Power
to silence our voice
Give
me liberty or give me death -- or so said
Patrick Henry. But what was he really talking
about? About tea taxes, stamp taxes or the
basic human rights now guaranteed in the
first ten amendments to the Constitution?
What
does it mean to have the freedom of speech
or freedom of the press? It means that people
have the right to speak for what they believe
in and speak against what they don't. But
once that right has been invoked people
often dislike people of other views partaking
of the same right.
This
hypocrisy, that only people supporting one
view should be allowed to get their point
across, can be viewed at all levels of society.
Access to channels that allow the masses
voice to be heard are limited. More common
is a channel with an agenda, and that agenda
will be met.
The
concept of access is a strong basis of class.
Access to resources, and ability to attain
those resources is a strong measurement
of power. The powerful can get their messages
across. And often what appears to be a competing
message is just a different way of saying
the same message. It's just another powerful
voice behind the scene.
More
apparent than the powerful people behind
the message are the corporate sponsors behind
it. They support that message because it
keeps you buying their product or just keeps
you going along in the same way you always
have, listening to the same old message.
So
the powerful are backed up by other powers,
whether its corporate sponsors or interest
group lobbyists. The message's impact on
you is redoubled, confirmed and imbedded
firmly in your mind. Is this freedom of
speech? Is this freedom of the press?
No.
It's a concept that has been warped with
mega-media mergers and our corporate president.
The concept of a public forum is all but
impossible with corporate media busy keeping
their advertisers happy, their agenda setting
is no longer premised as for the good of
the people but admittedly for the good of
the companies and the CEOs and the accountants.
Could
Disney-owned ABC ever broadcast a breaking
story on Disneyland hiring child-molesters?
Would NBC create a hubbub about Microsoft?
Chances are highly unlikely.
So
who is being silenced? Everyone. Even the
reporters and writers working for these
companies are helpless to get some messages
out. And the people are told what matters
by the media gurus at the top.
Preservation
of a public forum in independents, school
papers, community newspapers and newsletters
seem to be the only hope. With everyone
but the smallest of the small so afraid
to offend or lose the patronage of any company,
no giant multinational conglomerate gets
investigated, no unions are shaken up to
see who is really calling the shots. And
freedom does not ring.
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