Since the passage of the Federal Campaign Act after Watergate, campaign laws have been used to abridge the right of citizens and citizens groups attempting to address their grievances with government.<br /><br />"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy." - From Taking the Risk Out Of Democracy by Alex Carey<br /><br />“It is normal for all large businesses to make serious efforts to influence the news, to avoid embarrassing publicity, and to maximize sympathetic public opinion and government policies. Now they own most of the news media that they wish to influence.” - from The Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian<br /><br />Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs. But politicians exempted the commercial press, because the 1st Amendment prohibits abridging their freedom of speech and the press. <br /><br />Giant media corporations are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money influencing the political process because their political communications are said to have no value.<br /><br />But, since Watergate, campaign regulations based on the definitions of expenditure and contribution restrict the speech and press rights of every U.S. Citizen political party and organization.<br /><br />The main stream media already enjoy superior means to influence politics. To level the playing field, the language of the Press Exemption must be amended to include ‘citizens and groups’ in the unregulated class. <br /><br />Currently, only State approved media corporations are exempt from campaign laws: 2 USC 431 (9) (B) (i) exempts newspaper, broadcast and magazine corporations from the definition of contribution and expenditure. The Buckley v. Valeo decision, which upheld these reforms, effectively redefined free press as the right of media corporations!<br /><br />In the 184 year period prior to Watergate and the charter of the Federal Election Commission in 1975, citizens were free to pool their money to pay the costs of communicating their political ideas and endorsements without creating a 501, 527 or Super Pac Corporation. And flesh and blood citizens were not limited how much they could spend or required to report political activities to government.<br /><br />To restore citizens 1st Amendment rights and return the Federal Government to Constitutionally proscribed boundaries, Call your Senators and Congressman and demand they add ‘citizens and citizen’s groups’ to the language of the press exemption.<br /><br />For a short term solution, conservative groups should consider incorporating as media periodicals to circumvent most unconstitutional campaign laws, rather than applying to the IRS for non-profit status to avoid a few. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-75712446183318216602013-12-26T14:44:19.553-05:002013-12-26T14:44:19.553-05:00Make no mistake, there is a great reckoning of aff...Make no mistake, there is a great reckoning of affairs in the making, and the "journalists" who have so willfully and deliberately undermined this civilization are going to find themselves swinging from lamp posts. They bear a greater degree of responsibility for this cultural rot than even politicians.<br /><br />I'm not saying this to be bombastic or edgy, it's just a statement of historical likelihood. There is a current of inchoate rage, a sure sense that we are being manipulated and managed even if we cannot precisely elucidate the particulars of it. They have heretofore found this to be a protective sort of ambiguity, but that protection is crumbling. What will happen is that vengeful retribution will end up being directed in all suspected directions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-72977692376987151362013-12-26T14:43:34.352-05:002013-12-26T14:43:34.352-05:00http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/09/02/who-is-...http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/09/02/who-is-controling-your-mind-in-2013/<br /><br />Mr. Greenfield,<br /><br />You can't stop the Merchants Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-52846196507546533902013-12-26T11:35:27.904-05:002013-12-26T11:35:27.904-05:00Good article; as always, it defines problems we al...Good article; as always, it defines problems we all are irritated by, but don't fully understand. I don't mind what someone called "both barrels" in your columns, but repeating paragraphs, in slightly different words, is not effective. Often, you reach the brilliant conclusion half way into the column, and the rest of it takes away from the whole. I understand writing, and it is extremely hard and time consuming to reorganize thoughts after writing them, especially if one is cranking them out on a daily basis.<br />My recommendations: shorter is better, and if you want to repeat, do so in the conclusion. It is harder, but it shines the diamond.<br />Regards,DenisOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-69632866123636809312013-12-26T11:05:50.913-05:002013-12-26T11:05:50.913-05:00Leftists attack FOX because it's winning. Look...Leftists attack FOX because it's winning. Look at the ratings. <br /><br />When the left furiously attacks, it's afraid.Daniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-82404602479777925732013-12-26T10:48:59.067-05:002013-12-26T10:48:59.067-05:00How can conservatives "utilize" the medi...How can conservatives "utilize" the media when the media is entirely made up of leftists?