Skip to main content

Is it capitalism or our mainstream media that’s the problem?

By November 17, 2006Uncategorized

Why
The flaws of communism and centralized economic planning are now pretty obvious, but what about capitalism?  I think the capitalist system works pretty well, even if it’s not perfect.  On the other hand, this latest development really makes me stop and wonder.  I’m personally ashamed that I live in a society where this can happen.  Of course it happens only because the mainstream press can be counted on to report it, which is what creates economic value for information that is unspeakably crass. 

So maybe it’s our mainstream press that’s the problem.  Is there any sensational news that they wouldn’t report if it would gather a lot of attention?  I’ll bet they’d love to see the return of public executions.  That would be a real ratings boon, and the production expenses would be nominal.  But, the saddest thing is that, if they aired the executions, there would be a lot of people who’d watch them. 

Sigh.  I guess it’s not really capitalism or the press, after all.  Maybe we aren’t really a very advanced civilization.  That would be shocking news to a lot of people who blithely ridicule other societies for their supposedly primitive and backward ways.  But, even if it’s true that our society is weakening you can bet the press won’t be reporting that news anytime soon. 

Or if they do, it won’t be a headline grabber.

[UPDATE] HarpersCollins cancelled the book deal (only because of public outcry at the shamelessly profit-motivated ploy). I think this article more than adequately describes the situation.


P.S. If you're a practicing lawyer, check out this Law Practice Assessment . After answering a few questions, you'll get detailed recommendations for improving five key areas of your practice.

11 Comments

  • gooup says:

    Just thought you’d like to see someone ripping off your material as their own:

    https://forums.houmatoday.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8351034365/m/2481099595

  • DS says:

    Forget about the Capitalism Versus Communism stuff, Capitalists fund and live Communism!

  • Bernie Mac says:

    Then why talk about it in your Blog? You know if OJ lived in NOLA he could probably beat bill Jefferson in run for office. But we are too scared to talk about Bill. Don’t want to disrupt the tension between black in white by telling these poor people that they are electing a crook and a fool. We got to walk on glass around here. It is too bad we are letting the gap between right and wrong grow to grand canyon proportions because we are too afraid to disturb sensitve local tensions.

  • René Viaud says:

    I was glad to read so on CNN.com

  • mominem says:

    Looks like News Corp cancelled the O. J . Book and T V tell all.

  • Ivory Bill says:

    Some educated capitalist societies know how to keep greed in check:

    France could become the first country to pass a law broadly permitting free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use.

    In a move that could thwart the entertainment industry’s attempts to seek legal sanctions for copyright violations, French Parliament members voted 30 to 28 late Wednesday night to accept an amendment proposing such a move.

    Attached to a broader copyright law proposal, the amendment–roughly translated–reads: “Authors cannot forbid the reproductions of works that are made on any format from an online communication service when they are intended to be used privately and when they do not imply commercial means directly or indirectly.”

    In short, that language could “open the way to the legalization of peer-to-peer” downloading of copyright music and movies in the nation of about 8 million Net users, Jean-Baptiste Soufron, a legal counsel with the Association of Audionauts, said in a telephone interview with CNET News.com. The French advocacy organization has represented approximately 100 clients accused of sharing files illegally.

    read on here

  • Check out the story and the comments here to see why Bush and the Carlisle group are buying all the media in New Orleans and learn why the FCC was told to destroy a report that fortold of media becmoming less important in local areanas: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/16/nations-largest-radio-st_n_34259.html

  • Francis Puertos says:

    Capitalism is fine, so is socialism. It is the corruptionisms that are allowed to take root and grow that cuase the problems. Can anyone here explain why we are rated so much lower on this index than we were only a couple of months ago. Or why so low in general?

  • My wife grew up in communist Czechoslovakia, and while it was not a party, there was nobody homeless, and very very little crime.

    Sigh…

  • René Viaud says:

    Ernie,

    Coming from the Dominican Republic and fully aware that we have great problems to take care of ourselves, I still find it primitive. I agree that it is shameful that he can get away with it. My symphaties are with you.

  • I blame capitalism. The loss of the fairness doctrine and the strict FCC rules to ensure no monopolies meant that the laissez-faire marketeers could come in and put their homogenized drivel on every station they could buy.

    Remember, capitalism works best (for the one with the capital) when all competition is destroyed.

Skip to content