This morning, a friend called to tell me of something he saw on the corporate media. He's not usually in the habit of sharing this stuff with me, but he thought I would like to hear about the "teenage fugitive." He went on to describe a story that made me smile. A picture of a teenager apparently flashed across the screen while the reporter explained that, although handcuffed and in leg irons, the teen managed to break away from the flailing arms of the law, dart across the street, and leap into a waiting car that then sped away. Man, that IS a story.
Anyway, the reporter went on to describe the car, and then to urge the audience to call the police if they should spot either the car or the teen. My friend laughed at that part too.
I'm happy to hear about the creative teen, but I'm left questioning -- again -- why the corporate media urges us to call the police on each other? When did they receive their mandate to become the friendly arm of the law? Why do we allow the police state to set up their bases in our own living rooms? Could they be more blatant?
The police are shooting unarmed people down in the streets while the corporate media protects them. They never showed us Scott McCollister's face so that we could protect ourselves from him, never once. He's a cold blooded murderer, and a liar, and they STILL protect him. They don't care about our safety. And yet, they have the gall to urge us to "call the authorities" every time some teenager steps out of line? I think not.
It's an insideous thing to be continually admonished by our friendly anchor team to call the police on our own neighbors. Between inane giggles and human interest stories, they insert pictures of "fugitives" and alleged bad apples, and they appeal to us to "do the right thing" by turning these people in to the murderous police state. This reminds me of the campaign the nazis had where children were supposed to turn in their own parents. (Oh yeh, we have that here, too, don't we. I almost forgot.)
This is an attempt to erode our solidarity, to teach us from the moment we watch our first TV show that it's wrong to protect each other and right to turn each other in to the state. "The authorities know best, leave these things in their hands." Fight back! Resist the urge to respond to these appeals in the manner they intend, and teach your children that it's wrong to sell out your neighbors. Always.
|
Actually I don't really have a problem with them profiling violent suspects and criminals (murderers, rapists and such), as both the far right and far left can agree that they must go down. But we can't expect them to choose their battles, now can we. One clear channel radio station's website even have the incredible nerve to feature mug shots of arrestees from last year's anti-war protests who refused to identify themselves. I would be interested on what kind of excuse for a human being would think that they haven't been through enough already and identifly them, reward or no reward.