Only in America. Not in France. Why? it’s citizens take to boycotting rags, brain candy t.v. propaganda etc., in short, they comprehend the very first word in our U.S. Constitution—“We” the People.  Thank god for sites like Robert Scheer’s Truthdig, Stephen Colbert, Blogs, and citizens who have the courage to stare down the barrel of b.s. and object.  God knows.

The NY Times died on 9/11.
Their spirit got crushed in their own rubble.

The media no longer reports, they choreograph.

Mr. Canning (#83234), I know that my current communication skills are inferior to those of Moyers.  That is why I called my own blog THE REHEARSAL STUDIO and am not embarrassed to do my practicing in a public place where I may get all sorts of feedback, particularly the negative sort.  Having had the luxury of hearing a violinist in my family warm up before performing, I know how much practice is necessary every day before the fingers and bow wrist find their proper place to elicit the pitches that make the music;  and the same holds when we try to express ideas that just do not sit well with our everyday paradigms.  My learning curve may be slow, but I have some confidence that it is heading in the right direction.  I have less confidence about the direction of Moyers’ learning curve (or that of others whose pulpit has been provided by PBS);  and if I have not expressed this proposition well, I think it still deserves attention.

HMMM, let me ponder these choices I am given. Go with the rational and intellectual truth talking of Bill Moyers, think about what he states with no hyperbole or, as Mr. Smoliar suggests, build a political strategy revolving around some guy wearing a mask and stabbing folks. Oh and blow up the occasional building as well…...

OK Ive thought about it, sorry Mr. S, the movies are just that, unreality and entertainment while political work might involve drudgery and repetition, frustration and many years of effort but it is one thing V For Vendetta is not, reality.

Steve (#83198), you raise some interesting points about JOHN OF CINCINNATI;  but, in your attention to the details, you may have missed out on a more general issue.  Since that issue pertains to life under fascism, it seems relevant to raise it here.  The issue is the role of magical realism in the narrative structure of this series.  Most of us know magical realism best through the pen of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  A friend of mine from Peru introduced me to a comment that Garcia Marquez had made early in his career about this technique.  He said that an author who lives under the oppression of fascism can only express himself through absurdity.  Whether or not this is the strategy of the JOHN OF CINCINNATI team remains to be seen;  but, in the first four episodes of the series, we have witnessed several interesting encounters between the absurdities of the times in which we now live and the absurdities of magical realism.  It may be too much to expect that the scriptwill turn our attention to political oppression;  but the tyranny of media oppression, A LA Rupert Murdoch, would not seem out of the question!

Mr. Smoliar, you are a couple of star systems short of striking the target.  The question is not what will sell to “Joe Six Pack.”  The issue is Moyer’s uncanny ability to cut through the propaganda to provide in depth, and always factual, analysis that speaks truth to power.  If you cannot appreciate the brilliance of a Bill Moyers then you either lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend or you are simply jealous that your communications skills will never, in your life time, rise to the level of an intellectual giant like Bill Moyers.

My frustration with Bill Moyers is precisely that his ability to expose someone like Rupert Murdoch for what he is just is not particularly brilliant.  His rhetorical strategy is to oppose the inflammatory demagoguery of Fox News with that “cool reason” of Enlightenment thinking.  This is all very well and good where logic and argumentation are concerned;  but it is also a path well-trod by many (including Truthdiggers).  Moyers has not introduced anything beyond what I called his silver-tongued delivery;  and my reaction is that desperate times call for more desperate strategies.

In another of my blog posts, I suggested that the film V FOR VENDETTA may serve as an example for the sorts of weapons of ridicule I have in mind:

http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-chutzpah.html

This film is all about confronting oppressive fascism.  The protagonist’s strategy is to create ridiculous situations in public places that make the fascists look even more ridiculous in trying to confront those situations.  It is sort of like HOME ALONE with a political message, and that message makes it far more satisfying than HOME ALONE!  (It should also invoke memories of Abie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, at least among those of us who have those memories!)

