An open letter to the History Channel...

[Sir Jeffrey]

Thank you for consistently serving the fuhrer and providing a valuable outlet for fascist propaganda. When you're not showing WW II snuff clips and war worshipping you're showing UFO propaganda or trying to prove Bible stories for the 21st century.

The World War II movie clips are for closet Nazis to beat off to...I mean really, how many times can you see a big pile of dead Jews before you make your point?

I have an idea, History Channel...why not present your information IN CONTEXT? Interview people with different points of view, maybe?

Also, the UFO clips are to create the idea that some races of human were cross bred with aliens...but not blacks. Think about it...the aliens are light-skinned, big bald headed skinny technocrats who like to conduct science experiments. I'm not just talking out of my ass on this either. I have family members and friends who believe that, and it justifies their racist beliefs in their eyes.

The Bible stories are, well, obvious. "Could Sodom have been destroyed by an alien's nuclear bomb?" "Could Moses have been following an alien spacecraft around the desert?" "Did Ezekiel see a spacecraft and mistake it for God?"

All of these beliefs serve the interests of the ruling class. Fascists are easily led to their deaths. Rampant racism ensures divide and conquer will continue to work well. Christians from a conservative bend will not pose a threat to the heirarchical nature of society as it stands. I mean, we all know that CHristianity was originally founded and spread with a strong tinge of revolutionary flavor to it...

So keep on doing your thing, History Channel. And thank you for not showing anything about Prescott Bush's ties to Nazi Germany, or about how the Western Powers divided up the Middle East after WWI, or about any number of historical events (soon-to-be-nonevents) that might actually offer perspective to conservative idiots.

[htuttle]

1. The Hitler Channel has become very repetitive

I rarely watch the main one anymore, preferring instead to watch 'History International', which appears to have a serious Ancient Egypt addiction.

Funny, though. After watching many hours of History International, I can tell you all about how Egypt was 2500 years ago, but almost nothing about what Egypt is like today (other than the fact that they have an entertaining Director of Antiquities, IMO...).

Otherwise, you're right on your appraisal. Do we really need an hour devoted to Magda Goebbels, for example? And the 'flying saucers in the Bible' angle has gotten very, very tired (and is about as 'non-historical' as you can get...).

[SouthernDem2004]

2. Do you think they read past your opening sentence? I doubt it.

[Sir Jeffrey]

3. I was just bitching...

I only slept four hours last night. I wondered if any other Duers felt the same way...I guess not :)

[Protagoras]

7. I agree with you that the History Channel has become a

sick, lame, repetitive pos that offers no real insight or history.

But I wouldn't express it in that way if I were trying to provide feedback that I thought would promote change at the station. :D

[AlienGirl]

14. I'm sick of the "ancient UFOs" crap, too

I do watch a lot of the WWII stuff--it seems eerily relevant to our current situation.

Tucker

[SouthernDem2004]

20. No, I agree with you whole heartedly. I just do not think they will read

it.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

13. Exactly what I was thinking.

Even I stopped reading at the word "fascist". It's the same thing as when right-wingers call us (or anything liberal) "Communist".

[brooklynite]

4. I assume you didn't actually want them to do anything...

...otherwise your wouldn't have started your letter with insults like "Thank you for consistently serving the fuhrer"

I have noticed in a great many pieces of correspondence reposted here that the writers include a range of hostile language, occasionally witty, but most often not. I know it can be frustrating to look upon the influence corporate media has on what gets reported and how the stories get framed, but venting your anger at the Editor / Publisher / CEO, however good it makes you feel, is a certain way to get your letter deleted or thrown out before the reader makes it to the second paragraph.

Unless you assume that the media outlet is in on a conspiracy with the Administration (in which case, why did you bother to write?), look at this from a strictly business angle. They want to publish/produce material that delivers an audience for their advertisers (even if that includes, unfortunately, UFO's). If there's a story you think they should cover, think about what makes it newsworthy AND interesting, and explain the angle to them. For example, criticizing an Editor for not focusing on the Downing Street memo will get you far less traction than thinking of a way to tie the story to the revelation of "Deep Throat" and Woodward/Bernstein's unveiling of Administration secrets: a topical and timely story that's currently on everyone's lips.

[Sir Jeffrey]

6. I was just trying to gauge whether DU felt the same way n/t

[Crankie Avalon]

5. I guess "an open letter" means you didn't do anything with it...

...apart from posting it here. You might want to make the tone respectful, or at least less insulting, if you wind up sending it to them.

