MUSIC: Frank Zappa
Here is a person I never would have ever thought I would be quoting. Karl Marx who said, “First we get tragedy and then we get farce.”
We are now getting this on a 24/7 basis with today’s modern media outlets. Everything is a now a “crisis”. Everything. The prime example of this is the current oil prices. And they do suck. No doubt about it. You know what is really driving the prices up. The media. A month ago they were speculating about oil going over $100 a barrel. This week the speculation is $150. Guess what is coming next. $200. It is just speculation. And this speculation is under the disguise of so-called journalism. It may or may not happen. But the media wants it to happen. Why? Ratings. The media is about ratings. And ratings are how you earn advertising money. Listen. Love does not drive the world. Sorry to all of you sentimental people. Nor does oil drive the world. Sorry to all of you pessimists and conspiracy theorists (but I still find you funny). Advertising drives our world. You cannot do anything with your supply if you do not create a demand. Nothing drives demand more than the fear that the supply could run out tomorrow. It takes an advertisement campaign to capitalize on that fear. And you need the media to help you do that. And the media needs the general public to watch so they get the ratings which makes the money. So how do you get people to “stay glued” to your media channel? Tragedy and crisis. AKA The Problem. AKA “Today’s top story!” Remember “If it bleeds, It leads”. We tune in for that. The media exists to sell the problem. And there is an advertisement for a product that will solve your problem. “As seen on TV” products. “And if you act now!…” Supply and demand does drive the economy. However, you can skew the results by saying that the supply could run out soon. When? Not sure but soon. And here comes the demand. A scared consumer is a good customer.
TV news ratings are down. And that means less money for them. And this brings desperation. So you need desperation. Here comes the problem. It is a bad world out there. So just sit down in front of your TV and we will tell you why you should not go outside. And for some reason the human psyche is drawn to misery and suffering. I am not sure why. But secretly deep down, we are all masochists. The media needs to sell the problem. 24/7 news outlets are not such a good idea. Look at this way. They need to fill 10080 minutes a week. The news is just the filler time for the commercial time. They need to keep you watching for the commercial. So they need to tell you that there are problems in the world. And human beings like problems. But the media does not want you to solve the problems. Problems are their “bread and butter”. So they tell you today’s problem. And then they bring out an “expert” about the problem and tell you how it could be solved. The next guest “expert” is then brought in to tell you the first “expert” is “full of shit” and his way will never solve the problem. This leads to arguing and nothing gets resolved. The problem lives on for a news series that “explores the problem”. And they get the ratings. In other words, they get their “Pay off”.
Back to 10080 minutes of weekly news coverage. This time allotment is similar to that of the 20 pages term paper you were required to write from time to time in college. You could say what you needed to say in most likely 5-7 pages. But that was nowhere near the required 20. So what did you do? You padded those 13-15 pages with a lot of bullshit. News programmers I am guessing had to write a lot of papers in college. Bullshit easily takes up space or in this case time.
Smelling something now?
If tomorrow the media speculated that “pigs could fly” on their own by the end of the week they will find you a person who will tell you it is true. Just because it made it to TV then too many people believe it must be true. In case this story does happen, then I will have to prove that “monkeys can fly out of my ass”. I may be willing even to shove a small monkey up my ass, eat a can of pork and beans, and prime myself with a can of Milwaukee’s Best. Then live on the 6:00 news, I will fire one monkey across the horizon using my colon rectal abilities. I will do it just to prove the point even though it will be painful. But I am willing. But they have to go first.
Smelling something now?
I do not care about your views or even your news outlet whatever it maybe. All I ask is that you engage and challenge that media outlet. Don’t be a passive viewer.
Think about this. The media labels everything as a “crisis” it seems. What would happen if they changed the wording from “crisis” to “challenge”?
You would probably feel a bit more optimistic about the world. Besides, people love to attempt to solve challenges. In that the case, you are more likely turn off the TV and go out into the world. And the advertisers do not want that to happen.
Remember the media hype of Y2K telling us the “shit was going to hit the fan” and the world was going to shut down.
I tuned in the TV. I thought it was going to be fun watching people go crazy. It works on the Jerry Springer
Show.
I was so disappointed.
My advice. Read a book instead. Better yet have a drink. And make mine a double.
And let me make a prediction.
In the future, all hysteria will be mass hysteria. Just tune in.
The hysteria is even worse in Presidential election years.
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