What About Bob?

Author: Bob Wainwright

Having just watched a film tonight on Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent, I've begun to seriously consider how the mass media hammers us with "systematic propaganda" in order to help maintain the societal status quo. Indeed, it's frightening to be presented by facts such as "more than 50 percent of all media is controlled by 25 companies," because that may well lead one to the conclusion that our "free press" really isn't free at all.
That said, February is a depressing month and always has been. In Roman times, Julius Caesar disliked it to the point that he took one of its days and placed it in his namesake, July. Later on, the Emperor Augustus did the very same thing for August. Basically, it's always been dumped on, and in return, it dumps on us -- two feet worth, in fact, just the other day.
Consequently, I see no reason to dwell on Chomsky and his conviction that we're a nation of puppets. February's depressing enough, and I think he's better suited for a month like April. In the meantime, here's the best "offbeat" news of the past few weeks.
They Gave Him the Cold Shoulder: Brazilian Gilberto Cruz admitted he's disillusioned by the Guinness Book of World Records since they have failed to contact him after he spent 67 minutes in a tank full of ice cubes in his town's main square, breaking the former record of 66 minutes. According to Guinness officials, however, hall of famer Ted Williams, not Cruz, currently holds the record.
Hey Bush, No War! In Australia on February 8, about 750 women sent an anti-war message to the Australian and American governments by taking off their clothes and forming a heart shape around the words "No War." Said one government official, "Usually we like to strip protestors of their civil liberties, but this was fine with us too." President Bush reacted surprisingly upbeat to the protest, although it was later leaked that he might have misread the report and believed the women hoped to give him an anti-war massage.
A Change in Fortunes: The City Council of Cedar Rapids Iowa has recently taken steps to repeal the city's 82-year-old ban on fortune telling. As of now, it's impossible to predict whether or not the ban will actually be lifted, for the simple reason that it's illegal to predict things in Cedar Rapids.
In summary, if you ever read Chomsky and start feeling glum, thinking about how the media is run by individuals determined to brainwash the rest of us, just go to CNN.com and check out their Offbeat section. For even if the world were being taken over by media conglomerates like Sony and AOL Time Warner, we still have our CNN. Thank goodness nobody owns them.