[opendtv] Re: FCC irrelevent??
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 16:51:44 -0400
At 3:16 AM -0700 10/25/05, Tony Neece wrote:
>In reply to Craig:
>
>I do see and agree with a lot of your points, especially in that a lot =
>of
>the TV programming is a waste of spectrum. The airwaves were meant to =
>be a
>means of advancing our culture, not deepening it into the mire.
I couldn't agree more about the sad state of affairs as it relates to
the "Vast Wasteland" of Network television. But I disagree that TV
broadcasting is a waste of spectrum.
The problem is not using the spectrum to BROADCAST content to the
masses. The problem is the lack of a real marketplace for the content
that is distributed. Which ties back directly to the story that
started this thread.
The unholy alliance of politicians with television broadcasting has
created the most powerful instrument for social and political change
in history. In most of the world it was understood that television
was a political and social propaganda tool for the political
institutions in power. We were told that here in the U.S. things
were different because of some presumed "firewall" between the
government and the franchisees to whom they granted broadcast
licenses.
It turns out that the most effective use of television as in
instrument for social and political change has been here in the U.S.
I believe that this happened because the politicians were patient
enough to suck us in...
To gain the trust of the viewing public.
The NAB code, the Fairness Doctrine, Equal Time and all the rest of
the protections that were put in place to make us believe that we
could trust what we see on the tube, worked as intended. My 80 year
old father-in-law is convinced that everything he sees on the TV MUST
BE TRUE.
Given the recent attention of the media to an active hurricane
season, and the criticisms of the role that government has played in
responding to these MONSTEROUS DISASTERS, I can only ask:
How the hell did we ever survive the last active cycle of hurricanes
in the '60s.
USA Today is reporting that Ft. Lauderdale has not seen winds of 120
MPH since 1950. I wonder who is doing the fact checking? We had three
storms in the '60s that were category 4 and 5, with sustained winds
of 160 MPH during Donna, when the eye of the storm traveled along the
South Florida coast from Miami to West Palm Beach.
How did we survive this without FEMA? How did the cities of South
Florida manage to clean up after these storms in a matter of weeks
without Federal assistance? It took two months to clean up the debris
in Gainesville after Francis roared through with 70 MPH winds a year
ago.
Could it have something to do with the FACT that the South Florida
Building Code required that homes could sustain these conditions?
That code was gutted after that peak hurricane cycle ended. For more
than 40 years South Florida has escaped a significant hurricane with
the exception of Andrew, and we saw what happened when it blew
through Southern Dade County leveling homes as if they were made out
of cardboard. Now imagine what will happen when a category 4 or 5
storm blows through this region...
Thanks goodness we have government to protect us, and the
broadcasters who have helped them convince the majority of people in
this country that only government can take care of us.
:-(
Regards
Craig
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