I pretty much agree with the sentiments, though. I hardly ever watch that channel, anymore. It's amazing what silly stuff they put on there--that "Mail Call" show is the worst!!!

[bleedingheart]

8. All the history "documentaries" on any channel but PBS have sucked

I am sorry but the Discovery channels..."Could this be Nefertiti" fiasco was just horrid. It could have been reduced to this:

We found a mummy that has a slender neck, royal-like wrappings and a period wig that dates to the time that Akenaten was in power...so it must be her....but we aren't sure....

But they turned it into a one hour torture fest and every time they came back from a commercial break they repeated everything you just heard prior to the commercial...just to fill in the hour.

GAG...All those channels suck...

So I turn off the TV and read...

[CBHagman]

9. I'm afraid I have to agree with you. It's cable in general.

For the most part, cable simply hasn't lived up to our expectations. Just look at what's on it: masses of commercials, reruns of the same shows that are syndicated on regular broadcast channels, tie-ins to the latest movie (the "science" of James Bond films, for example), etc. I think the last straw for me was seeing a Biography listing for a TV show. THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TV SHOW.

As for the History Channel, the cheesy, repetitious reenactments got old fast, as did the voice-overs that were meant to evoke Ken Burns, or so I took it.

As for the Discovery Channel, just don't get me started.

And you'd think stations like Bravo and A&E would be cultural wonderlands, instead of packed with commercials and reruns and the like.

It's all pretty sad. The large media corporations either have massive contempt for viewers, or viewers' imaginations and standards are too low, or some combination of those.

[DemBeans]

18. It's all dreck

The Discovery Channel has a morbid obsession with mayhem, disaster, and death on a massive scale. If a plane or train has crashed, it gets slotted into a one-hour segment complete with ominous music and a grim-voiced narrator. Natural disasters which involve a large number of fatalities also make the grade, while current environmental issues barely get a mention. One might think that "Discovery" involves looking ahead to issues that might be important, rather than re-discovering plane crashes that occured 30 years ago, with little new to report about them except for computer similations that really don't change the essential facts (but I suppose make for groovy simulated crash sequences, if you're into death).

The History Channel is just trash. It's a shame, because there actually is a market for true historical documentary programming, but THC fails utterly in this regard. Vapid bible, WWII and UFO junk, endlessly recycled.

[SoCalDem]

11. Most of their "new" programming is just cobbled together

snippets of other shows, and then presented as "new".. They obviously have a vast storehouse of old "Dateline" shows and oold documentaries. They must also have a lot of film/digital editors with a lot of time on their hands.. Many times, I have started to watch something, only to start to realize that I have seen it before, but not in the form they are presenting it. They often clip off the ending credits with more commercials, so it's hard to find out what they have done..

We GOT cable in the first place so we would get TLC, History & Discovery...and now they are all ruined..:puke:

[newportdadde]

10. There does seem to be a lot of WWII info on the history channel.

enjoy most WWII programs, especially the aviation but I would like to see more variety. Some war of 1812, moving West, etc. Would especially like to see a special on UNIONS and the time period of the 1890s etc to go over what life was like back then, maybe that would help educate some people now.

[dejaboutique]

12. Discovery channel sucks now too

its all about motorcyles. why dont they just make a motorcycle channel already. I used to love HIstory and Discovery channel. enough of the Hitler on a Harley thing. jeez

[maveric]

15. And TLC is all Home Makeovers, Wedding and Baby.

Not much to learn on The Learning Channel.

[AlienGirl]

16. I hate TLC's daytime lineup

It is apparently supposed to appeal to women who stay home. But instead of having something interesting on, it's all home crafts and baby stuff. Where are the shows about astronomy and physics and things like that? Why do the programming directors assume women aren't interested in science?

Tucker

[maveric]

17. The WWII footage is interesting and I'm not a "closet nazi"!

Who beats off to piles of dead jews. In those documentaries the nazis are viewed as bad/evil. The average schmuck who watched Fox News could learn from these docs. Perhaps they could learn not to make the same mistakes that other countries/cultures have made in the past.
Perhaps TLC is more your speed?

[Sir Jeffrey]

19. You have to remember something about fascists...

to them, a pile of dead jews is not necessarily a bad thing.