{"id":1635,"date":"2024-10-29T01:14:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T05:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/?p=1635"},"modified":"2024-10-29T01:15:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T05:15:47","slug":"about-that-democracy-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/2024\/10\/about-that-democracy-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"About that democracy thing…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have generally kept my thoughts in this space<\/strong> limited to artz, design, and related technology issues. I’ve managed to keep my political leanings confined to person to person conversations, and rants<\/s> … thoughtful commentary on Social Media. But here we are seven days out from the election and I have an ITCH<\/em><\/strong>. I guess my background in publishing has made me sensitive to this latest slide towards the abyss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, I will offer a disclaimer straight away. I am an Independent voter, having abandoned the Democratic Party since their abandonment of working and middle class folk, and small-d democratic principles. But as a NYC ex-pat, I cannot abide Mr Trump. We go back too far, and he was always a bully, a fraud, a con man, a crappy businessman, a racist, a serial adulterer and abuser, and a compulsive (if supernaturally convincing) liar. Good skill set for a con man, but somewhat disqualifying in a Chief Executive, I should think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I have no particular love for the Democrats, they seem to have a slightly greater commitment to some level of actual governance.<\/em> Not to mention our rights, the Rule of Law, the Constitution. Also as a person of mixed colors, and married to a female person, there have been some savage things said, and policies promoted that do not make me comfortable with the current incarnation of the Republican party and the more extreme MAGA folk. And also too true, the studio and therefore, our household, is less prosperous than we were two years ago. Corporate America might have some \u2019splaining to do about THAT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am fine with people voting their conscience, and hopefully thier best interests for the Nation and their situations. But for the folks around me, I generally am more concerned with if you\u2018re a decent human being than how you vote. Currently residing in the rather Red rural Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, but with roots and family still in NYC \u2013 I can say, with all appropriate irony, that there are good people… in both places. Also… some jackasses. You don\u2019t have to be a Liberal or a Conservative to be jerk. It’s equal opportunity bipartisan awfulness. I suspect that\u2019s a human<\/em> thing. But some of those Christian Nationalist sorts do kind of grind my cookies, they seem to harbor a lot of not very Christ-like sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So like most folk, I\u2019ll be voting for my best guess at \u201cless worth\u201d that suits my vision of America. I am well aware that I should not put much faith in our Political Class, and especially not the Mega-Corporations and the Uber-Wealthy that all but utterly OWN them. As a people, we are pretty much on our own out here. As far as DC is concerned, while only two hours away \u2013\u00a0Appalachian Berkley Springs, West Virginia could just as well be the Dark Side of the Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But none the less, the thing with the LA Times and the Washington Post did ITCH me. So don’t mind me, just a bit grumpy about the decline of actual journalism in this nation. Perhaps Billionaire ownership of our venerable media institutions is not the saving grace many promoted. Seems Jeff Bezos will ALWAYS prioritize his interests over integrity or ANY nation. Just an observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some thoughtful people have shared some thoughts on the quashing of editorial endorsements for Vice President Kamala Harris, already written, by their billionaire owners. I’ll collect a few here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have observed over the years that the ownership of our Political Leadership and media institutions by the Billionaire and Corporate Class is particularly corrosive to any functional vestiges of (small-d) democracy in this Nation. Instead of reporting the News and letting us decide what we think, the media companies now feed us what they decide we should see, and what serves their corporate purposes. I am on board with Gorge Carlin’s caustic opinion \u2013 from 2005(!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c…Because the OWNERS of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners, now. The REAL owners. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You HAVE NO CHOICE. You have OWNERS. They OWN you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses and City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. …\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 George Carlin, \u201cLife is worth Losing,\u201d 2005<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Billionaire scenario is pretty non-partisan. Left or Right sympathizing, they almost always get what they want. And they have spent the better part of the forty years since the Reagan Administration turning our economy into a vast and pervasive wealth extraction system. Not much seems to \u201ctickle-down\u201d in Neoliberal Economics. This has been a massive driver of the dissolving of the middle class and the rising immiseration of most ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From John Gruber at Daring Fireball<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have Bezos pegged as a chickenshit. When he bought the Post<\/em>, I sincerely thought he was saving it, not destroying it. What\u2019s the point of having so much \u201cfuck you\u201d money if you\u2019re afraid to tell a petty tyrant like Donald Trump to pound sand? And Bezos is smart, really smart, which makes it baffling that he thinks Trump, if elected, might remember this craven gesture of abject subservience, and decline to lash out against Amazon, Blue Origin, or Bezos personally, after a single negative news story in The Washington Post<\/em>. Transactions work only one way with Donald Trump. Toward him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Profiles in Cowardice: Owner Jeff Bezos and Publisher William Lewis of The Washington Post<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


From what I know of bullies, is that when you cave to a bully, they don’t go away. They keep on bullying you, and often escalate the abuse. This is what feels rather like, what Doug Muder at The Weekly Sift<\/em> <\/a><\/strong>describes as \u201canticipatory obedience.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cDuring the first Trump administration, Bezos (whose much larger business is Amazon) saw what can happen when his newspaper becomes too annoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In 2019, Trump found his lever. Amazon was due to receive a $10 billion cloud-computing contract from the Pentagon. The Pentagon suddenly shifted course and denied Amazon the contract. A former speechwriter for Defense Secretary James Mattis reported that Trump had directed Mattis to \u201cscrew Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is the context in which the Post\u2019s decision to spike its planned endorsement of Kamala Harris should be considered.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn other words, the owners of one (or maybe two) major American newspapers appear to be giving in to intimidation\/bribery. Their actions (or non-actions) are teaching Donald Trump that intimidation\/bribery works. So if he is elected next week, they will see more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He sums it up very succinctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Post\u2019s slogan is \u201cDemocracy Dies in Darkness\u201d<\/em>. But democracy also dies in silence, particularly if those moments of silence happen when everyone is looking at you and waiting for you to speak.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Doug Muder, The Weekly Sift<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Democracy Succumbs in\u00a0Silence<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Perhaps after the election, and assuming we still have something resembling a Republic; I can get back to my normal bitching<\/s>… thoughtful discussions about the excesses of Adobe, Apple, and AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of you out there take care of yourselves and be decent to each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have generally kept my thoughts in this space limited to artz, design, and related technology issues. I’ve managed to keep my political leanings confined to person to person conversations, and rants … thoughtful commentary on Social Media. But here we are seven days out from the election and I have an ITCH. I guess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200.jpg",1200,995,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-300x249.jpg",300,249,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-768x637.jpg",768,637,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-1024x849.jpg",1024,849,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200.jpg",1200,995,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200.jpg",1200,995,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-300x249.jpg",300,249,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-600x498.jpg",600,498,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WPost_DemocracyDies_1200-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kurt Griffith","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fantastic-realities.com\/studio_blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"I have generally kept my thoughts in this space limited to artz, design, and related technology issues. 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