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Barbara Frandsen's avatar

Thank you for your courage. I am a retired, life-long educator with teaching experience ranging from kindergarten children with disabilities to university students seeking to enter classrooms. The message I want to share is centered on loving one another. Our hope depends on living compassionately.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Absolutely!

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HI2thDoc's avatar

Mass media has veered away from fact and toward the traditional American corporate model: profit, profit, profit. Obviously, to continue to operate, they do need to be profitable, but fact should not be a casualty. Fact should be their raison d'etre. Am I hopelessly naive? Is factual reporting not feasible in this shallow, distracted, illusory world?

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Walter Rhein's avatar

They get their profit from the support of foreign governments who want to destroy our country, not from the eyeballs on their propaganda.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"Sir, have you ever been hungry? Have you ever been homeless? Have you ever been unable to pay a medical bill?” If their friends asked them those questions in private, they might answer honestly, but they don't want the general public to know about any of their weaknesses.

There is a massive gulf between the classes in North America that has not been this bad since the Victorian era. At that time, the wealthy in many countries treated the poor as an aberrant sub-species when they weren't trying to culturally and socially "uplift" them by introducing them to the "benefits" of such "novel" (for the poor) things as decent living quarters, parks, fresh air and summer camps. The novelists and playwriters of the time derived an enormous amount of satire and comedy presenting this disconnect in their work. The difference was that they were better able to present their media to their intended audiences, because there was far less competition. Few people had the means to own a printing press then compared to the many who have access to cellphones now.

While the wealthy then resented being attacked by the media, they knew that there was little they could do about it and accepted it as best they could, though some (Hearst) ironically made their fortune buying up that same media. The wealthy now understand that they can neutralize any form of rebellion by buying off any potential source, and that's exactly what they do.

When Phil Donahue died recently, there was much talk about how he used his television shows as a forum for bringing important social issues to an audience which otherwise might not have taken them seriously and helping them become engaged with them. This worked well when he was a syndicated broadcaster independent of any network, but not so much when he was on MSNBC, which f-ed up his formula and fired him out of spite to prevent him criticizing the war in Iraq.

Mass media can be an effective form of holding the affluent to account, but, in order to do so, it must be independent of ownership of the affluent. And until coalitions of the underprivileged are able to buy ownership of mass media companies, reduce their sizes and interlocked connections, and convert them into non-profit organizations, that likely will not happen.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Yes, very well said!

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The Collapse Chronicle's avatar

Thanks for writing this. Having already canceled my subscriptions to NYT and WaPo, I get the majority of my news from Substack and Medium. Billionaires like Musk have turned X into a Nazi hellsite, and hedge funds have bought more newspapers than I care to remember, stripped them of assets and sold them for parts. And the players that remain are far more concerned about preserving their profits and appearing sufficiently pliant to a potential fascist administration.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Fortunately there are a lot of excellent independent journalists out there!

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StevieAnn's avatar

This article has given me hope. I have always wanted to write, but have let fear get in the way. Thank you!

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Please do write!

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Jid's avatar

Thank you - more power to your pen

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I appreciate that!

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David McIlroy's avatar

Thanks for the mention Walter!

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Happy to do it! It's been fun following your advice on Substack. I hope the book is selling well!

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Well said as usual. I totally agree. The media in US is so vanilla, always chasing the same kernel that another media source has just spewed out. If they ever had an original idea, it went south long ago. Tthere are some news outlets who do catch a story, but those are the exception rather than the rule. And advt does play a part as it does in most things. What's scary to me is gigantic Sinclair network, gobbling up all those small town TV stations, coming up w/ the exact verbiage on every piece of important content and slanting it to the right, like Fox does when pushing a theme. Repetition, repetition. It's a smart concept, and if there's no counterpoint, like a weekly newspaper that covers city council meetings to let people know what's being voted on, it's up to the gods what people will believe. Journalists (free press) and bookstores--always what the bad guys go after. In Mexico they shoot journalists. And in Russia, they jail them. But in MX it's the cartels (and some corrupt politicos) who do in the journalists. I'm getting off track, but I so agree we're losing any fair and unbiased voice in, especially, the broadcast world. SubS is a nice alternative to get some of the real deal from out there.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Anyone who asks a question is shot down as a "conspiracy theorist." The media needs to hold the people in power accountable. We're in a scary situation.

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Scary indeed. Am hoping there is that light at the end of the tunnel . . .

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Joan K's avatar

Thank you for writing such down-to-earth and meaningful pieces. I left Twitter once Musk bought it, dropped my subscription to the local big-Northeast-city paper that keeps trying to lure me back, though half of their content is regurgitated from the NY Times and AP – and their subscription price is OTT. And that's just the beginning. The best writers are on Substack!

