I’m not sure, but I’m beginning to think this could possibly be one of the largest-looming social issues of our time.

In Philadelphia, Comcast not only owns the hometown basketball team, but owns its stadium, owns the cable sports channel televising the games as well as owning the line that brings the signal into Philadelphians’ houses. Soon: ESPN, too. Go compete against, or argue with, that head-to-toe control — and then apply that chilling form of integration to cultural events and ultimately to news coverage.

I’ve been writing a bit lately about media control. But think about this: What happens when the company that controls the news also builds the new electronic voting systems which we are being told is important to doing away with the old voting systems? (This is important because, among other things, the old voting systems leave physical evidence of the vote behind. The electronic systems say whatever the programmers and/or administrators of those systems want them to say — and neither you, nor anyone else, will ever prove the computers lied and put the wrong person in office.) What happens when they control, also, the distribution of food? Water?

Think that’s impossible? When was the last time you fed your family without going to a megastore? How do you know the vote you cast was really counted? If the programmers are smart, no one will ever win office by more than about 65%. How will you know, then, that the other candidate actually won by 68%?

I suppose you could just read the news, eh? 😉

Related News Articles

• Safire, “The Five Sisters,” February 16, 2004, The New York Times.
• Third World Traveler: Media Control
• Common Cause: The FCC and Media Control
• Disinfopedia: Media Control [interesting comments on “control by herding”]
• National Organization for Women: Who Controls the Media?
• Salon: Microsoft’s Media Monopoly
• Media Monopoly Made Simple: Free Press Interactive Media Ownership Chart