Celebrity Ratings Bonanzas

I just knew this was coming:

From Howard Kurtz, Media Correspondent (CNN & Washington Post) -

"Michael Jackson TV ratings in U.S.: ...Cable ratings thru the roof. CNN up 973% at one point, MSNBC 330%, Fox 243%"

We are definitely a celebrity driven society. Of course, the government loves this...they can now do unnoticed major profitable business with the multinational corporations (conglomerates) at the expense of the common person. They’ve been able to do this for decades (think O.J. Simpson in the 90’s), and look where it’s gotten us.

The masses stay focused on this "tragedy" and other perpetual celebrity "major events," ad nauseum. Ergo, this leads to their not paying attention to what's really going on that's affecting their lives. It gives "The Powers That Be" opportunities to create policy and pass laws that will slip past a deliberately uninformed public.

The ratings bonanza further feeds the Main Stream Media sharks to keep paying close attention to celebrities, waiting for the next ratings boom (read: profits) and continually keeps the focus away from the really important issues in our lives.

Another method of making us look the other way is to make celebrities out of missing women. Of course, the women must be white, middle class and very attractive (usually blond). A child will also do. Once one turns up missing we then get weeks and weeks of hammering all the same “what if” or “who could have” scenarios as the hunt goes on. And the ratings escalate with the drama.

One last point: The Main Stream Media outlets are completely owned by the multinationals. As an example, GE (major war equipment supplier) owns NBC and MSNBC. They (GE, et. al.) are extremely interested in sleight-of-hand manipulation in order to garner more profits.

During the hysterical drumbeat to war with Iran, Phil Donahue, an anti-war activist, had a show on MSNBC that was one of the highest rated shows on that network. MSNBC (remember, owned by war-profiteering GE) demanded he match his anti-war guests with pro-war advocates. By the way, the pro-war were to be two to one (they felt Phil counted as an anti-war advocate). MSNBC canceled his show just before we attacked that sovereign nation because they were afraid to look like the anti-war network. At least, that was the spin.

I do recommend a documentary entitled: “War Made Easy: How the Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” The film talks about how we, the people, are manipulated into a war fever. Great film.

If you're old enough, remember the days when network news (Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite) delivered news, nothing but the news and there was no concern whether there were profits to be made in the network news business? I did hear on a show that the death of Elvis was the second lead story of a major news network (I forget which one) after an actual "news" event. My...how things have changed.

Now? The "news" is basically "infotainment." 'Tis a pity...