I Gotta Tell Ya…During last week's demonstrations in London and Miami, I spent a chunk of time surfing network news channels. Despite more than 100,000 people in Trafalgar Square and Americans being gassed in Miami, I was subjected to hour after hour of Michael Jackson. Now, I'm as interested as anyone else when a celebrity's life implodes (my two cents: I think Michael is being set up by a DA with a vendetta), but don't the networks have some responsibility to report the news?
Apparently not, and considering that millions of Americans rely on the media to be their eyes and ears, it's no surprise that our priorities are upside down. The misdirection by the media takes the spotlight off the true criminals.
Microsoft's legal trouble suddenly disappeared when the Bush Justice Department offered a sweet settlement instead of zillions of dollars in fines. Is it any surprise that’s Microsoft's TV news outlet, MSNBC, views the president through rose-colored lenses? Corporate America finances the Bush campaign, and our government becomes a pawn of the weapons, pharmaceutical, insurance and securities industries. Quid pro quo in action.
This virus of corporate control is spreading worldwide, and that’s what the anti-globalism crusaders are fighting. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas threatens to have all of North America run by un-elected corporate pariahs, and the World Trade Organization wants to put CEOs in charge of the planet.
The problem with this system is an old story: The rich get richer at the expense of workers worldwide. "Third World" sweatshops feed affordable products to Americans, whose purchases fuel the corporate coffers. The economics are rigged.
It all reminds me of a work of science fiction by Frederic Pohl. Written over 50 years ago, The Space Merchants (see sidebar, right) tells a story of corporate imperialism engulfing a future earth. When I read the book 30 years ago, I thought Pohl's vision was scary. Thinking about it today, I'm terrified.