The issue is not whether Moyers can persuade Joe Six-Pack.  Joe Six-Pack’s grandfather may have listened to Ed Murrow on CBS, but I doubt that Joe spares many couch cycles for PBS.  Thus, the issue is whether Moyers can bring new insights to the table that may galvanize the rest of us into action.  I do not think he has done this, and that disappoints me.  If my expectations are unrealistic, then so be it;  but I do not think we need further reminders of the mess we are in!

The interactions between the media and social (political) developments are very important. The back and forth influence can be quite negative or positive.

More attention is being paid to the connection between media and the psychology of our country. An example is an article posted on the social-political Web site PopulistAmerica.com, the site of the Populist Party of America.

The article looks at an interesting new TV series on HBO:

“John from Cincinnati”

PopulistAmerica.com
June 29, 2007

http://www.populistamerica.com/john_from_cincinnati

Mr. Smoliar:

You writeon your blog:

“we need to sharpen our weapons of ridicule and use them more effectively”

Well what exactly is Bill Moyers doing??? He’s pointing out the grave dangers of media centralization and behind this terrible development the powerful media moguls themselves, in particular, one Mr. Rupert Murdoch. Moyers sticks with PBS because so-called “mainstream” tv outlets such as NBC, CBS, and ABC would never broadcast his prescient, sharp, and poignant commentaries, not to mention the editorial challenges he poses to the media moguls themselves.

I’m not impressed with your arguments, Mr. Smoliar.

Gee Mr. Billis, please try not to hold back so much, let it out indeed.

Bilious:
“No surprise to me that the dolt American public elected a moron like George Bush president.”

So much for the intellect of about three hundred million, shrug your shoulders and walk away. Oh wait, a thought enters, incredulous as that might sound,” what about”, it notes “those who voted for Gore, or for Kerry, or Nader, or whomever not Bush” Bilious shrugs and ignores that voice, too much reason involved I guess.

Then, despite the long odds involved, the voice tries again to reason, to allow a shaft of light into the stygian darkness inside, ” what about”, it ponders in an almost hopeless little voice, “the rumors that Bush actually lost the two elections but guys like Jeb and Blackwell subverted the will of those “morons” and stole the elections for Georgie. How about considering the judges on the Supreme Court who gave it to Bush on a silver platter. It might seem, to reasonable folks, that the entire voting populace might not be rationally tarred with the broad brush of unreasonable assumption.”

But alas, the little voice goes unheeded and unanswered. America shrugs, and we morons ignore Mr. Bilious and get on with it.

“The silver-tongued rhetoric of cool reason?”  Sorry, Mr. Smoliar but you do not have a very impressive blog.  Perhaps you would prefer the faux news at Fox and the degree to which the right-wing echo chamber has poisened the nation’s discourse with their assault on reason.

The degeneration of the corporate media into a propaganda network was not altogether unexpected.  On April 9, 1944, Vice President Henry Wallace published an article in The New York Times describing the American fascist.

“The American fascist would prefer not to use violence.  His method is to poison the channels of public information.  With a fascist the problem is never how to best present the truth to the publlic but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.

“They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.  They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest.  Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjugation.”

I sense what you detest about Moyers is his brilliant ability to expose people like Rupper Murdoch for what they are—in Murdoch’s case an Aussie transplant who became an American fascist.  What you are upset with is that the power of Moyer’s superior intellect loadly speaks truth to power.

I am going to risk taking a dissenting position from everyone with the possible exception of THOMAS BILLIS (#83075).  I found Moyers’ rhetoric, while cool and reasoned, to be hollow and more than a little bit vain.  I also believe that this kind of righteous indignation is arising in all sorts of settings with little effect other than satisfying personal vanity.  Readers are invited to my blog for elaboration on this theme:

http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2007/07/hollow-and-vain-voice-of-indignation.html

What a great line.  “Our media and political system has turned into a mutual protection racket.”  Bill Moyers like Amy Goodman is a national treasure.