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From Raw Story and via Gawker, we learn that Mitt Romney wants to commercialize all of PBS, apparently because he doesn’t understand that China holding US debt isn’t about government spending profligacy but is connected to their exchange rate and export policies and our desire to watch football on 60 inch televisions. But never mind that.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a major Republican candidate for President thinks that the problem with Sesame Street is that the kids don’t get to watch enough commercials from Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil or the gas folks at Conoco.
After all, it’s never too early to start teaching children that its okay to buy elections and governments, or spend millions claiming global warming is a hoax or put down students who think it’s a bad idea to be pumping toxic chemicals into public water supplies while they extract natural gas to heat poorly insulated homes. I’m sure there are whole lesson plans prepared by ALEC on the marvels of free enterprise unshackled from the needless chains of health and safety regulations.
But we need to remind ourselves that Mitt Romney, while stunningly dishonest about what he believes and jaw dropping indifferent to what he has to say to get votes from Fox-misinformed conservative whackos, is supposed to be the saner, pragmatic “moderate” among this gang of clowns and charlatans.
In the meantime, we can all look forward to the continued commercialization of PBS. We already have Exxon and Conoco corrupting the News Hour, monopolizing the first minutes of “news” by undercutting whatever the reporters need to tell us that might affect their global interests. Then we’ll have Koch and Bank of America bring you Frontline and American Experience. Perhaps next season, the new Masterpiece will feature the series, “Upstairs, and Even More Upstairs,” brought to you by Goldman Sachs, followed by Atlas Shrugged sponsored by Bain Capital.
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Keep your Mitts off Big Bird, GOP!
“Advertising is tax deductible, so we all pay for the privilege of being manipulated and controlled.”
Noam Chomsky, The Common Good 1998
Tax advertising dollars!
apparently because he doesn’t understand that China holding US debt isn’t about government spending profligacy but is connected to their exchange rate and export policies and our desire to watch football on 60 inch televisions.
You have it backwards: the fault does not lie in China, but in Washington. Just as the Chinese control what enters China, we can control what enters this country. The fact is that we don’t, because the people who want this situation to persist are the ones making money off this. So don’t blame China. It will try to get away with anything it can, just we we would. As long as we allow Chinese products in with low or no duties, they will keep sending their products. The problem can only be solved in Washington. And you have a lot of money being spent by huge think tanks to convince us that free trade is good, and to block is bad. But the people who try to brainwash are making huge profits off trade, so for them this must continue. Who cares about the rest of us?
Mitt Romney: The Real Austerity Candidate
Mitt IS the sanest one in the clown car.
The GOPers have wanted to kill PBS for decades. I guess they’ve decided to let it stay around, as long as it’s bought and paid for like the other networks.
Boxturtle (I’m waiting for Fox to buy PBS and turn Big Bird into a gun collector and ban bert and ernie)
I like it.
From scarecrow: “Mitt Romney…… is supposed to be the saner, pragmatic “moderate” among this gang of clowns and charlatans.”
————-
That is what I had thought, too. But, the past couple of weeks, the dude has gone off the reservation. Lies about Obama, statements worthy of ron Paul or, even worse, Rick Perry. I guess it’s like my grandma always said, “Sanity…it’s a relative thing.”
McDonalds and Chuck E Cheese are already on Sesame Street at least in the beginning. Oh for the days of the 2-week pledge drives with posterboard goals.
BTW, as the father of 2- and 4-year old boys, I can say Sesame Street is not looking so hot. Here’s your basic show: 1 long intro segment that’s a little dull, 1 long Murray Had a Little Lamb Segment, 1 loooonnng Abby’s Flying Fairy School (computer animation) segment, and an Elmo’s World re-run segment from five years ago. And you’ve got Murray always telling you what’s coming up next. That’s it folks. Where are the puppets? Where is the spontaneity of “I wonder what comes next” that used to exist? It’s gone. Sesame Street is fairly weak and uninspired–hmmm, just like it’s corporate sponsors.
“…they will keep sending their products. “
The problem isn’t that we import “Chinese” products“. The problem is that we have exported manufacturers. We have exported Apple, and Dell and GM and Ford and even Walmart.
Most of what we import is not built by Chinese companies exporting Chinese technology. It is formerly American Companies using Chinese workers to build American Technology. We must get past the notion that these are “American Companies”. They are not. They are invasive predators.
“….enough commercials from Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil…”
I really don’t worry much about commercials from Exxon or Chevron on Seseme Street. Those commercials are aimed primarily at adults.
I do worry about commercials for Captain Crunch and Barbie Dolls and XBoxes.
It would be funny though to see Big Bird dressed up like a NASCAR stock car.
What I said still holds true, though: the problem is not in China, it is in Washington. It is not up to China to enforce our rules, but to take advantage of them. It is our job to make sure that manufacturing stays here, not move to China, and make it expensive to bring products back made anywhere. This is the only way we are going to become prosperous again. Every country that captured our companies, including China, India and Brazil, are successful economies. Our economic model, built on free trade, is a failure.
I thought PBS WAS commercialized. Seems that way to me. Certainly there are TONS of ads on it nowadays. The only “benefit,” so far, is that the shows aren’t hacked into with ads running throughout.
Used to be the corp. sponsor ads were quite short and more like a public announcement. Nowadays they’re just as long, tedious & propogandizing as they are on “regular” tv. Bah.
Agree with a prior commenter, though. On the kids shows, it’ll all be about sugary snacks & cereals or CrapDonalds or whatever… get hooked on sugar ‘n shit when they’re young…
Yup. Archer Daniels Midland, America’s Gas Industries, Monsanto, the list goes on and on. The commercials only show at the beginning, and sometimes the end of the programs, though. The R’s have always hated PBS though, and probably because of people like Bill Moyers. The past 10 years they’ve managed to place a Republican in charge and PBS is more “fair and balanced”, which means it has become more like the rest of the blather on the airwaves with its only redeeming features being a few shows for pre-schoolers and regular series taken from the BBC, with a smattering of cultural entertainment and locally produced programs tossed into the mix, none of which are controversial, from a Republican standpoint, in any way. If the R’s get up in arms about any program, you can bet it will be swept into Oscar the Grouch’s trash can in a hurry.