<br /><br />Look at Fox News: a genuine attempt to create an objective news source. What happened? Liberals have turned it into a punchline. They mock it, and anyone who watches it. News presented by Fox is presumed to be "right-wing propaganda" and so can be disregarded.<br /><br />Not only do Leftists disregard Fox, but their control of the media is such that they constantly discredit and attack Fox. In any fictional depiction of a corrupt, dishonest media organization, it's ALWAYS a caricature of Fox News. They repeat the lie over and over and over and over and over . . . and the uninformed voters eventually believe it.<br /><br />This is how they've made people believe Republicans (a party specifically founded to fight slavery of black people) are racists. They just keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it until it becomes part of every person's mental map of reality.<br /><br />We can't fight that with blog posts. We can't even fight that by getting the Koch Brothers to buy a network. (The Koch Brothers figured that out a while back, I suspect.) Any dissenting voices are attacked. <br /><br />I don't know what the answer is. At times I fear it can only end in violence -- or that it won't end at all, and we'll slide into Huxley's Brave New World of perfect social control by media and meds. But I do know that blog posts aren't the answer. They help rally the troops, but that's all. We need a weapon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-47397779355556432102013-12-26T10:46:04.437-05:002013-12-26T10:46:04.437-05:00The only real answer in the long run is extreme de...The only real answer in the long run is extreme decentralization of government. This is the only thing that could short-circuit the mediacracy, which as you pointed out at the start of the article, is based on the fact that "the bigger a country gets, the harder it is to pick up on that consensus".<br /><br />The question is only, how is this possible? Secession of states, or maybe of counties, has to be the first step, but it seems that even real conservatives are loath to even bring this up.fsynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-76094716404009210612013-12-25T22:35:59.046-05:002013-12-25T22:35:59.046-05:00Spectacular! You made so many good points that pi...Spectacular! You made so many good points that picking just a few to laud, would not do the entire piece justice. <br /><br />Fortunately we have the internet, but I'm afraid that its not enough to arouse the electorate, in time to prevent the continued rapid descent of the country. The internet, unfortunately, just doesn't have the emotional authority of network TV especially to the impressionable "low information voters." And I don't just mean the TV news, much of the programming is done on what passes for entertainment as you recently pointed out in your article, "We Can Have Gay Rights or Freedom of Speech." Furthermore, while the internet and talk radio reach millions of people, it tends to reach only those who make an effort to be informed and inclined to think, that is to say our side. <br /><br />To save this country, we need to win elections, which means influencing the puppets. So, while I find your articles brilliant and insightful, we need to find other ways to get the votes of those who won't or can't read them. <br /><br />My grandfather told me, "liberals are people that don't let facts or logic interfere with their opinions." Our side, therefore, needs to find other ways of persuading the impressionable to vote our way. <br /><br />The closed loop of leftist media, as you detailed in, "The Left is Too Smart to Fail," is used to create a smug self-righteousness as well as to reinforce the pre-formed opinion that it wants their voters to have. To win, we need to become as adept at utilizing the media as the left. I believe that we need create "soundbite" opinions, a mix of a little fact, a little reasoning and mostly humor presented in the media that the other side utilizes to give them their opinions. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-86791768508187994552013-12-25T21:47:03.728-05:002013-12-25T21:47:03.728-05:00There IS something that can be done. And if conse...There IS something that can be done. And if conservative politicians and activists had any sense they would jump on this whole hog.<br /><br />Unbundling cable.<br /><br />Right now it is ludicrous to rant and rave and bellow about "boycotting" A&E. A&E, MSNBC, MTV, Skinemax, the Oprah channel, the menopause channel, the gay channel, Al Jazeera Amerika and all the others make their cut if they're on the menu and subscribers pay for it all whether they watch it or not.<br /><br />If cable subscribers were able to sign up for and pay for only those channels they wanted, the Liberal Mediacracy would collapse without its strongest pillar. Even the Big Four networks would probably go belly up. MSNBC would be unable to pay for Rachel Maddows' stylist let alone keep the lights on.<br /><br />You want to actually accomplish something rather than just vent your spleen...?Doraminnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-69297220713263324822013-12-25T18:48:22.615-05:002013-12-25T18:48:22.615-05:00We're doing it now.We're doing it now. Daniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-25120226275770152342013-12-25T18:47:08.413-05:002013-12-25T18:47:08.413-05:00So I was ready to take up my pitchfork and storm t...So I was ready to take up my pitchfork and storm the gates of the Mediacracy, but, then what? "Force[ing]... them out of the public space that they have usurped" is a great idea, but how, precisely, is that done? It took them 40 years to force democracy out of the public space that it owned. The nation does not have 40 years.fodderwingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-32522000774766530812013-12-25T18:17:15.108-05:002013-12-25T18:17:15.108-05:00American is a Republic, not a Democracy.
