From: Ant McWatt (antmcwatt@hotmail.co.uk)
Date: Sat Jan 29 2005 - 16:24:42 GMT
Mark H stated:
>Re: Bill Moyers, whose retirement represents a further degeneration
>of Quality within the mass media.
Sorry to hear of it. From the little I've seen of Moyers he seems a good
man.
>ant said:
>
>It was quite disturbing that such a level-headed clip could be
>considered in such an extreme way. If I had been originally directed
>to this “media watchdog” page as a parody of conservative ideology
>(say by Mark H) I would have easily believed it!
>
>msh says:
>Yes, and how strange that the #!*#! conservatives see in this
>beautiful speech an equation of conservatism with communism. Their
>paranoia makes them impervious to the truth in Moyers' elegant
>expressions.
Though I was glad to view some of these MRC clips (especially of one of my
favourite American social commentators - Gore Vidal) it was disturbing to
see how some reasonable points of view were being treated.
>Moyers is not claiming some bizarre "moral equivalency" between Mao
>and Bush, whatever that's supposed to mean.
Yes, only someone seriously blinkered would conclude that.
>The paragraph that
>begins "When I see flags sprouting..." draws a parallel between the
>unthinking ideologues who worshipped Mao and the unthinking
>ideologues who worship GWB and blind uncritical patriotism: the
>little red book everywhere but unread; the flag pins everywhere, but
>the notion of patriotism completely distorted and misunderstood.
Yes, I think the MOQ helps here. Patriotism is a social value designed to
bind one group of people together and is good as long as it doesn't
undermine intellectual values such as truth and justice. Hence, the danger
with "uncritical patriotism" as it will possibly lead to immoral behaviour
where social values are put above intellectual values e.g. to fight in Iraq
despite realising that it's an illegal occupation designed to liberate
inorganic value patterns (i.e. oil) rather than intellectual and Dynamic
values (e.g. freedom). If only a nominal amount of oil was leaving Iraq and
Weapons of Mass destruction had actually been found, I might have just
believed Bush and Blair's rhetoric about freedom - but, as "they" say,
actions speak louder than words.
Anyway, as far as Moyers is concerned I will certainly look out for his
articles, books and videos from now on. I’ll leave the final illuminating
word with him about how the Republicans are (unpatriotically) planning to
allow chemical companies to pollute the water in 25 states :
“Since the 60s, the number of reporters covering the place has grown almost
exponentially. Government's bigger and its expertise in public relations
more sophisticated. Access to officials is much harder except when they want
to leak or spin. And, a phalanx of conservative publications and right-wing
radio and television talk shows has created a cavernous echo chamber for a
Republican agenda, with no real-time opportunity for rebuttal of the
propaganda or the refutation of the lies. Everyone operates today in what a
friend of mine calls "the blinding white light of 24/7 global medium" -- an
increased conglomeration of megamedia corporations has essentially stripped
journalism of purpose except pleasing consumers…”
“Does it matter? Well, governments can send us to war, pick our pockets,
slap us in jail, run a highway through our back yard, look the other way as
polluters do their dirty work, slip tax breaks and subsidies to the
privileged at the expense of those who can't afford lawyers, lobbyists, or
time to be vigilant. Right now, as we speak, House Republicans are trying to
sneak into the energy bill a plan that would prohibit water pollution
lawsuits against oil and chemical companies. Millions of consumers and their
water utilities in 25 states will be forced to pay billions of dollars to
remove the toxic gasoline additive MTBE from drinking water if the House
gives the polluters what they want. I can't find this story in the
mainstream press, only on niche websites. You see, it matters who's pulling
the strings, and I don't know how we hold governments accountable if
journalism doesn't tell us who that is...”
“So we have our work cut out for us. If we don't do it -- every one of us
who has any measure of independence and any forum whatsoever [eventually] no
one will. I just count on our keeping in mind the news photographer in Tom
Stoppard's Night and Day who says, "People do terrible things to each other,
but it's worse in places where everybody is kept in the dark." We have to
turn on some lights around here.”
Bill Moyers being interviewed by Buzzflash.com in 2003
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/int03281.html
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