The Enablers

[burythehatchet]

Social conflict doesn't usually start with violence, it ends with conflict. But there is a relatively long period of time when the conflict occurs on a legislative, administrative and judicial level. We are in this stage right now. We see the outrages every day, scandal upon scandal.

Its imprtant for us to remember that the conflict consists not of two parties but actually three parties. There are the actors or instigators (repukes), the reactors (liberals) and most importantly the enablers. The conflict continues only because the enablers are essentially pragmatists who believe that working with the actors will somehow help them gain power. In many cases they are probably correct. But in the end, their objective simply becomes having power, per se.

Just like I have said for years, in the cable news world Fox is not the danger, we all know where they stand. No, the real danger is CNN, because a plurality of the people still seem to believe that CNN gives us actual news. But those of us who have known better realize that CNN's brand of propoganda is more insidious for the reason stated above.

That's what enablers are; they are the CNN of politics. People still seem to believe that once the enablers are in power they will fix things. But unfortunately that is not to be. I guarantee it.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Here! Here!

:applause: :thumbsup:

[burythehatchet]

3. History

is the best teacher.

[SteelPenguin]

2. The enablers in congress are more culpable imho

While I agree with your basic premise, the seemingly large number of people who toe the line in order to get reeleected rather than actually stand up for what the majority of people actually want are the real enablers.

It wouldn't matter what CNN did if the congress actually did what the vast majority of americans want them to do (end the war, enact universal health care, protect the environment, etc)

[burythehatchet]

4. Enabling becomes a lot easier when the paychecks start rolling in

The back and forth between legislating and private business is the necessary step to birthing enablers.

[Quantess]

5. CNN Headline News features Glenn Beck

that opinionated putz. That should tell you a lot about the current state of CNN "Headline News" channel.

[burythehatchet]

6. and they are still the "liberal" channel n/t

[Quantess]

7. I have hope, though.

Just the other day, my boyfriend and I were sitting on the couch together, and we decided to check cable news channels. I said something like "Glenn Beck's on Headline News". My boyfriend replied, with a glare, "It makes me so mad they have him on a serious news channel!"

I was happy my boyfriend said that, because, #1: he's a little more conservative than I am, #2: it shows that he agrees with me, at least somewhat, about Glenn Beck #3: He also agrees that "Headline News" should be...just that..."Headline News".

[babylonsister]

8. Damn, you and Helen Thomas! You're both right, and astute.

:hug: :thumbsup:

[burythehatchet]

15. heck yeah! And I wasn't even plagerizing

thanks. :)

[Mind_your_head]

9. Ted Turners' CNN was a totally different 'animal' than today's CNN

Ted's CNN brought 'US' (the U.S. ~ and the 'world' ) live pictures of the First Gulf War. It brought us Peter Arnett! (who was later fired - b/c he was 'too honest/straight-forward' for the "post-Ted Turner" CNN).

REMEMBER!?!?!

[Quantess]

11. I was too young to care, but, yes,

I remember that Ted Turner was CNN. In the next month I will turn 37, but I admit to willfully turning away from politics in the 1980s and 1990s, and turning toward things that made me happy and content. Don't ask, because I don't have a good explanation. These days, I wish I remember the silly thoughts that kept me happy and content.

[Mind_your_head]

12. Yeah, I "know" what you are saying.......

It was so 'easy' not really "knowing" anything......and ACCEPTING it all. But now, that we are getting all 'LONG-IN-THE-TOOTH'....AND WE "KNOW BETTER".....we WILL 'do' better! (not a threat, but a "promise").

Peace,
M_Y_H

[burythehatchet]

14. Ignorance is bliss. I never understood what that meant

until much later in life.

[burythehatchet]

13. I certainly do remember

It was a groundbreaking concept.

[slipslidingaway]

10. Very true and most people in America think our press is so free

and therefore are not on guard, although some people knew a long time ago :(


Fooling America
A talk by Robert Parry given in Santa Monica on March 28, 1993

http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/conspiracies/parryspeech.htm

"So what we saw, even at that early stage, was the combat that was developing and the combat in terms of the domestic situation in Washington was how do you stop the press from telling that story. And much of what the Reagan administration developed were techniques to keep those kinds of stories out of the news media...


But what we began to see was something that was unusual I think even for Washington - certainly it was unusual in my experience - a very nasty, often ad hominem attack on the journalists who were not playing along. And the case of Bonner was important because he worked for the New York Times, and the New York Times was one of those bastions of American journalism - this was not some small paper, it was not some insignificant news figure. So there began an effort to discredit him and the Wall Street editorial page was brought into play, Accuracy In Media was brought into play, he was attacked routinely by the State Department and White House spokespeople, there were efforts to paint him as some kind of a communist sympathizer, the charge would go around that he was worth a full division for the FMLN - the Salvadoran guerrillas - he was treated as an enemy - someone who was anti-American, in effect. And sadly, it worked. I was in ES in October of '82, I was down there to interview Roberto Dobesan, who was head of the death squads, and I was with a conservative activist, and after that interview we had lunch with the head of the political-military affairs office at the Embassy and the officer was then head of the military group, and on the way back to the hotel, they were boasting about how they had "gotten" Ray Bonner. "We finally got that Son-of-a-Bitch," they said, and at that time his removal had not yet been announced, so it was very interesting to hear that they knew what was about to happen, and he was, in fact, removed by early 1983, and then he was sort of shunted aside at the New York Times and eventually left.

So the message was quite clearly made apparent to those of us working on this topic that when you tried to tell the American people what was happening, you put your career at risk, which may not seem like a lot to some people, but you know, reporters are like everybody else I guess - they have mortgages and families and so forth and they don't really want to lose their jobs - I mean it's not something they aspire to..."

[KharmaTrain]

16. Wolf In Sheeps Clothing...

This network has become a cheap, sleazy operation...putting profits and ratings ahead of journalism and reality. Time/Warner has chased away all the serious journalists and replaced them with bobbleheads and stenographers. Gone are the Bernie Shaws, Peter Arnetts and Aaron Browns. In their place are Dr. Guptha and his self-serving big Pharma promos and Rick Sanchez...the ultimate TV ass clown.

You are correct that some people still consider CNN credible, but most people have tuned out...turning off the sets, which these goons think have gone over to Faux (their ratings have been flat for 6 years now)...the lower their ratings go, the more they attempt to emulate Faux or throwing in some "beefcake" or some other crap. This network is more like a car wreck...people don't like to watch, but they do.

They also manufacture news now...creating stories to fill time that they can control or manipulate...write their own self-serving naratives that can be splashed into a quick graphic or soundbite.

The good thing that's happened is a majority of Americans have come to recongnize Faux as being a propaganda machine for the Repugnican party and as the GOOP goes down the tubes, so does Faux. These people aren't going to CNN, they're going to the internet or just tuning out altogether.

[marmar]

17. D'accord, mon ami.....

:thumbsup:

[burythehatchet]

18. merci bien.

:)