Friday, March 8, 2019

Third kid of the proverbial goat


While two of a goat’s kids suckle at their mother’s breast the third one jumps with joy just in anticipation that his turn will come soon. Notwithstanding, by the time the third one gets his turn there is no milk left anymore.

The poor and the middle-class Republican supporters are akin to the third ‘kid’ of a goat. Surprisingly, there is no shortage of them in this country and they abet the con party perpetuate their control of political power. Obviously, this control is accomplished by the help of the media, the ‘kids’ nonetheless never comprehend this.

In the USA 90% of the media is controlled by only six major conglomerates, Comcast, Fox, Walt Disney, Viacom, AT&T, and CBS. It is no surprise then that these large corporations behave, well like the corporations do – serve their stake holders’ interest, simply stated, make money for their owners. The sole purpose of a corporation is to make profit for its owners, and media owners are no different. Liberal media is a myth, liberals don’t own any media - all media owners are conservative billionaires. Period.

The ‘kids’ often point out to MSNBC and CNN, and surmise that since they speak against Donald Trump, they must be liberal, there can nothing be further from the truth. These media have chosen their business model based on the study that criticizing Trump makes good business sense, after all sixty percent Americans disapprove Trump.

Vital issues such as social justice, electoral fraud, purging of voter lists, healthcare for all, fair tax rate, global warming, increasing wealth inequality, industrial pollution, unregulated bankster activities and scores of other life-and-death matters for the populace are never discussed in the media, not even on CNN, or, MSNBC. Media actually divert peoples’ attention from the important subjects and keep them busy in insignificant matters.

My blanket condemnation of the Republican Party is by no means endorsement of the Democratic Party; the latter are just a tad better than the other only because a small number of Democrat leaders are progressive and embody their voters’ interest, the rest serve their corporate masters. At the gross level, both are war parties and serve only the rich and the powerful. The 2018 mid term election saw defeat of many corporate democrats and rise of the progressives. Is this going to be the new trend, or, just a one-time anomaly? Only time will tell. Afterall from the advent of agricultural era the rich have managed to do well for themselves. Their rudimentary method has never changed – divide and rule; with technology it has even become easier to influence the ‘third kids’ of the goat by playing them against each other under a sham democracy.

In this age of internet, it is possible to find out the rare progressive forums, however, that takes effort. Thom Hartmann is one of the great liberal talk show hosts, nevertheless, the number of his listeners pale in comparison with Rush Limbaugh’s or Sean Hannity’s. Pulitzer prize winning journalists such as Chris Hedges, or, Greg Palast are almost unknown to the mass population.   

But can you not be a sleep-walker and use your God-given brain?

More appropriately, can you not be the third kid of the proverbial goat?