Marginalized

Forget your opinions of the Tea Parties for a minute. You should know I'm not the biggest fan of what is essentially the GOP with a megaphone. Yes, ironic, I know - that people are screaming against fascism while working with the most obvious fascists in the Right-wing establishment. I want to make a point here, and the idiocy of the average teabagger (their chosen appellation being only the most obvious idiocy) is entirely irrelevant to the point.

CNN reported on a recent tea party rally in Searchlight, Nevada: “Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people – we haven’t gotten a count of how many people turned out there. We heard Sarah Palin talk about everything about the campaign, to unseat Sen. Reid to what she calls ObamaCare, on the heels of that health care vote and even talking about her definition of her love of America.”

Actual count was 9,000 people at a minimum. 14,000 at high end. CNN says: Dozens or maybe a few hundred.

Remember the Feb 15, 2003 anti-Iraq war rallies? The center of the 800+ city rally was in New York City. New York was chosen as the barometer for the success of the multi-city, multi-nation rally. CNN, FOX News, NPR all reported the turnout was well under 10,000 in New York City.

Accurate counts by protest organizers and NYPD put it at over 100,000. In just that city.

Do you see a correlation here? Any similarities?

The corporate media marginalizes popular movements. Even UNPOPULAR popular movements like the tea party. What does the Anti-Iraq War movement of 2003 have in common with the tea parties of 2009/2010?

Both stand in the way of corporate profits.

In 2003, there were reasons why major media outlets did not cover the protests with any accuracy at all. Anything with NBC affiliation had a direct conflict - NBC is owned by GE, which is among other things a military contractor. NPR receives substantial grants from the federal government. The Federal government wanted in the war (obviously - given that the federal government is largely owned by corporate interests, you can see why they would). FOX News had excellent reason to not run accurate coverage - they sell 2 things: fear and patriotism. The anti-Iraq war movement challenged the patriotic paradigm, while also telling us we had no reason to fear Iraq. Definite conflict of interest with Fox. And CNN's parent company gave 1.6 million dollars in campaign contributions to W's presidential run (which also explains their dismal lack of coverage of the 2000 election theft).

Now, how does the tea party movement stand in the way of corporate profits? Interesting question, since they love to spout off quotes from Ayn Rand books that they've probably never read, and talk about corporate capitalism as if it was endorsed by Jesus... It's a side-effect. We all know that FOX news is the GOP propaganda station. The biggest slice of fear that FOX has been dishing out for the last 2 years is that Obama is the socialist anti-christ Nazi babykiller communist muslim of doom. So anything he does is evil and wrong. And he's doing health care. So health care reform is evil and wrong (never you mind that the United States has the worst health care system in the developed world).

Health care reform was, of course, the first big push of the Obama administration. So, we know the rest - it's the worst thing ever, he'll kill grandma, blah blah blah. (NOTE: I'm not a fan of the health care legislation. For entirely different reasons from the teabaggers)

So the Teabaggers had their enemy: Whoever the republican leadership said was their enemy. Obama and health care are IT. And that is what they protest against.

Interesting... because the final health care bill is actually REALLY good for insurance. Big insurance companies will get MILLIONS of new clients because of the legal obligation to buy insurance. And those that can't afford it will get medicaid or a government subsidy to buy private insurance. It's a GIGANTIC HANDOUT.

Don't be fooled: Insurance companies LOVE this bill. It's exactly what they wanted. But the tea partiers are still raging against it, even though it's really good for their beloved corporate America (the same corporate America that has left them impoverished and working at Walmart).

But they still rage against it. The republicans are feeding the flames because they hope to ride the rage to electoral victory in November. Teabaggers are still fighting because they are pissed off. They're not even sure what they're pissed off at, but they are PISSED!

But back to my original point: They were marginalized by the same news media outlets (Except for FOX) that marginalized the 2003 protests. Because they stand in the way of the flow of millions of dollars.

Just an example of the way corporate media plays us. We are an ocean of peasants. They have a grand old time directing the ebb and flow.

The corporate media are like mercenary firms that deal in information and manipulation. Doesn't matter the cause, just the paycheck.

Stop thinking in terms of CNN, MSNBC, FOX. Start thinking in terms of Blackwater and ArmorGroup International. Stop thinking in terms of "is this a liberal or conservative media outlet" and start thinking in terms of "who's bankrolling this?"

The Iraq protesters - Marginalized. Teabaggers - Marginalized. The only points of view you hear are those of "industry experts" who are usually paid consultants from whatever industry they are supposed to be giving an unbiased analysis of. And then you get to hear the latest celebrity gossip.



Turn it off. Especially the crap that panders to you. Conservatives - turn off FOX. Liberals - for fuck's sake, TURN OFF NPR! You are not becoming informed. You are being distracted. Stop letting yourself and others be marginalized.