Overheard From Another World

[filkertom]

The biggest reason I haven't indulged in as much political stuff lately is that there has been so much outrageous bullshit happening that I would spend all my time documenting it. (I follow a number of excellent blogs:

• AmericaBlog
• Crooks and Liars
• Daily Kos
• Atrios' Eschaton
• Firedoglake
• Glenn Greenwald at Salon
• Digby's Hullabaloo
• Think Progress

They really seem to have their fingers on the pulse, and they link to lots of other excellent blogs when someone gets a scoop or an insight that needs more notice. I also get e-mailings from Salon.com and the Huffington Post.)

In any case, not as much politicking, 'cause life's too short. But some stuff just cries out for attention. Like this:

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan’s minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants “hate American people” and “are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won’t do.”

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to “destroy Christian America” and replace it with “a godless new world order — and that is not extremism, that is fact,” Larsen said. […]

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as “Joe,” said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because “they are not going to become Republicans….”

Read the whole story, if you've had your morning caffeine. In my view, it's symptomatic of The Great Problem, the one that's really been plaguing the whole country since 9/11, and you can probably guess it: fear. So many people afraid of so much. Especially afraid of what they perceive to be different from them. Fear paralyzes them, prevents them from seeing and admitting the truth, makes them easier to control.

Sad, really.

What do you perceive as the biggest problem we face at this point? Any damn thing, just be serious about it. It's easy to say some politician's or celebrity's name or a bad TV show as a quick one-liner, but if you actually have reasons, please lay 'em out.

ETA: A couple of people suggested I add Digby's Hullabaloo to the blogs, and they're right. I usually just read it by way of links from Atrios, but it's truly brilliant.

Comments

[realtegan.livejournal.com]

The fact that we no longer have an independent media. The MSM is controlled by corporations with specific political agendas. Reporters are no longer expected to actually, you know, do their jobs. They are little more than propaganda machines repeating the same talking points. The state could stand despite many other problems if the media was truly free. But I can count on one hand the number of true reporters left and have fingers left over.

And that scares me.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

That hits my parish, realtegan. It was Reagan that dumped the requirements for TV and radio stations to "earn their keep" by doing public service, requiring response time for people who disagree with editorial and news policy, and actively seek out community needs and address them.

Without that, instead of broadcasters being a vital part of the community (actually, they're the glue that keep a community together) they're little more than McDonald's franchises, selling what their megacorporate masters tell them to sell.

I think that's essential to bring back responsible journalism and broadcasting alike. (Can you imagine how Rush Limbaugh would shut up if he had to respond to people? Or O'Reilly? Or Coulter? Three people to whom the masculine adjective "he" would apply.) The problem is, this isn't a "hot" or "sexy" issue, and I fear it will never get enough public pressure behind it to make it happen.