Testify, Tina, Testify

Via First Draft comes this column from Tina Brown . An Excerpt:

"Perhaps in the near future what used to be thought of as news will be not only produced but exclusively consumed by an ever-shrinking elite who feel vaguely guilty about being well-informed. Information junkies prospect on the Web for what they want to know. Everyone else will just be transfixed by the passing reality show that comes disguised as news."

Although I would say that the future is now. Most tv news does nothing but hawk the most recent merchandise/movie/buy me item. NBC recently ran a story on "Faith Based Themeparks" for Pete's sake! Yet we are supposed to make hard decisions about our future and the future of this country based on whatever the most recent celeb -er news anchor- on Fox tells us. Bread and circuses have made their appearance and are being used much the same way the roman emperors used them - as a distraction so people won't notice how they are being ruthlessly screwed. Here in Missouri our republican governor continues his vicious attack on the poor by proposing steep and severe cuts in medicare.
I think what we are really seeing is a broad attack on social mobility. It seems to me that a lot of things the republicans are attacking are those things that help citizens create a better life for themselves. I can't, however, decide if this is government for busines, by busines and of business or if this is government for fundies, by fundies and of fundies. Probably a little bit of both. Here is an interesting take on the same issue.