Cultural Appropriation and the News

PHOTO:BS

We all have our little nicks. By that I mean words or phrases that are supposed to insult, perhaps demean, most definitely dig into those who might not agree with us. Cultural appropriation is one such cliche started by the political right to dig into bleeding heart liberals. If it has any validity, then all those surfers you see out there are guilty of appropriating the ancient Hawaiian sport of kings. They're not Hawaiians.

Of course we all think we know everything, because we read it somewhere on social media or someone we agree with told us so, or maybe we read it in the all-powerful mainstream media (MSM for most critics). In that case we know it's not true, can't be trusted. Or perhaps you trust MSM. I do for the most part, but not completely.

I like the mainstream media, with all its faults and problems, which begin with the fact that it is supported by advertising, not the government. I studied mass media in school. Advertising is supposed to allow a free press. The mainstream media is our Fourth Estate -- beyond Executive, Legislative and Judicial -- that keeps check on those other guys.

This is a unique system in our world where government propaganda is the coin of the realm, so to speak. We see this in other super powers like Russia and China where criticism of the government will get you a free ticket to the gulag, or worse. Try it in Saudia Arabia and you may end up in pieces in a bag.

So let's give ourselves some credit, in the wake of our nearly 250th anniversary of independence from the British Monarchy, where -- "by the way," a famous phrase of our former President who casually knew everything -- the mainstream media primarily consists of the government sponsored BBC and the flamboyant tabloids, where one can be slashed and hashed, verbally, on the front page. If I were a Brit, I would trust the BBC first.

But here in the young and frolicky USA, we don't have to trust the government because we have a free press, expressed in many forms beyond MSM, starting with Cable News, a moderate spinoff that is still linked to MSM. Example: the same guy -- yes, basically one guy, Rupert Murdoch -- owns and runs both the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. The WSJ is at its outer core a business and financial publication. Fox News, at its outer core, is a news channel. RM, at his inner core is a business man with an unwavering hard-right political perspective, where anyone and everyone is expendable.

If you watched the award-winning  HBO series Succession, you got an artistic glimpse into the world and ways of the RM family empire. Yes, it's ruthless and privileged and very interesting. This is our upper class in action. Maybe not as polished and refined as the British Monarchy, but every bit as powerful. It is one aspect of our Free Press.

We recently had a President who comes from this same privileged class, with the same posse of lawyers, investments and family. He has a name that has become a brand, which earns his fortune.

Incidentally, the two power brokers are currently having a spat. RM called the Former Guy a three-time loser after the results of the 2020 Midterm Elections in which the the endorsements of the FG went down in flames. This, two years after he lost the Election, which he, "by the way," claims he won. When you get to this level of influence, you can say whatever you want. And people believe it! It's a phenomena.

Who and what do these characters really care about? Their fortunes, of course. To believe anything else is foolhardy. If one can't leverage the other, insult him. Kick him into the dump heap. You're fired!

Enter the online world and social media, captained by the titans of tech, the revenge of the nerds, the would-be world dominators. It's a whole new ball game. It's as though the pitcher moved to right field and the right fielder moved to short stop. Every position changed, whether they knew how to pitch, catch or who to throw the ball to. They've thrown everything off.

The money comes easy for these guys, mainly through, you guessed it, advertising. We love products and these geniuses are placing those things we covet on the screen right in front of our eyes, behind which our desires fume.

You want to know the truth, what really happened? Google it. Although I've been told by one source that "Google is not a neutral actor." Here enter emoji face with eyebrows lifted and mouth like a black hole.

Everybody and anybody can basically say whatever they want. You like conspiracies? They're like candy to a baby. You want to find out what causes autism?  Have at it. It's your oyster, now baby. Short of shutting down the internet, governments of the world don't know what to do. Is George Soros behind this? That's one truth. There are now many truths. It could be an alien, your next door neighbor or Dr. Fauci. Everything and everybody is suspect. The famed Kennedy family has a wild card in their deck who wants to be President.

I have no idea what's going to happen. I do know that the guy who owns Meta, which includes FB, Instagram and now Threads (competitor to Twitter and the Joker of Tesla), looks like an alien, is buying up property on the island of Kauai and may soon own the island, and possibly rename it Zuck Island (my guess). He recently donated $75 million to the city of San Francisco's only public hospital, now named Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, where, according to the hospital's Website, "Everyone is welcome, no matter your ability to pay, your insurance or immigration status."

It beats Trump Tower. Did Murdoch miss the boat? Does this mean that advertising wins? Is it true? 

Believe what you want. I'm heading to the surf for a little cultural appropriation. Maybe strum my ukulele afterwards. The ukulele came from Portugal, you know, the Hawaiians appropriated it. And made it their own.