I wonder how much Christopher Hitchens is being paid to propagate.

[Just Me]

I've noticed the dramatic increase in his rounds at CM and he is a total bullhorn for neoCONimperialism.

Have you?

[cthrumatrix]

1. they aren't doing it "for nothing"...that goes for all of them

[mattclearing]

2. CM?

On edit, Corporate Media?

On further edit, why watch?

[zanana]

3. The problem with "not watching"...

I've heard it said so often--"Don't like the mainstream media? Then don't watch it". The problem with that is that we relinquish the media to others. The airwaves are supposed to belong to the people. As frustrating and maddening as it may be, if we don't keep track of what others are doing, we can't begin to devise strategies to fix it. Conservatives have watched us closely for decades; their strategies very closely resemble strategies that we have used. When conservatives complain about "the liberal media", you never hear them say to "stop watching".

[Just Me]

5. That would be my position.

I feel compelled to be familiar with those "talking points" so that I can figure how to counter them.

[Last Lemming]

7. Me too

I have to watch Faux News at least once a day just to see what kind of news they are making up today Know your enemy. If you want to protest, tell advertisers you will not buy products advertised on such-and-such TV channel--but keep track of who they are.

Remember: Politics is as good a reason as any other to switch to an Apple Computer

[eowyn_of_rohan]

10. Yes. Have you heard recent reports that FAUX news viewership

is greatly exceeding that of CNN and the others? I wonder #1 if it is true, but #2, if it is, could it possibly be because so many of us have given up on mainstream TV news, so that the only ones watching anymore are freepers and Thug-lovers?

[KharmaTrain]

13. You've Got Part Of It...

Yep, CNNservative's ratings have been attrocious. Last year, they were still beating Faux in the days, not any more. While Faux's audience has increased, no where near the loss of viewers on both CNNservative & MSGOP...and those numbers took a real sharp turn south following the election. So where did the CNNservative viewers go? Methinks, it's people like you and me who tuned this channel out.

I've always said that 50% of Faux's audience are liberals and moderates just curious what outrageous thing will come out next. Even though this network is one step shy of Nazi propaganda, they're far more "entertaining" to watch than those other networks.

I saw the Hitchens segment this morning and I really don't think he's on the take. First, all that have been disclosed were "one note Marys"...speaking primarily on one issue (generally a social one). Hitchens is about a predicatble and reliable as a broken watch...right twice a day. I doubt this regime would want to get too close to this alcoholic. Look at how unpredictable he was during the Clintongate crap...and then how he turned on a person who was supposedly his best friend, Sid Blumenthal, to hog up headlines and become a story within a story.

Hitchens game is to make lots of noise, be outrageous and sell copies of Vanity Fair. He's the closest that magazine has to appeal to the wingnuts, and I'll bet he has boosted their readership in that segment. I suspect his publishers keep him well stocked in Brandy cause they know how much more fun he is when he spews his swill when the alcohol does the talking and writing.

[wicket]

14. To put things in perspective...

As a percentage of the market, Fox's viewership is actually pretty small. Their highest rated show (O'Reilly) barely pulls 2 million viewers a night, that is tiny compared to network TV.

[mattclearing]

18. I am more interested in pointing people towards alt media.

I tell people things they don't know, they blink, and I tell them that the Internet is where news is from, not from television.

If you want to watch people argue and tell you things that don't make sense, or tell you half the story, or the story the Government wants you to hear, then fine, watch TV.

If you want to actually know what's going on, you will stop watching.

The idea is to discredit conventional media, setting the stage for a more widespread media revolution.

Amazingly, Rush and Drudge are actually helping in this. By destroying Dan Rather, they are giving us ammunition to undermine the integrity of corporate media in general.

The rationale: If you can't believe the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes, even when it says the same things that the other networks say 95% of the time, then what does that say about the corporate media in general?

Ultimately, the idea is to plant the seed that real news is out there and it will kick shitty news ass.

Kinda like when there were shitty hair bands and boy bands of the 80's, there was real music out there, like Living Colour, NIN, Jane's Addiction, etc.

We need a media Lollapalooza.

Somehow, I think Al Gore grasps this, and I am extremely interested in his NDTV (Indy-TV) project as a result.

I may post this as a separate topic in a minute.

[w13rd0]

4. A bottle of Seagrams...

...daily, a bib and a pacifier, plus a 20 spot for the bus. That's about what his sodden ass is worth, if that...