The on...American is a Republic, not a Democracy. <br /><br />The only true constitutional option is to realise that the entire premise of this article is unconstitutional: American should be neither a Democracy, nor a "Mediacracy" (in fact, Mediacracy and Democracy are one and the same thing). <br /><br />America must return to the Constitution, and be a Republic once again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-15773196497620100872013-12-25T16:20:10.503-05:002013-12-25T16:20:10.503-05:00"In 2008, the Mediacracy elevated an Illinois..."In 2008, the Mediacracy elevated an Illinois State Senator who had briefly showed up in the Federal Senate to the highest office in the land. They did it even though he had no skills for the job and no serious plan for fixing any of the country's problems. They did it to show that they could."<br /><br />I agree that the media go all out to support and protect Obama and company. But I cannot agree that they were able to elect O. by themselves either the first or second time without considerable help from two cowardly, semi-socialist, RINOs by the names of McCain and Romney. (If I misinterpreted your comment above, my apology.)<br /><br />Both RINOs ran miserable, non-competitive campaigns. (I knew McCain would lose when I watched him, live on TV, haranguing his own followers about what a great President Obama would make.).<br /><br />As long as the Republicans refuse to challenge the Democrats morally, intellectually, by pointing out that the Democrats deal in immoral socialist poison, they will continue to lose.Doug Mayfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620167852028046807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-73819998861873245872013-12-25T15:51:41.147-05:002013-12-25T15:51:41.147-05:00The mediacracy is on the job in living colour, rep...The mediacracy is on the job in living colour, replete with manly female reporters bloviating the obvious fact of a tank formation with Apache helicopters providing force protection and reconnaissance, moving on undefended Baghdad. <br /><br />Where is it when we need to understand the implication of a small town police force in Ohio adding SWAT capability, military grade armoured vehicles and unannounced, night-time Apache helicopter force suppression exercises? AskTheRefereehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02196362035919008928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-42410382712176663812013-12-25T15:14:50.944-05:002013-12-25T15:14:50.944-05:00I quit watching major network news a long time ago...I quit watching major network news a long time ago with their ridiculous stories and their actual avoidance of more serious issues that doesn't fit the lemming agenda. I watch the weather and read news stories online, but most seem to be written by foreigners experimenting with English as a new language. Nothing makes sense and nothing is ever explained. It reminds me of Vonnegut's view of the future in Welcome To The Monkey House. We are living the Monkey House.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09518677967627217789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-50214631625526851922013-12-25T14:30:44.179-05:002013-12-25T14:30:44.179-05:00Pity about not wanting the Disqus comment option, ...Pity about not wanting the Disqus comment option, I do appreciate the immediate retort possibilities also between the readers, but indeed the discussions often get bogged down in either plain scolding or they deviate from the issue.mindRiderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12160934421830568737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-34888308575921832992013-12-25T14:23:08.930-05:002013-12-25T14:23:08.930-05:00Yashar koach, Daniel. This is one of your many ke...Yashar koach, Daniel. This is one of your many keepers. I have long maintained that the fourth estate is our fifth column, working for and supported by those who wish our civilization ill, but you see further than I do; you state that the mediacrats' aim is to supplant our civilization for themselves. Thank you for opening my eyes to an even greater danger than I suspected.<br /><br />LightbringerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-3423459335559779152013-12-25T12:24:06.582-05:002013-12-25T12:24:06.582-05:00It is both heartening and humbling to see a great ...It is both heartening and humbling to see a great writer put together the arguments, and even some of the verbage and terminology that I have been pushing for the last 20 years.