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Thanks so much! Bit by bit, we're making an impact!

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Bob McWilliams's avatar

'Pull yourself up by the bootstraps' and other such drivel is called 'cruel optimism'. On the one hand, it sounds so hopeful while the underlying reality is that it is horribly cruel because the deck is stacked against most people. Good article. I read that mass market media made a ton of money posting Trump stories since 2016. Hopefully, we give Kamala so many more clicks, that we reverse the insanity. BTW, I never read an article about Trump. No clicks, no ads read, no money to the corporate hog.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I've heard that term before, but thank you for reminding me of it. It's very true and your succinct explanation is spot on!

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Deanna Bugalski's avatar

I much prefer to read stories written by real people who have walked life and are unafraid to talk about it!

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Me too!

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Raveen's avatar

The mainstream media are indeed funded and subservient to huge businesses like the pharmaceutical and military industrial complexes. Thus, instead of being objective, they disseminate propaganda and narratives that serve the interests of the ruling class and those businesses.

Interestingly enough, I wrote an article yesterday about not trusting the mainstream media, Walter.

Here's the link if you're interested: https://open.substack.com/pub/reformthesystem/p/you-need-to-stop-watching-western?r=1mpojg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Jess Hansen's avatar

I have subscriptions to NYT, and a few other traditional vehicles. I find if I read the business section, I get a better idea of the political situation. The opinion pieces in NYT business related coverage, are angled in such a way that labor is mentioned only as the cost relates to shareholders. It's pretty bad.

I read as much as I can about class issues through Medium, Substack and follow 1st hand experiences on X. I've been following Michele T, as well.

The majority of the American population are one broken vehicle, one health problem away from financial distress or complete ruin. Those who work the hardest are the ones who suffer the most.

There will be no social or economic redemption under either party of the duopoly, as long as private and public mega-corporations have a say in governance, using a bullhorn, while the mass of the governed are bullied into whispering.

And as long as so many who struggle are convinced, through willing consumption of propaganda, that they are potential millionaires, buttressed by the belief that Jesus wants them to have that brand new truck, things won't change. You describe that very well, Walter.

Canada, so far, isn't as much like this, but I expect we will be. Your current politics are our future, I'm afraid.

Becoming a paid subscriber is the least we can do, if we can afford to. Nobody, with the ability to pay, should expect someone to write for them for free.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I strongly believe that Harris will take this country in the right direction. If the John Lewis Voting Rights act is passed, we'll see massive change. It's going to take a few election cycles, but we'll get there. Thanks for the comment!

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Jess Hansen's avatar

The president's aren't the ones in charge, imo. They are more figureheads than anything. The Democrats have demonstrated an amazing ability to morph to their constituents desires when elections are in view. Afterwards they default to their corporatist selves.

I predict that, if they win the election, the US will have at least one major hot war to deal with, with presidents lying their base into not only supporting it, but supplying it with cannon fodder.

If the republicans win, it will be as bad, slightly different and in the domestic sphere, much worse in many respects, unless you're white, rich or both.

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Jerry Spiegler's avatar

Walter, At Appomattox Courthouse US Army General Ulysses S. Grant accepted Confederate General Robert E. Lee's terms of surrender. According to Grant's acceptance Lee's troops were permitted to return home from the battlefield in possession of their weapons. Is it any wonder that Reconstruction was a failure followed by decades of Jim Crow? Can you shed further light on Lee's surrender terms and why Grant accepted them without alterations?

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John Cook's avatar

This is likely not the kind of idea you were soliciting but my reading life would be so much more pleasant if there were some kind of tool that would rank articles by the quantity of AI content. I am so tired of wading through the manure looking for the pony promised in the headline that is never there. I am a Medium subscriber and am considering dropping my subscription because so much of the content seems fatuous and its fatuousness shows signs of AI. I am sick of the time suck and wish there were a way to get a warning before wading in.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I find that Medium is very good at weeding out the AI.

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John Cook's avatar

Maybe then what I am looking for is a Headline BS meter. What I typically think smells like AI is a kind of droning narrative that never seems to result in anything revelatory or, for that matter, even very interesting. Maybe its not AI. Maybe its just authors who like to talk but don't have much to say. I seem to encounter it more on Medium than elsewhere. It could be that I just haven't found the right authors.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

That hasn't been my experience at all.

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DeliWrite's avatar

Hey Sir, do you have a pub on Medium? If Yes, which one is it? Thank you in advance, Del (on Medium)

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Cultured and Write & Review

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