Media Sluts

Censored Stories of 2007

This website tells you about the stories your favorite news programs decided to omit.  I guess Paris Hilton going to jail, fires in Malibu, and popular YouTube videos were deemed more important. 

Television is OWNED by a handful of corporations, thanks to the hushed Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Because of this act, big companies like Disney, Viacom, General Electric, and Turner Broadcasting were able to buy up EVERY network.  Every channel is coming from one of eight sources.  This is fact.  This maybe would not be a big deal, except that these large corporations have decided to play politics, and filter out stories that might cast a bad light on what they support.  I don’t have a problem with real Republicans, but many of the people running these huge Media Corporations have ties to ‘neo-cons’ and crooket officials (I won’t bother listing names, you know who they are). 

So if you want to hear REAL news… stories that should concern us, check out the above site.  The news is supposed to be unbiased and objective, and politically neutral.  We should not have “conservative” and “liberal” stations.  We should have unfiltered true news.  Not the handpicked fluff these broadcasters are deciding to show us.

Another good site for real news is The Centerfor Public Integrity.  This news source is run by an ex CNN boss… who got tired of all the censorship and left CNN.

This is not conspiracy theory… these are real stories that we just didn’t hear about. 

Television Force-feeding

I like television as much as the next American… but today I experienced something interesting and disturbing. 

We decided to get the “bundle” package for our cable, internet, and phone.  I thought this seemed reasonable, instead of going through 2 or 3 different providers.  So I signed on for The Bundle.  We have had it for 2 months.  The first month they overcharged us by about $40 (I’m glad I noticed!) and I had to call and correct it.  This month, it was still higher than I expected, so I looked at the bill and saw that The Bundle only includes internet and cable, the phone is still separate!  So they tell you you get The Bundle for $50 a month, but they don’t mention that the phone will still be an extra $20!  Now, if you have a bundle of wood, are there only two logs in the bundle?  Or would you expect there to be at least 3?  This ‘bundle’ they’re offering is more of a ‘pair’ I think. 

So we have all these stupid channels, I have the same NBC, ABC, and FOX channels but I have them from Seattle, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Vancouver.  So that means, that Dr. Phil is aired at least 7 times a day, at different times (2 pm my time on the Boston channel, 6 pm my time on the Vancouver channel).  And of course I have a heaping dose of other nonsense channels, where there usually isn’t anything worth watching on.  Which is okay, that’s cable for you.  But even though I get the premium package (it was their ‘promotion’) I don’t get HBO.  Assholes.  Instead I get 7 copies of the same channels.  If I miss Dr. Phil at 2, I can catch him at 3, 4, 5, or 6… maybe on more than one channel at the same time. 

I smelled bullshit…. and I really don’t need to watch Dr. Phil 7 times a day.  So I called and asked them to give me the smallest, cheapest cable package.  But they wouldn’t!  They said Basic Cable is more expensive than what I’m getting now!  So even if I want the least channels, the most scaled down phone service, and run-of-the-mill internet, they have made it more expensive than 300 channels???  What??  So I am being force-fed all these crap channels, and can’t get out of it!  And they aren’t even weird channels that I might get a kick out of once in a while… they’re the same channels over and over again!!!  What a joke.  Not to mention, all 300 channels are owned by 8 corporations - so you can imagine how much variety I am getting. Thank you Telecommunications Act of 1996.  But I guess I’m really the foolish one for being addicted to television.  I don’t require a lot, or much variety, but I love having that glowing box on to keep me company.  And rabbit ears only get me 2 channels.  So I’ll stick with The Bundle and deal with it.

Reality Television is Dead. Face it.

What a glorious thing we thought reality tv was.  The early Real World and Survivor blew us away.  They were great!  Look at these real people making fools of themselves!  What voyeurs we are.  It was awesome.