<br /><br />This is a brilliant essay. I am pleased to say, that in my own way, I have been saying almost exactly the same thing. I like to think that I was one of, if not the first, to use the term “mediacracy”.<br /><br />Daniel Greenfield does it so much better than I ever could.Dean Weingartenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07026716292548440054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-239933944454584102013-12-25T12:17:36.421-05:002013-12-25T12:17:36.421-05:00Okay, we all know the media's the problem. The...Okay, we all know the media's the problem. They lie, they distort, they are hyper-partisan.<br /><br />Now what?<br /><br />What can we do about it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-25930891364991466612013-12-25T11:38:12.078-05:002013-12-25T11:38:12.078-05:00Another reason I would never put in DisqusAnother reason I would never put in DisqusDaniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-16142671267557860382013-12-25T11:31:45.245-05:002013-12-25T11:31:45.245-05:00And there are already attempts to tame, control, a...And there are already attempts to tame, control, and collectivize opinion on the internet. While there is still considerable elbow room on Face Book and a few other social media channels, the users can be tracked, and are always at risk of being shut down by having their accounts canceled. New software, such as Disqus make it possible to do same in discussion fora. Fewer and fewer site owners still retain control over their own comment threads. <br /><br />-RurikUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11007383747176725344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-65475805711377436822013-12-25T11:00:31.767-05:002013-12-25T11:00:31.767-05:00Joan,
it's also a common consensus at the top...Joan,<br /><br />it's also a common consensus at the top. All this is financed by advertising which is not really concerned with the mass of people, but with ideas dictated by a handful of people, many of them extremely radical, more so than even Hollywood. <br /><br />The paradigm in advertising is to look for younger and wealthier audiences, even if they're niche, rather than the ordinary American. That's a major shift from what it used to be in the 1950s. <br /><br />This conveniently favors more radical shifts in programming to appeal to those niche audiences, the wealthy twenty and thirty-somethings, who have the disposable income and lean to the left.<br /><br />Currently no network could be paid to air a television show that would bring in ten times the audience of one of their own shows, if the audience it brings in is old. Daniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-14667295953304238522013-12-25T10:55:22.474-05:002013-12-25T10:55:22.474-05:00Naresh, Carver was a thinly disguised version of R...Naresh, Carver was a thinly disguised version of Rupert Murdoch<br /><br />Edward, we've gone from avuncular fake seriousness to perpetual cheerfulness. Actors adjusting themselves to the culture they manipulate.<br /><br />Anon 1, we are seeing the rise of a state media with Obama's people controlling the news and manufacturing their own stories and photos.<br /><br />Robin, and even when they don't have single ownership, the people who run them and staff them have a common worldview.<br /><br />Anon 2, yes people like to feel smart and so they repeat what they think the consensus is<br /><br />Churchill, the Front Page versions are more focused. Here for example I go into more side details such as the overall culture of manufactured intelligence.<br /><br />Daniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-90805779178622599242013-12-25T10:49:15.753-05:002013-12-25T10:49:15.753-05:00Meanwhile, most good folks on the Internet keep sp...Meanwhile, most good folks on the Internet keep sputtering, "hypocrites" at the media. They haven't a hypocritical bone in their collective body. When A&Evil can turn its back on millions of dollars in favor of a neo-Normalist radical group representing less than 2% of the population, you know the invisible hand of capitalism has withered. Which is what the Mediacracy wanted all along. They saw where power rests and they courted it at its throne: entitlements, set-asides, crony considerations. Now, after 40 years of patience, they receive their orders from their financiers, not the "buying public" (which can't buy what the cable companies won't bundle). Those elite few--less than 1%--- who have more money and buying power than all the U.S. fandom and all the merchandising China can provide, they tell A&E, "walk away" and A&E walks.<br /><br />You once kindly linked to my take on this back in May. Though my sword is not nearly as deft as yours, I offer it as a parry against the coming night: http://primordialslack.com/?p=2744Joan of Argghh!https://www.blogger.com/profile/14729682908266300507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-41059629825244206372013-12-25T09:50:04.809-05:002013-12-25T09:50:04.809-05:00I would only add that the media in and of itself w...I would only add that the media in and of itself would exert much less influence on the people without their partner Academy. I see it as the left's one-two punch. All the lies offered by the Mediacracy would ring hollow to an educated, not indoctrinated, electorate. XisDshizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03121122522681912743noreply@blogger.com