hegemon news

sunday's new york times has a "special section" titled "in case you missed it"...twenty three pages of articles the times finds it imperative i read/remember with the the twenty-fourth as a self-published paean to the times as the seeker and defender of the "truth" in these troubled, trumpist times..which is where we begin to have doubts...i have said ( and still maintain ) that media outlets are corporate interests with editorial boards, boards of directors, and shareholders , all in search of profit and all of which is bound to distort the way the present the news and render none of them objective...they are appealing to a core audience and pandering to that audience's world view...more than that though they are influencing that world view with an editorial line that runs through all the edited reporting ( one would like to see the pre-edited copy once in a while as an index of objectivity )...reinforcing viewpoints to a purpose...and while that purpose clearly includes profit i am inclined to think it moves beyond money and into the realm of power...already in possession of influence, they use that to maintain a separation among the general public into camps divided by opinion on a wealth of subjects from abortion and gun control to which cola tastes better...in essence i don't think the times or fox news or cnbc much cares what i think...as long as it is something different than what my neighbor thinks...as long as he and i are bickering over whether this is "the bear's year" or not we aren't thinking about why it is so difficult for working people to make ends meet and if we really need that new flat screen tv and who, in the end, is actually benefiting from all this divisiveness and consumerism...it isn't the "man in the street"...it's the factions in congress and their owners and the times doesn't want me to ponder that too closely...oh they want me to support the faction in congress they share ownership in with some other individuals and interest groups...but they aren't especially interested in me delving into the reasons why i am thinking the way i am...let them worry about the whys...we'll all be better off that way, right? and a lot of what appears in the times seems to trickle into the evening news and into the local paper throughout the week...one wonders about that...is the times that influential as "the paper of record" or is it that the media as a group are simply acting in their own interests and they way those interests coincide give the appearance of collusion? either way the public are misled and flat out lied to through distortions that serve to benefit a minority rather than inform a majority...the times says it is not an elitist newspaper...it advertising and editorializing put the lie to that..."objectivity in reporting" is an astounding oxymoron wherever you look in media..the times is an invaluable resource...always good to have a look at what the other side is thinking...they certainly loathe don trump...i am of the same opinion...our reasons for that would seem to be very different...i am aligned with the times on that...the reason why are radically different.

"it's safe to drink"

so says the mayor of this municipality...yeah...and the economy is working for all of us ( astonishing how wealth so rarely moves any way but up the socio-economic ladder but the liabilities are always "public" ) and that's what they told the people in flint too...there was a "computer glitch" that allowed too many minerals into the water supply...there are a lot of water main breaks...the lines need flushing but the weather is all wrong...the part they need will be here tomorrow...and if you'd just let the private water company buy the public utility we wouldn't have all these problems...a multiplicity of excuses as reasons and meanwhile i am washing my dishes and clothes...and me in this dreck...this is not a new issue...a water filtration plant was built here around six years ago to address this issue..of course that was during the tenure of the now incarcerated criminal ex-mayor and may just be a maze of pipes and kick-backs that does nothing...who knows? anyone who does isn't talking...so..faced with an open ended water issue there will be bottled water in the house until further notice...and the obfuscation from the politicians will continue unabated..it is the way of things...."we can't catch a break on this"...i'm hip.

selling is a cultural norm

it is a given that the wall street journal has no clue about my personal history...and if they did they wouldn't much care how their forays into the commercial world would or would not impact my perceptions...business is business and damn the consumer's sensibilities..the n y times might, if they mined their archive have a bit better idea stemming from comments i have made concerning some howlers they have published regarding addictive behaviors...they probably won't...so it came as not much of a surprise when the envelope with "new york times' printed on it fell out of my copy of friday's paper containing this:

some printed matter extolling the qualities and economies wjs wines can provide the readers of the new york times...and:

a couple of vouchers that would allow me to take $240 off the top of the cost of my first two orders..it would be easy to go off on a rant about the elitist nature of wine and the true constituency both the ny times and the wall street journal aim at while insisting they are news sources for the everyman and not commercial enterprises with a distinct bias...that would be beside the point..there are some people who can snuggle up to a glass of wine, drink it, and then move on to something else...not me...i never understood the logic of an open bottle that wasn't empty...and i am still deeply prone to immoderate behaviors...that won't go away..but i learned a long time ago how much harm the darker side of alcohol does to me and those near me..the n y times and the wall street journal don;t care about that...neither does society at large...as a sub-culture we are pretty much on our own in this...even the "health care professionals" are comprehending only in a textbook manner...they lack experience...no fault of theirs and it is experience they should probably avoid..without it however they just don't get it...never will...end rant...hang tough...peace out people.