Now, however, there isn’t much to choose from BESIDES reality tv show.  Survivor, The Real World, The Hills (barely), Trading Spouses, Big Brother, L.A. Ink, Miami Ink, The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire, America/ Austrailia/ Canada /Britain’s Next Top Models, Biggest Loser, etc. etc.  These are supposed to be ‘real’ people given opportunities to win money, fame, a title, weight, etc.  But the more reality show dribble that is being produced, the less real it is!  And even if it was real, we don’t care anymore!

Instead of real people being on tv, it’s now aspiring actors and celebrity-esque competitors.  Everyone is on to how ‘alliances’ work, and there is always some kind of shocking scandal- what a surprise that a girl on Top Model has an eating disorder, or that some asshole on Biggest Loser drank 40 gallons of water to throw the vote, or someone passes out or gets slapped, whatever.  How many times can we watch the same thing happen? 

It was cool the first time a Survivor contestant got naked, it was shocking when the guy on the Real World slapped the girl with Lupus back in ‘98, and we all loved the religious rant of that creepy lady on wife swap, but attention television networks:  Just because we liked it the first time doesn’t mean you have to do it for every fucking show. 

And as far as this Hollywood writer’s strike- GOOD!  You guys suck too!  Maybe if you wrote something good we wouldn’t be forced to turn to the “unpredictable” antics of reality television.  I’m sorry but everyone needs to get their own personal reality check and stop encouraging this crap.  I say spread the fires towards Hollywood and lets rebuild from scratch.  I demand some quality programming.  I want to see a sitcom that strays from the same 5 plots writers have been using since TGIF fifteen years ago.  And I don’t want to hear about fat people losing weight, slutty people being slutty, fanatical people being psycho, and models passing out from eating nothing but apple seeds for two weeks. 

Heroes sucks, 24 sucks, Grey’s Anatomy SUCKS, every thing on television sucks.  Everything.  I don’t even want cable because that sucks too.  And maybe you’re saying “well why don’t you write a show if you don’t like the selection?”  Because I am not a television writer, and if I wrote television shows they would all be about smoking weed and complaining about television- and I have to common sense to know that people don’t want to watch that. 

Back to my original topic- I didn’t intend to touch on regular television shows- but back to Reality Television.  Stop it.  Just stop.  How many more $100,000 prizes can we give out?  How long until we run out of fat people to go on Biggest Loser or people who want a phoenix tattooed on their arm by Kat Von Slut?  How many more islands are left to film Survivor on and how long until the people on Trading Spouses realize that the person who comes into their home is going to make them live differently than they’re used to- that is the point.  And how many more seasons of the Real World can we stomach?  I went to college, and it was the same fucking thing, alcoholic sluts throwing things at each other. 

I have ODed on Documentaries!!

After a solid month of watching documentaries, many on the government, I have come out the other end a changed person.  But for crying out loud, I think I overdid it! 

I believe it is important to look at issues in depth, and from all sides.  Many of the documentaries I have watched are ‘biased’ but have encouraged me to seek out opposing opinions in hopes of finding the middle or the truth.  Instead of successfully doing this, however, I completely overdid it.

I learned a lot, but now I pretty much want to crawl into a hole in the Northwest Territories and come out after WWIII!  A warning to curious minds and to those suspicious of the government, don’t overdo it like I did!

Because I decided to spend the last month looking at 9/11 footage, the civil wars and political upsets of Latin America, and the truth behind America’s Sweetheart- Television, I know have to spend the next month surrounding myself with butterflies and puppies to get back to my normal, moderately cynical yet light-hearted self after all the doom and gloom I have exposed myself too!

So if you’re like me and dig conspiracies, be wary of the new documentaries out there.  This isn’t Roswell and JFK, it’s death and destruction and helpless citizens being thrown from a political run-away train. 

If you plan on burying yourself in this depressing subject matter, whether or not you believe any of it, make sure to have a stuffed animal, some prozac, and at least 2 full days of your favorite comedy shows to meet you once you come out the other end of Documentary Overdose.