Who Controls the Media?
asha...@hotmail.com
"It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of
public opinion."
--Josef Göbbels (1897 - 1945)
"Whoever controls the media, controls the mind."
Jim Morrison (1943 - 1971)
It is as easy as ABC, it starts out with the constant
barrage of words and images --
mother, father, family, children, country,
flag, God, patriotism, football, tits and beer,
and the scantily clad models, shaking their
asses in music videos --
and whoever controls these,
knows exactly what they
are doing, for they are selling
morality, values, beauty and love,
and a costly preventive war,
while shaping the uniformity of opinion,
and if you don't like these ideals,
there is something inherently wrong with you --
you are a danger to society,
some left-wing radical, a leftover from
the counterculture of the 1960s,
a Godless commie, burning a flag
and smoking reefer,
undermining the moral fiber
of the American youth,
forgetting the sobering reality of 9-11,
which they keep repeating to you over
and over, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, like some mantra,
as if the world has fundamentally changed
since that date --
and how quickly we forget what happened
in Chile on September 11, 1973,
when CIA-backed Pinochet toppled the
democratically elected Allende government
and made hundreds of folks disappear,
and how quickly we forget the Reichstag
fire of 1933, which Göring and Hitler
blamed on the Communists,
which makes one wonder if 9-11
is not another case of history
repeating itself, but who cares about it
all anyway? Just stuff your face and
watch Jerry Springer or American Idol
or some "reality" show like Survivor
or MTV's Real World -- who cares about
the war or unemployment,
or that the richest 1% of the world's
population keep getting richer and richer.
Just write some silly poems at AuthorsDen
and pretend to be a great author
because you're published by PublishAmerica,
whose books are not available at local
bookstores, but still your friends and family
can get their overpriced paperbacks
through internet. Hurry up, my friends!
Just go ahead and keep writing, pretending
that it makes any difference (it doesn't),
while every day more Americans and Brits
get killed in a senseless war in the Middle East
over the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction --
but who cares -- there will always be another Pope,
proclaiming peace on earth and good will
and another war, and more and more senseless
violence, whether it's in cartoons or
in pro wrestling or on a football field --
for 99% of Americans have no interest
in politics or global affairs, content just
to write poems about finding that special
someone -- who turns out to be an abuser,
a drug addict, an alcoholic, a psycho
bastard or a bitch, a nymphomaniac,
a porn-addicted pervert, or just plain
rotten to the core.
No, darling, I'm much more than this.
I'm still capable of some critical thought,
and thinking can be arduous these days.
Why think when the status quo is so easy
and all the thinking is done for me?
No, I will not turn away as long as I
have a mind and a heart.
It occurs to me that I am the media --
yes, a small voice crying out in the wilderness,
crying out for truth, crying out for beauty,
and above all else, crying out for love.
And yes, my darling, I still love you.
April 28, 2005
--Alexander Shaumyan
Spirit of Rebellion: Poetry by Alexander Shaumyan
http://www.shaumyan.com