The media, as we have come to realize, is the most powerful tool known to man when it comes to persuasive action. It's justified role in our society is to inform us, but it's real role is to control us. This is because the media is controlled by very few conglomerates. Walt Disney, News Corp, Time Warner and Viacom are among the ones who decide what to filter through your senses, and you'd be short-changed if you think they have our best interests in mind. Our endevours throughout the semester have helped reveal this machine for what it truly is. Women are belittled to no end through the various mediums of communication they have at their disposal. Minorities STILL aren't given an equal shot, as the false stereotypes that belittle their respective cultures are pushed down our throats on the daily. They knowingly sculpt our subconscious thought processes with their sustenance of the constant messages that are rotting our brains. The mass acquiesce to the systems of control play right into the hands of the powerful elite.

Such doom and gloom, I know. But there are a few flickering lights of hope out there. Just like ourselves, there are countless well informed people across the country that want to make a difference.

    

Your television may be the most perilous of places for your psyche, but I have found a very nice solution. Link TV is a non-commercial satellite television network. Their slogan "television without borders" encompasses what it is like to watch the channel. Link TV was launched in 1999. They broadcast a mix of documentaries, global and national news, music of diverse cultures, and programs promoting citizen action. I have seen some very eye opening documentaries aired, including Bowling for Columbine, The Esoteric Agenda, and Zeitgeist III: Moving Forward. The nature of the content makes it very hard to believe corporations like DirecTV and Dish Network allowed this on their airwaves, but it is a gem of a resource. You'll hear news you certainly wont get on channels 2-7. 

As it is not commercially funded, Link TV holds no corporate bias. The channel is funded by viewer and foundation donations. This is partially why it is immediately an improvement over mass media. They convey messages promoting critical thought, and rebellion against the mass media machine. I know I am not alone as someone informed about real issues from Link TV. Their messages reach 6.7 million satellite users across the country. They are doing a great job at fighting against the media conglomerates. 

As I alluded to, these conglomerates have marginalized us as a society to a disgusting extent. Even more enraging is the fact that they have successfully divided us. The caucasian patriarchal nature of mass media serves to further marginalize women and minorities. Kilbourne nicely puts it; “Today our children are not brought up by parents, they are brought up by the mass media. 63% of high-school girls are on diets, compared to 16% of men.” Women are portrayed as objects, without any say, or even any thought. These values are pushed onto us obviously through advertising. We have seen countless ads on this blog that crudely reveal the sexist nature of the media owners. 

Giant companies like Apple, Facebook and Google are slowly reconstituting the Internet's walled gardens of old. Consolidation has contributed to tough times for the newspaper industry. Cable and phone companies which hold virtual monopolies over the infrastructure of the Internet often refuse to build out high-speed broadband to regions that need it most, and actively seek to block communities from seeking their own broadband solutions. These are ominous signs for our society. As we continue to face increasing attempts to control us, alternative media sources will grow in their importance as the public will need a new voice. We are facing critical events in human history. If the CEOs of corporate america have their way, social health on a mass human human level faces oblivion. 

Or...... as alternative news media advocate Alex Jones puts it..

"You can't fight city hall. Death and taxes. Don't talk about politics or religion. This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda rolling across the picket line. We saw it all through the 20th century, and now, in the 21st century, it's time to stand up and realize that we should not allow ourselves to be crammed into this rat maze. We should not submit to de-humanization. I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world. I'm concerned with the structure. I'm concerned with the systems of control: those that control my life, and those that seek to control it even more. I want freedom, that's what I want! And that's what you should want! It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose and just suck up the greed, the hatred, the envy, and yes, the insecurities, because that is the central mode of control; Make us feel pathetic, small, so we'll willingly give up our sovereignty, our liberty, our destiny. We have got to realize that we're being conditioned on a mass scale. Start challenging this corporate slave-state! The 21st century is going to be a new century, not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, and classism and statism, and all the rest of the modes of control! It's going to be the age of humankind standing up for something pure, and something right. What a bunch of garbage: liberal, democrat, conservative, republican. It's all there to control you! Two sides of the same coin. Two management teams bidding for control, the CEO job, of Slavery Inc.! The truth is out there in front of you, but they lay out this buffet of lies. I'm sick of it and I'm not going to take a bite out of it, do you got me?! Resistance is not futile, we're gonna win this thing, humankind is too good, we're not a bunch of under-achievers! We're gonna stand up, and we're gonna be human beings. We're going to get fired up about the real things, the things that matter: creativity and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit. Well, that's it, that's all I got to say. The ball's in your court."