Enjoying The Propaganda Without Getting Brainwashed
I wasted an entire glorious Friday night and Saturday morning indulging in my latest addiction. I curled up on the couch with a close friend and watched the entire first season of "Dexter". It's been over a decade since I've owned a television so what I end up doing is find out about beloved shows months or years after their cancellation…then I watch the entire runs on DVD on my laptop or a friend's television. Back in 2010 I barely slept for three days when my sister lent me a boxed set of "The Office". Similar sleepless marathons happened when an ex-girlfriend introduced me to the new "Doctor Who" and when TDV's Michael Bach pointed me toward "Supernatural".
I admit to enjoying these shows the way some people enjoy crack cocaine. I mean, I know they're not good for me (except the awesomely libertarian and predictably short-lived "Firefly"), but they give my brain a happy little jolt and I find myself craving the next hit (episode) so much that I will forego food, sleep and sex so I can get the next one. The simultaneous availability of every single episode is what makes this addiction response so possible. When the episodes are first run, consumption requires a week's wait with a long summer off between seasons. With post-series DVD collections there's no such requirement to wait. As with a small mountain of cocaine at a party, you only stop either when it's all gone or you lose conciousness. Whichever comes first.
But this is sheeple-made entertainment and as an anti-state, anti-aggression consumer, I have to put up with my brain trembling with painful awareness at the obvious-to-me attempts at brainwashing that are woven into what I'm watching. In the past, one only had to put up with the inherently leftist Hollywood jabs at conservative politics. Hell, some of those are enjoyable insofar as they are anit-war…but the pro-welfare and anti-gun stuff gets annoying. Lately, however, there seems to be a not-so-subtle support of the police state as a response to a world of proliferating terrors.
Of course you could say that the "art" is a response to the direction in which the world is heading. But I can't help but think that the backers of these shows are working hand in hand with the political class to get people to get comfortable with — even crave — a growing police state. Shows consistently portray the cops as hard-working, super-intelligent and courageous good guys working hard to hold back the chaos of the gangsters whose power comes from dealing in the things prohibited by the state. Never do these shows question the inherent immorality and inevitable violence of prohibition. We the consumers are just told we should be thankful the cops are there to fight this made-up war with money stolen from taxpayers.
But even when the violence isn't spawned by state prohibition, there is an insidious and false message: that there are other monsters aplenty from whom we need protection. You'd think that every other person in the country was a child molester, serial killer or negro. It's as if they're trying to convince you that your neighbors are all planning to rape you, rob you or blow you up for Allah…perhaps so you'll be more likely to snitch on them or not worry when they start getting disappeared.
I suppose an ongoing series needs an implausibly rich supply of bad guys…but it's the very nature of the series and the types of bad guys that are in question here. Even when the uglier side of public policing or prisons is shown ("The Shield", "Oz", "Orange Is the New Black"), there is no fundamental questioning of the tax-funded police, courts and prison system. Even at their worst these things are accepted as the best possible outcome or as inevitable as the taxes that fund them. No one is doing a series based on effective private protection agencies ala Dale Brown.
TDV Editor-in-chief, Jeff Berwick, turned me on to "Trailer Park Boys" in which the protagonists are lovable petty criminals, but it's played for laughs. The boys live shabby lives in a trailer park and end up in jail at the end of every season.
Frankly, it's almost impossible to enjoy any mainstream entertainment if you understand the underlying immorality of the state. But it seems like the brainwashing is ramping up. I manage to enjoy "Dexter" even though the main characters are all cops. But I feel as guilty about that as I do about regularly lapsing back into dating statists. "Dexter" does feature a cop who uses his knowledge of the law to get away with breaking it. So that's fun..There's no way, however, that I could enjoy that decades-long shameless propaganda piece "Law & Order" anymore.
In the end I'd just caution very careful consumption of this stuff. You'd be much better off finding something else to do entirely than sit through a mainstream television or cable show or movie. Thank goodness the Internet makes it possible to entertain and educate yourself with active self-direction among millions of sites. You can enjoy the occasional bit of mainstream brainwashing pabulum. But keep it to a minimum and when you do indulge, be prepared as your brain violently rejects the nasty bits of attempted programming. The experience can be surprisingly intense and unpleasant.
Regards,
Gary Gibson
Editor, The Dollar Vigilante
P.S. As I was typing this, my dear friend upgraded her Xfinity subscription so we could watch all eight seasons of "Dexter" on demand (we only had the first season on DVD). As if I didn't have enough to do before I leave for Galt's Gulch, Chile! One week to go and there are loose ends aplenty to tie up.
In this week’s TDV Dispatch, I kicked things off with my “Memory Hole” which discussed the strange rise of the Big Brother state. In Jeff Berwick’s “Vigilantes View”, TDV’s Editor-in-Chief confronted the simplistic notion that things, as a whole, aren’t so bad.
Next, Ed Bugos updated investors in his “TDV Portfolio: Review & Outlook”, and TDV Rio de Janeiro group moderator Adil Elias gave us an overview of his adopted home, and will have you salivating over Churrascos. James Guzman had some news on a new IRS ruling which changed fideicomiso from a trust to a nominee agreement. Important information here for any ex-pats looking to invest in property in Mexico. Jeff also took us on his weekly trip around the world of the absurd, and finally we profiled our own Jim Karger.
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Here’s what we wrote about this week…
MONDAY, August 5
How Martial Law in America Will Affect You
Wendy McElroy on how the coming police state will affect your lives.
“Martial law occurs when the military or militarized law enforcement replaces civilian authorities in order to impose military rule during an emergency. Civil liberties are suspended. In the United States, a pivot point that signals martial law is the suspension of habeas corpus – the right to a hearing on whether an imprisonment is lawful. In practice, habeas corpus means a person cannot be imprisoned without legitimate charges and due process. The U.S. Constitution recognizes the suspension of habeas corpus as an identifying feature of martial law in Article I, Section 9, ‘The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.’”
TUESDAY, August 6
Wendy McElroy has made the smart decision, and is moving to Galt's Gulch Chile.
“Jews who were dispersed across the globe because of government oppression traditionally ended the Passover seder with the phrase, “Next Year in Jerusalem.” It was and is part of commemorating the exodus from Egypt that was led by Moses.
Anyone who loves freedom should raise his glass and make the toast, ‘This year in Galt's Gulch Chile.’”
Wednesday, August 7
Redmond Weissenberger on how the Russians and Americans have changed roles.
"Yesterday, Private Bradley Manning was charged and faces "up to" 136 years in a cage for being someone Thomas Jefferson would consider a patriot. Considering the world's oldest person died at 116 years old last month it is quite clearly a life sentence. For myself, at 42, I consider anything more than 10 years a life sentence. Not that I couldn't still have fun at 52… but a lot less fun with a lot more viagra.”
FRIDAY, August 9
Feedback Friday – August 9, 2013
In this week’s Feedback Friday: Newport mining, student loans, and high tech goverment.
SATURDAY, August 10
The Weekend Vigilante — August 10, 2013
In his weekly address to TDVers, Jeff Berwick checks in from Galt's Gulch Chile…
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Managing Editor
