care about what?

this all started with yesterday's n y times...nothing new in that...i subscribe to the times mostly to keep a grip on what the east coast liberal elite ( and the times is nothing if not elitist ) thinks i should be thinking...they have an agenda...like the neo-cons...and the white supremacists...and the qanon theorists...and just about anyone else you care to name since we all have one...just some are more malignant than others...and some are just greedy...

there was a full page ad asking me to show my caring by making a purchase of some overpriced item from the new york times store...what i am supposed to be caring about seems left up to me...is it serious reportage or the times revenue stream...my choice since there is no direction even hinted at by that generic lede...

you can purchase a spiffy baseball cap...

or a list of those who have ( to that point ) perished of covid-19...

and if that depresses you you can numb it with a carafe of the time's house red...

not to be outdone other powerhouses of print journalism have entered into the retail world...

and they have their own house red too...not to be outdone, broadcast journalists...

pandering to all segments of the political spectrum are selling logo emblazoned mugs, shirts, hoodies, totes, underwear...a full line of stuff...so you can wear your politics as a brand...or drink your coffee ( or wine ) from your favorite talking head's show for all to see..what they are not selling is objective information...they are all biased despite their claims to present "truthful reportage"...the truth is hard to know...a slippery subject when people only hear what reinforces their world view...so choose your paper/channel and dig in...there's money to be made.

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.

reading the n y times ( sort of )

today's n y times weighs in at a hefty three pounds twelve and three-quarter ounces...who knew there was so much news? i mean i knew there were climate related issues ( i talked to my brother in florida yesterday and will try to do so again today ) and the assorted tererorists and diplomats and batshit crazy north koreans ( well complimented by the current swamptown crop of loons cast in ideological concrete...where is the lake of fire? ) but an almost four pound newspapaer? then i opened it and things began to gain perspective...lots of inserts..the usual sunday magazine and the quarterly "style" magazine ( more on those soon enough...patience )..additionally there is a "special offer from the economist to n y times readers ( i can, if i act quickly, save $321.87 off the twelve week regular subscription rate of $333.87 by claiming the unheard of low price of a buck a week...that's right...twelve weeks for twelve bucks because i am a n y times reader...astonishing...you can see my response in, i believe, the sixth photo...the only people who believe economists anymore are other economists and "free market" geeks with their heads up their asses )...there is an entire brochure for wonderful cruises and another for "eight exceptional days" of $9590 sofas and $7180 dining room sets...a pattern was becoming discernible...so...armed with the latest times advertising rates for color and black and white advertising i began to look at the magazines..the "style" magazine (http://nytmediakit.com/uploads/rates/CRS-9040_2016_Rate_Cards_TMag_EC3.pdf there's the price list url ) had advertising worth $7,200,322 and, as a side note, turned an article about the travel writer and novelist bruce chatwin into a vehicle for selling outdoor clothing...everything is for sale at the times...while the sunday magazine "education issue" ( educating whom to what i wonder ) had a measly $1,927,350 (http://nytmediakit.com/uploads/rates/CRS-9040_2016_Rate_Cards_Magazine_EC2.pdf )...interestingly enough milton hershey, fordham, uc davis, ucla, nyu, harvard medical school seton hall, adelphi, pace, and loyola marymount universities accounted or $1,177, 825 of that total...you have to spend money to make money...every university bean counter knows that...my news is distorted and my desires are engineered ( at least that is the hope )...we all live in the memory hole now and everything is spun to the point of unrecognizability...i never looked for "truth"...it is too subjective...sifting through all this blather and self-serving crap for fact is a tedious business...i keep trying though...everyone has an agenda and the world is replete with liars, grifters, and swindlers...america in the 21st century has tapped into the main nerve of that...the "hog butcher to the world" is turning into a nation of gated communities and flea markets...we passed the crossroads a ways back and i wonder if the street us wide enough for a u-turn.

media war

have you noticed the cost of gasoline going up over the course of the last month or so? i have and it can be easily attributed to a small rally in the price of a barrel of oil...fair enough i suppose when a supplier has a panoply of transport addicted customers to manipulate and no credible objective oversight...i want to establish that fact a priori because it is germane to what comes next...refinery workers in 11 refineries across the country are on strike, including those at the bp/ammoco refinery in nearby whiting...they are on strike for some economic reasons but the main union contention is safety factors brought on by employee fatigue due to long shifts...concerns even a manager should be able to see...but obviously oil companies are spooked by an oil glut and employee safety ( not to mention the surrounding neighborhoods' ) are of a secondary nature in these troubled economic times ( did i say that? don't i know the government says things are improving? well...who believes lying whores? )...the corporate ( liberal my alabaster ass...they all have advertisers and editorial boards dominated by said advertisers...they are in business to make money and will sell what you buy and what those boards would like you to think...that is another post and a continuing theme however ) media will take up sides and, in the end, the commuting herd will blame "those greedy union workers" and not the profiteering oil companies...it is the way of hegemonic culture....only their world view is correct ( fucking margret thatcher and " there is no alternative"...someone should have sent that woman a copy of isaiah berlins' essay on "historical inevitability"...she is gone now..but it wasn't soon enough ) and anything that dissents from it is either fiction or treason...i wonder if i can avoid purchasing gasoline until this strike is over...worth a try...no day jaunts into the fields for awhile.