and things that go bump in the night

Maybe all this flap about Sinclair's taking control of our air waves
will serve as a wake up call, but Sinclair is not doing anything that
we haven't been permitting to go on for as many years as we have had
"public air waves".
Americans have been under the spell of "Non News" for so long a time
that I doubt many of us would know honest unbiased reporting if it hit
us between the eyes. Where we find ourselves today is the result of
allowing our public air space to be sold to a vast army of
advertisers. Big and little, they jockey for our attention. Their
goal is not to tell us the news, it is to sell us the product. Back
when tobacco was King, everyone appeared to have a cigarette or a
cigar or a pipe sticking out of their mouths. Even Santa Claus smoked
Chesterfields in place of his little pipe. Our air waves were turned
against us, subtly and not so subtly sending the message that it was
okay to smoke. And the tobacco industry fought to keep certain news
stories out of the public's eye. Stories of growing lung cancer,
people with throat cancer, elderly folks falling asleep with lighted
cigarettes that turned them to ashes. All we saw were those young,
healthy lovers running hand in hand through the fields of flowers and
Disney-like little love birds fluttering about them. Most of the
people we looked up to had a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the
other. Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and so many more blew
smoke in our eyes, along with their smooth melodies. And that is just
one corner of how we have been charmed by the Pied Pipers, peddling
their bobbles, bangles and bright shiny junk.
We have unwittingly been transformed from Citizens, into Consumers.
Madison Avenue tossed truth out the window many years ago, in favor of
Schmooze.
We have come to believe that possessing gadgets is a sign of Progress.
And Progress is a sign of advanced civilization. It's a short step,
mentally, to then be sold on the need to protect our nation's right to
sell gadgets to the entire world. Gadgets such as tanks, fighter
planes, drones, ammunition, and of course all of the toys like iPhones
and smart phones. And so now we are ready to defend our right to
control the world's oil, and to drill wherever necessary in order to
protect and advance our American Freedom. Talk about confusing? And
suddenly we get excited over Sinclair? No, the problem is not
Sinclair, as scary as the aspects of being controlled by Sinclair'
brand of Truth, we must turn on the entire misuse of our Public Air
Waves. We must take them back and remove the control of the Pushers
and Peddlers who only see us as objects to be scammed. "Let the buyer
beware!" "There's a sucker born every second!"
If we learn anything from Sinclair, it is that we have allowed
ourselves to be teased and charmed down a road that has led us a long
way from our dream of Independence and Freedom.
And speaking of freedom, Freedom is not something that is given to
each of us. We must be willing to stand and declare ourselves free,
and be willing to defend that Freedom, otherwise, it is not ours at
all.

Carl Jarvis