[mopaul]

6. they paid his tab

are you calling christopher a cheap drunk? probably got a year's supply of seagrams. and he called kissinger and nixon horrible drunks. haha.

[wicket]

8. LOL!

I was just going to suggest he be paid in beer heh :) Did you ever see that Onion article "Christopher Hitchens Forcibly Removed From Trailer Park After Drunken Confrontation With Common-Law Wife"? Too freakin' funny! The original is only available to Onion premium subscribers, but it's reprinted here:

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/66772

Christopher Hitchens Forcibly Removed From Trailer Park After Drunken Confrontation With Common-Law Wife



http://www.theonion.com/onion3915/christopher_hitchens.html

SPARTA, TN Noted author, social critic, and political gadfly Christopher Hitchens was once again the focus of controversy Monday, when he was forcibly removed from Happy Trails trailer park following a drunken confrontation with Noreen Bodell, 39, his common-law wife of 14 years.

Responding to a domestic-disturbance call, police arrived at the couple's double-wide trailer at approximately 2:15 p.m. to find Hitchens and Bodell throwing dishes at each other. When the officers attempted to remove Hitchens from the premises, the leftist intellectual became physically and verbally abusive toward the officers, calling them "shitkickers," "bitches," and "effete liberal apologists for the atrocities of late-stage capitalism."

Having consumed what sources described as "a substantial amount of single-malt scotch," Hitchens then burst into tears, yelling, "That woman never understood me for who I am. I want to talk to Lapham. Lapham's the only one who understands me."

Charged with disturbing the peace, Hitchens was taken to the Sparta police station at 3 p.m. and released four hours later.

Little is known about Bodell, a heavy-set blonde who has been known to use several different surnames. According to sources familiar with the couple, the incident marks the third time in as many weeks that police have been forced to intervene in their volatile relationship.

"We're down at the old Hitchens place probably twice a month at least," said Sgt. Wilson Vernon, the first of three officers to arrive at the scene. "Once his blood's up, old Hitch can get meaner than a three-legged coon hound. From what the neighbors told us about this latest incident, Noreen was all worked up, accusing him of drinking and womanizing. He was angry with her refusal to acknowledge that there is ample evidence to make a case for prosecuting Henry Kissinger as a war criminal. She just kept shouting, 'No, there ain't!'"


---------------------------

More at link :)

[eowyn_of_rohan]

15. OMG!! That is hilarious......

Good old Onion--going to read the rest now.

[wicket]

19. it's SO funny

And the picture that goes with it is hilarious :)

[asjr]

12. Your response hits the nail on the head. If I wanted to

watch a cartoon character it would be SpongeBob, not Hitchens.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

9. What the hell happened to him?

I always USED to look forward to his Vanity Fair articles, speaking of which, have you noticed the content of that magazine since the election? They MUST be being stifled... Month after month ALL YEAR they have been exposing the crimes and flaws of the Bush administration. I was SO looking forward to the post election Vanity Fair, but the only politics in the Dec. issue was Maria and Ahnold on the cover with an article about the Dems and Thugs coming together, and how Ahnold just MAY be the first, non-American born president.

Adding--the Jan. and Feb. issues are hardly any better. Editor Graydon Carter's (Rabidly anti-Bush)only comment was something like "I think I will wait and see how things unfold"...

[AG78]

11. I agree with him on many things

I don't know everything he thinks, but that's not the point. I don't know how he can despise Kissinger, but like this administration. They're one in the same.

And I was watching Washington Journal earlier, and a caller brought up the meaning of democracy. James Warren of the Chicago Tribune, the other panelist, said that he feels that democracy is going along pretty good in America; you know, other than the economic disparity.

How does that work exactly?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

16. I was befuddled too....

But KharmaTrain's theories in post #13 make sense to me ;)

[AlCzervik]

17. Hitchens-most likely to choke on his own vomit

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Hmm, dictionary definition:

intransitive senses
1 : to multiply sexually or asexually
2 : INCREASE, EXTEND
3 : to travel through space or a material -- used of wave energy (as light, sound, or radio waves)

You mean someone is paying him to reproduce? Scary thought.

[semillama]

21. Ever since 9/11

Hitchens has grown increasingly rapid and incoherent. I think 9/11 scared the piss out of him and he's never recovered, kind of like Dennis Miller and numerous other people I know. It's like they never found their feet after being knocked over and are stumbling around drunk.