As an undergraduate, I was introduced to a phrase that I've since grown to loath and despise: "liberal news media." I've often wondered what my fellow college students meant by it. I've always wondered what "power" lay in the hands of those "liberal news media" giants. I've always wondered why this "conspiracy" seems to be so easily used and believed by the Right after they face a defeat. I've always wondered why this phrase is so effective, seeing as how some of the most popular programs on television and radio are hosted by very, very conservative voices like Rush and Bill'O.
I've despised this phrase because news is news. From the BBC to CNN to Fox to MSNBC...news is news. As a matter of fact, Fox tells more world news than CNN or MSNBC. So could my classmates be talking about the spin shows, of which there are an equal number of conservative and liberal-leaning ones on the air?
I've despised this phrase because most of these shows, whether liberal or conservative-leaning, fail to criticize factors that are of the utmost importance. I'll give you a prime example. We are in an economic crisis. Over 600,000 people lost jobs in January alone. Political pundits, both liberal and conservative, have credited several factions for the cause of this economic downfall. Most have boiled it down to greedy corporate CEO's, banks doling out subprime loans to new homeowners who could have qualified for fixed-rate loans, a bloated and swollen housing market, and the disappearance of the smokestack economy.
Politicians in D.C. battle over how to get us out of this mess, while the pundits are allowed to spin it whichever way they please.
However, there is this one factor...one big, huge, gigantic factor that the "liberal news media" and "conservative crusaders" have thus far refuse to talk about...the role of big oil in this economic collaspe. If the saying is, "So goes GM, so goes America," a better alternative to that would be," So goes Exxon, so goes GM, so goes America." Oil prices, for the past six years, have been astronomical. We have been getting raped at the pump, and seem powerless to do anything about it. Nobody is saying anything about it. Period. In the midst of this crisis of unemployment and defaulted credit card/home loan payments, we know of at least one company who is posting record profits: Exxon.
It is my understanding, from a GM insider, that cars that use alternative sources of energy have been available since the mid-1980s. Remember that hideous electric car GM introduced in the 1980s? Whatever happened to it? Pressure from powerful oil lobbyists and the fact that we've had an oil barron in power for almost a decade have kept us helplessly dependent upon crude oil. It has been a battle of infrastructure. GM, Ford, Dodge, and Chrysler could produce these cars on a mass scale for years and years. And we, as smart consumers, could buy them. What the lobbyist have been successful in doing is blocking the infrastructure changes needed to support these manufacturers. If consumers buy these cars without proper infrastructure support, it would be like buying a gas-burning car, and not having any gas stations to refuel them. What sense would that make?
Conservative senators have been very successful in painting infrastructure updates and improvements as wasteful, porkbarrel, earmark spending. Conservative senators have been very successful in painting American car companies as behind our foreign counterparts when it comes to building cheap, efficient cars. In short, they are blaming GM and being silent about Exxon and their own complicity in this crisis. Now, we are suffering. As the pink slips become more and more numerous, has anyone noticed that the price of gas is creeping up again? Just as spring and summer are right around the corner and people are having to drive further for jobs that pay less. Once again, gas will consume a big chunk of the family budget.
Has anyone noticed how expensive diesel is? Diesel is slow-burning, and I guess the oil companies calculated the difference in and pushed up the price. If we don't drive diesel cars, how does this effect us, you ask? I'm glad you did. Truckers use diesel. Truckers deliver our goods. The price of delivering these goods is calculated in with the price of these goods once they reach us in the grocery store. So, if diesel rises, so does the price of milk, eggs, cheese, and everything else you can name.
I'm going to stop here, and wait for at least one person to bring up the oil culprits. I'm stopping here because I'm often astounding by the myopic vision of American business men. They are like race horses. The green blinders are on and they can see only one path. A really smart business man or woman would be leading the world in finding alternative fuel sources and infrastructure building. A smart business woman or man would have these markets already cornered.
I'm stopping because I'm angry. We get raped at the pump, and are supposed to be silent about it. Meanwhile, right-leaning people continue to blame the "liberal news media" who are also complicit in this crisis in their silences. Once again, politicians have put the greed of big oil ahead of the dire needs of their constituents. The fact that everyone, including the "liberal news media" personalities can remain silent about this outrageous display of greed and control over American consumer power, shows a blatant disregard for the needs and welfare of the entire American proletariat, be we conservative or liberal. The boys at the top apparently don't give a damn about us.
