The media

I've been progressively getting more towards the Network ("I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it") way of thinking. Arguably this is a crazy sentiment to mirror as the film was satire, and the character was going crazy. But why was he going crazy? Because of the industry he worked in and their values.

For those not familiar with the movie from more than a few decades ago, the main character gets fired for poor ratings on his news program, he then quits in a grand fashion on air, which in turn ups his ratings and he continues on air until he reaches another breaking point. But looking back at this film from the 70s forces one to appreciate that right wing media embraced the framing mechanism as opposed to avoiding it.

The purpose of the film was to say maybe media and news organizations have some higher purpose for the betterment of society. They should not be measured purely by profitability and ratings, but by the information they help distribute to inform the populous. And our society instead of taking this to heart allowed the media to reach the corrupted position it is in today.

When more people in America receive their news from a self described comedian than a newscaster, and when people working for news channels hide behind their labeling as an entertainment hour as opposed to taking responsibility for the memes they propagate through  our society, everybody should take a step back and try to think of a better way to do things.

In an argument recently regarding Rush Limbaugh (and his inflammatory remarks and methodology for spreading hate) I think the end of the conversation was simply that he didn't need to hold himself accountable, because people choose to listen to him. The argument that somebody isn't doing anything wrong because he or she is a part of the system is fairly weak, although it is understandable. Study after study have shown that systems need to be in place to manage behavior.

I find it funny that my mind instinctively jumps to compare Rush Limbaugh abusing his power and position to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the holocaust death squads. But the point is the same in all three situations. A systemic problem exists where people are told to do something negative, and they are rewarded for it, and never receive negative feedback for their actions.... and Im ready to ramble so Im going to give up after an outro.

'The Media' needs to be regulated. Citizen's United may have been a tipping point, but I think the real problem has been around forever. Citizen Kane may have been the first film to provide examples of wealth and ownership of media being a springboard to fabricate popular opinion, but Network and others suggest that the system is not insulated against circulating media to sway the public because it is measured by sales when it should be measured by something else.