The Big Think

“I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go into the library and read a good book.”
Groucho Marx

Gordon Jump, Maytag pitchman and WKRP star, died today at the age of 71. I met Mr. Jump at a restaurant where I played piano for 7 years. Very nice guy. I’ve been wondering about his health the last few years as Maytag had introduced a younger, hipper guy as their new personality. I wondered if they were taking precautions.

Us Representative Jim Marshall (D-GA) has recently posted a fantastic letter about the media’s complicity in America’s post-war opinion-forming. More than anything I’ve heard on television in the past few months, this piece has given me hope that our efforts rebuilding Iraq are on the right track. It makes me angry and sad that I only hear about the deaths, the problems, the disenfranchised Iraqi people, and not the progress that has been attained in the past few months. My hope is that this letter will open people’s eyes about the good that is going on there.

In the past few years, I’ve begun thinking of the American media as the fourth branch of government - and the only one without constitutional checks and balances. A free press is a wonderful, necessary thing for a free society, but media that has lost sight of its purpose (providing information to the populace), and instead gone after market share and money, can only end in a disaster for the country. And that goes for both CNN AND Fox. “Centered News” and “Unbiased reporting” don’t seem to mean anything any more. I’ve also noticed a peculiar parallel between the American media and the French/English Court system in the time of Louis XV/Henry VIII- constantly vying for position and favor.

Between that and the fact that many American citizens would rather watch the mental pablum of Joe Millionaire/Fear Factor than participate in world events, sometimes the current state of our country just makes me sad.

Ever since college, One Big Happy has always cracked me up.

Virginia Tech’s PowerMac G5 Cluster.