Basketball brawl the perfect storm of media fascination

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http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/stupid25e_20041125.htm

Basketball brawl the perfect storm of media fascination

BY JULIE HINDS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

November 25, 2004


Move over, Scott Peterson case. Step aside, "Desperate Housewives" football promo scandal.

The brawl at the Palace continues to reign as the latest in a long line of media feeding frenzies.

Clips of the Pistons-Pacers melee have been played, oh, approximately a zillion times by local news, network news and cable news. Talk radio and the Web? They're still preoccupied by Ron Artest, John Green, whatever fan allegedly threw the chair, the lawyers, the prosecutor and all the other characters in this new national nightmare.

Unless something equally weird and compelling is captured on video this weekend, expect the replays of the brawl to last longer than your Thanksgiving leftovers.

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I would hope and pray that a reawakening to the basic and honorable tenets of the craft takes place. Starting yesterday.

There are too many wastes of skin and gravity who laughingly call themselves things like "reporters" and "editors". Too many of these, complacent children of the Reagan Era, have faulty world views and seem to think that as long as they get theirs, everything is hunky dory.

They need a boot up their collective asses. They are abrogating a sacred responsibility, one that comes with the job.

Also a "market watch" with the "cup" of beer that had a short life on Ebay:

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2609644&nav=0Ra7TUlU

I expect the "chair" to be the next "market watch". (Maybe it already has been there, I didn't search).

:shrug:

isn't a protest march against war, a protest against government or a politician, or someone stealing an election. Our media is controlled by big corporations, which in turn controls the government. And the people are the government.

Basketball has no connection with politics, and Laci Peterson has no connection with politics. The news will be 24/7 on crap like this.

Wanna know the truth? Here it is!

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/22/148253&mode=thread&tid=25

Scroll down just a little way until you see < Running Time: 29:00

Download realplayer: Real Media Player
Watch video online: Dial-Up | Broadband>

I'm not interested in the basketball story. Never was. Didn't have to turn it off, because I never turned it on.

Knew there would be a media frenzy, which just deepened my disgust at the content-less media. Knew there would be tsk-tsk stories of Oh, isn't it terrible how this story just gets so much coverage? wasting more column inches. Only read yours hoping there was an email address at the bottom so I could tell you what I'm telling you.

Stop deluding yourselves that you are "forced" to write these stories because people "demand" them. Stop covering them and readers won't miss them. They're fluff. What did you go to J-school for? Do you even remember?

Sincerely,

Because America is a country built on controlling and exploiting slaves and indentured servants, our culture is authoritarian. For hundreds of years, it was a major concern if the black slaves ever got out of control. That fear of black slaves out of control is ingrained in our culture. Back in those days, if black slaves or white indentured servants ever got out of control in a town, it was quite the scandal and the whole town was abuzz about it. Same thing here. The sight of so many slave descendants out of control scares white America. It is just good old American instinct at work here. THe media represents the property owners in America above everything else. Just as they did 200 years. In fact, if 200 years ago in some town in America, if there had been a riot of the black slaves, the media would have pitched the same type of fit we see here today.

Obviously these millionaire NBA players are not slaves. But the visual picture of so many blacks out of control no doubt has triggered visceral instincts in the rotten soul of this nation born of the rawest form of exploitation.

The romans called it "Bread and Circuses". Its purpose was to keep the masses occupied so they weren't bothered by the real treatment from their controllers in gov't.

Not much difference then from now, when you know history.