Greetings from Grace...

Recently, I saw a movie which explained the phenomenon of how America became so red.  Broadcast Blues, written, produced and narrated by Sue Wilson, a journalist from California, is a powerful documentary that explains the transformation of the American middle class to ultra conservatism.  The reason is very simple: propaganda. 

 

Back in the early 80’s “propaganda” was how the Communists and the Fascists kept their populations in line with the government agenda.  The state controlled all the media.  We scoffed at this lack of  true public discourse and were proud of our media and the vibrant exchange of ideas it contained.   Unfortunately, those days are long gone and Broadcast Blues explains why.  Currently, 90% of all radio broadcasting belongs to conservatives; only 10% to progressives or liberals.  There are some parts of our nation, particularly in the mid-west, where 100% of radio broadcasting is conservative.  Not surprisingly, those regions have  become red.  Since the 2006 election when Democrats made considerable gains nationwide, many of the few progressive radio talk show hosts have been taken completely off the air.  The industry is owned, operated and managed by big corporations like GE and Clear Channel which are conservative.  Why are they conservative?  Again, the answer is very simple:  their bottom line.  These corporations make a lot of money in a “free” de-regulated market.  Some of them make a lot of money on war. 

 

I told Sue that I stopped taking my car to Car Spa when they told me there was a corporate mandate to play Fox News on their televisions.  She said this was not uncommon and added that McDonald’s had a similar policy during the 2008 presidential campaign.  So, what can we do?  We can start by watching Broadcast Blues so we can learn how this happened and how to fight it.  Otherwise, we can watch  Idiocracy and we’ll have an idea what this country will become if we do nothing!

 

Please visit the DWIN website, http://www.firstcoastdwin.org, often as we will be updating the calendar.

Grace Gillen

DWIN President