Screwed

Many of us have experienced the “trauma” of having our favorite TV shows cancelled. But the significance of much ballyhooed final shows like MASH pales in comparison to that of Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. Both shows provided entertainment. But the departure of Countdown leaves an additional and altogether different kind of void

The most obvious conclusion is that the show’s termination was primarily a consequence of the host’s presentation of his political views. Several unattributed alternatives have been presented. He wanted more money; he changed agents; there was a rivalry with other MSNBC hosts. I see them as an attempt to distract us from the degree to which our sources of information are directed and controlled by corporate interests. To me these rumors are symptoms of the Republican penchant for spreading germs of deception with the expectation that some people will be infected. My guess is that the event was primarily political and possibly, to a lesser degree, personal.

Certainly Mr. Olbermann is opinionated, but no more so than the roster of hosts at Fox. In contrast with these people, his opinions, whatever their merits, are argued with facts. His show didn’t hurt MSNBC’s bottom line, quite the opposite. But it worked contrary to the interests of the Wall Street honchos and like minds, in this case the executives of the NBC complex and the owner to be, Comcast.

The political left, unappreciated by many of its beneficiaries, has historically worked for the interests of middle income and less wealthy Americans who have endured three bad decades. During that time a major portion of our existing total wealth has been transferred to the hands of the richest one percent. Recently rules have been changed to accelerate this process.  In the past year the First Amendment right of free speech has been extended to financial entities endowed by anonymous donors, the bigger the endowments the bigger the megaphone. The left is the clear loser in this turn of events. But look at who’s brandishing the guns as a threat to what they perceive as our national inequities.

Our oligarchy may continue to burgeon during the lives of many, if not most of us, but not forever. Any action to level the playing field has to come initially from the left. It might be carried out as it was in what became the Soviet Union or through America’s constitutional process, as it was in the 1930’s. The latter is obviously preferable. But the longer the process it is delayed the harder and less likely it becomes to get there.