The Corporate Media Is Destroying America

     Guess what Americans? While our back was turned, the First Amendment was stolen from us. The Koch Brothers right to bury the airwaves with unlimited attack political ads? Protected by the First Amendment. Their right to do it secretly, hiding behind a phony":advocacy group" ? Protected by the First Amendment.  Your right to protest a politician where Mr. Big Shot can actually see you? NOT protected by the 1st. Stand in an Orwellian-named First Amendment Zone waaaaay over there, far away from Mr. Big. Get any closer and that gang of stormtroopers over there will kick the living crap out of you, constitutional rights be dammed. You want to talk about your constitutional rights? Well, you have the right to get the fuck out of here before the cops Taser your ass. Let freedom ring!!
     Guess who else the First Amendment protects? Fox News. The Supreme Court in the case of N.Y. Times v. Sullivan essentially says you can say anything you want about a "public figure" as long as you do not engage in "malice". What do these words mean? Anything the courts say they do. If the courts say its not malice, its not malice. This is why a malice machine like Fox News that does nothing but lie and libel and  spray venom on its perceived enemies is allowed to operate with impunity. If you are  an honest decent public figure who wants to serve the public good, its easy to stop Fox from smearing you. First, spend millions to hire lawyers to sue Fox and fight their army of lawyers. Then after years of litigation delay, get a court to say Fox acted with "malice". Good luck. The fact that nobody has pulled this off despite the fact that Fox is a 24/7 malice machine goes to show you how the modern day First Amendment protects the big boys and not ordinary citizens.
     Don't worry, you say, we will always have the Internet, right? Maybe not. If the big boys get their way and destroy net neutrality, the big corporate giants will be able to spread their propaganda for free while suppressing dissenting voices, like this one. Think the courts will use the First Amendment to defend your right to blog for free? Think again.
     You see, the corporate media does not give a damm about the public interest anymore. Once upon a time they did care. Yes, the media's first objective was to always make money and media mavens like Paley, Luce, Chandler and others were ruthlessly obsessed with the bottom line. But the idea that they were running a public trust was very real. Sure, they always didn't live up to their ideals, but during the Cronkite era, the ideals were there. Now that is all out the window. To hell with the public interest, profits are everything. If it bleeds it leads and if it thinks it stinks. If you think this hasn't had a negative effect on America, think again.
     Take the issue of crime. Violent crime in America has gone down across the board the last 20 years, in some places dramatically so. yet the media's coverage of crime has gone up SIX TIMES during the same period! what happened? O.J. Simpson happened. The media made tons of cash from its obsessive coverage of the Simpson trial. Kato! Furman! Dancing Itos! Kaching! The lesson that the networks got from this is that crime is money. Thanks to the media, we now have millions of Fox and local news addled people holed up in their homes in front of their TV sets terrified of armies of black thugs and cheering on Donald Trump's promise to keep all the Mexskins out. Never mind that the truth is that crime has gone down. There are corporate profits to be made my scaring the living shit out of people. And don't get me started about TERRORISM. Nine-Eleven did many things but nobody talks about how media corporate profits soared because of obsessive terrorist coverage. Who can forget the fake terror alerts? Watch out, there's a Muslim in your closet! The rise of ISIS is a horrible thing for its victims, but it's great for the American bottom line.
        Our spastic, childish media is like a bunch of monkeys gathering around a Bright Shiny Thing. Right now, that shiny thing is Donald Trump. Every Trump utterance is obsessively covered. Hell, Trump is insulting the media at every turn and still they keep coming, like some sadomasochistic performance art. Its because their bosses want TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! The Donald has been money in the bank for 35 years. Bernie Sanders is drawing huge crowds  addressing real issues people care about. He has been as visible in the mainstream media as Casper The Friendly Ghost. I guess coverage of serious, dumpy looking, candidates don't make any money. Is this good for the country? Who gives a fuck.
     Our mainstream media does not understand that with rights come responsibilities. The courts are shooting holes in the First Amendment and it will get worse if the media does not grow up. The sad fact is, if the Mainstream Media got suppressed as it is, decent people would not give a damm. So much for the First Amendment.