Is It Really Necessary To Discuss Jeffrey Epstein Ad Infinitum?
by John Lawrence, August 20, 2019
The American media is consumed with Jeffrey Epstein. They've talked about him for days. Meanwhile, this pushes all other news of any consequence out of the picture. It is not hard to understand why. The mainstream media news exists so that advertisers can sell products during numerous commercials. In fact there is more time devoted to commercials than so-called news. So the producers of "news" are mostly concerned about what type of news will bring the maximum number of eyeballs to their screens. This type of news, of course, is the news that is most titillating and scandalous. Enter Jeffrey Epstein, the perfect candidate for filling up "news" time for days if not weeks. Then we also had the plane crash of Dale Earnhardt Jr. which occupied the news for a few days also. There were also a few other isolated plane crashes for which, fortunately, there was some video footage.
Meanwhile, news that is of great concern or should be of great concern is hardly mentioned. The news that is actually presented is pablum, news designed so that viewers don't have to actually think, news that is escapist and voyeuristic, news designed to get viewers to buy the sponsors' products. If you want any actual news, you have to tune into one of the foreign media channels although you won't find any news there that is actually critical of the countries that are providing these channels. Most other news though is far more authentic than anything found on American commercial media. American news is not exactly "fake" news. That is a misnomer. It is news that is inconsequential relative to anything that really affects the American people. The fact that Jeffrey Epstein liked to have sex with underage albeit sexually mature girls is of no consequence to whether or not the US will go to war with Iran or whether or not the economy will go into recession or whether or not climate change will inundate major American cities. These are real issues.
Of course mass murders are purveyed relentlessly. This is one reason why they are being perpetuated. It seems that every white nationalist wants to get in on the act and garner his 15 minutes of fame. 15 minutes may be an understatement. They should not show the faces or mention the names of the mass murderers so that they don't get famous. Hate speech at social media sites should be taken down. Should their be censorship of hate speech? You betcha. These websites are where these guys congregate and egg each other on. So what does the mass media convey after one of these increasingly common attacks? Any discussion of gun control? Nah, that's too wonky, too intellectual, too political. What we get instead is the fact that there are so many good people in the world who are leaving lots of teddy bears and other remembrances at the murder site. We get interviews with bystanders and onlookers who state that "they couldn't believe that something like this could happen here." We get pablum. I know that there are good people in the world. I don't have to be told that. There is no discussion of mental illness or how the IRA puts profits above people or how the politicians know that after the furor dies down they won't have to pass any gun control legislation nor do they intend to do so.
It may be cynical, but it's true that the only thing that might shift the gun control debate is the fact that Michael Bloomberg has the assets to lobby Congress that rival the NRA's. The Guardian reports:
Guns are big(ish) business. Gun and ammunition manufacturers will have revenues of $13.3bn and profits of $1bn in 2017, according to IBISWorld. Gun and ammunition stores this year will have revenues of $85.bn and profits of $256m....
There are, however, problems on the horizon for the NRA. For one, the gun control lobby is growing. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety is threatening to spend more than $25m in 2018 races. Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun control political action committee set up by Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman whose career was ended when she was shot along with 18 others in an Arizona suburb, spent $13.4m in 2016
So, of couse it's all about lobbying and profits. If the gun control groups can put more money in politicians' pockets than can the NRA, then maybe gun control legislation will be passed. It's pretty cynical, but then that's the way Congress operates. Profits and lobbying determine outcomes in the American political system. It is not predicated on doing the right thing for the American people, but only on what increases profits. I know, there are many Americans who are "good people". It's just that profits over people is how the system operates.
