I told you this would happen...

[PCIntern]

Some months ago, I was posting that we were asymptotically approaching a Corporatist, virtually complete, takeover of the US of A. Many here chided me with the usual "Chicken Little" epithets and other romantic drivel. Methinks that some have been watching too many Terminator films, which suggest that an effective Underground can prohibit the eventual victory of the evil machine(s).

Well, we took quite a hit this week with the merger of NBC and Comcast and the concomitant elimination (Comcast Elimination) of KO and who-knows-whom-else of the soon-to-be-named variety. The powers that be are taking full advantage of the average American who only wants to know that when he or she goes to sleep at night, that when they awaken in the morning, the TeeVee will turn on, the NFL/MLB games will be played, the movies will have sufficient sex and violence to keep them satiated and excited, and that the Happy Meals will still be served at the Golden Arches.

Very few care about process, about humanism - unless they feel that they are deserving of a particular brand at a particular time, about others in far-away lands, about positive movement of the human race, about others' rights to live decently. There are many others not mentioned.

In my lifetime, beginning to approach sixty years, I have seen an incredible shift in the intellectual prowess of those responsible for bringing us news and analysis, of those holding many significant elective offices, and those who perform research in science which is no longer seeking the Truth, but the proof that a commercial product is better than other commercial products, subsidized by the very folk who stand to gain largesse.

I will tell you quite frankly, listening to a wonderful interview of Walter Cronkite on Youtube the other week, that I sadly realized that although Cronkite was the anchor and the star of CBS all those years ago, the fact of the matter was that Sevareid, Murrow, Collingwood, and others were considered vastly more intellectual and aware than the famed anchor, and he deferred to them often for analysis and opinion. Of course, that was his job, and I mean no disrespect for the man, but it is simply a comparison of what we had then versus what we have now, which is indescribably bad.

I couldn't really sleep last night - it's been a very long personal, professional, and political haul, and I'm just tired and so very sad at what occurred last night and what shall continue to occur through the coming months and years.

[WinkyDink]

1. You omitted: The Obama Administration-approved "merger of NBC and Comcast."

"In my lifetime, beginning to approach sixty years, I have seen an incredible shift in the intellectual prowess of those responsible for bringing us news and analysis, of those holding many significant elective offices, and those who perform research in science which is no longer seeking the Truth, but the proof that a commercial product is better than other commercial products, subsidized by the very folk who stand to gain largesse.

I will tell you quite frankly, listening to a wonderful interview of Walter Cronkite on Youtube the other week, that I sadly realized that although Cronkite was the anchor and the star of CBS all those years ago, the fact of the matter was that Sevareid, Murrow, Collingwood, and others were considered vastly more intellectual and aware than the famed anchor, and he deferred to them often for analysis and opinion. Of course, that was his job, and I mean no disrespect for the man, but it is simply a comparison of what we had then versus what we have now, which is indescribably bad."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 61, I agree 100% with your observations. Pick up a TIME or NEWSWEEK from 1973, say, and marvel at the AMOUNT of news, the IN-DEPTH reporting, the ADULT tone. Now? They try to cater to the youth consumer, and wonder why they, the mags, keep losing subscribers.

Television news died, IMO, with the firing of Dan Rather.

Moreover, one saw intellectuals actually ON TV talk-shows! Buckminster Fuller, Gore Vidal, Wm F. Buckley (okay, not my side, but still!), etc. Bill Moyers was the last of the breed.

I cannot beleive how far America has fallen. And the demise of respect for the intellectual is, IMO, connected to the demise of our liberties and economic health, for who is there to speak to the masses?

Seymour Hersh tries, but where is his mass-media "pulpit"?

[PCIntern]

3. I'm not casting blame...

there's too much to go around...

I am disappointed period...I have been for a long time and I was under no illusion that it would be business as usual, just of a feigned kinder-gentler-variety. I know where we're going and no one wll stop it. Period. That's a fact.

[WinkyDink]

6. You're a better man than I, Ginga Din; I'll cast the blame freely.

[PCIntern]

7. Look,

I'm not saying that blame is bad...it's just, like, TPTB say "So what"? We Progressives can fix the blame, but not the problem.

[NightWatcher]

4. And Obama appointed GE's CEO to a jobs creation initiative....

Timing huh?

[Enthusiast]

12. America has fallen

[Turbineguy]

2. Well Doctor,

We still have each other on DU and those who few will listen to us.

[PCIntern]

5. Great...

but for those of us who aspired to head in the other direction in the EARLY 60's, it's like, well, like washing our feet with our socks on.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. I fondly remember the Huntly-Brinkley Report,

ABC News with Howard K. Smith, the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Meet the Press with Lawrence Spivak... Those were people who knew how to present the news, or moderate a discussion panel, in a very professional way. Every time I turn on an American news program now, I cannot believe what passes for reporting these days. And don't get me started on the joke that is today's Meet the Press.

[upi402]

9. Me too, with deep melancholy

The circus-freak propaganda organ of corporatism is now a cemented format for the former 4th estate.

And we've lost our republic because of it.

[stlsaxman]

10. and "Washington Week In Review" with Paul Duke... now it's

"Warshington Whore On Parade" with Gwen Offal.

:(

[dbt]

11. Brilliant analysis. K & R

Taken as a (w)hole, all we care about is our bread and circuses. The corporations--especially the five who control the media--are well aware of this.

I have cartoon nightmares of the AntiChrist rising up and addressing the faithful at NASCAR events.

:scared:

[Enthusiast]

13. I don't know what else I could have done.

My side doesn't generally resort to second amendment remedies.

[monmouth]

14. And Scarborough is smiling. He would never mention KO by name,

and would cringe when Keith's statements were brought up. Don't tell me he didn't have any input.