Comments Elsewhere

“What is overlooked by liberal critics of this action is how the corporate media is used as an arm of the state, or where the state is controlled by folks the ruling class dislikes, as an agent of counter-revolution.”

Don’t kid yourself. This isn’t a matter of “the ruling class” attacking the anti-ruling-class government. The government is a ruling class: that is what governments do. This is a competition between two would-be ruling classes over which one is going to be dominant. I don’t know about you, but I am an anarchist, and I don’t give a good god damn about which gang of thugs wins, or about whether “revolutionary” or “counter-revolutionary” jackboots end up on the people’s necks.

On the other hand, I do care a lot about how far a government can get away with using the force of arms to silence its critics. Which seems to be what’s happening here. That’s a big deal, even if the critics are real creeps. After all, they always come after the soft targets first.

“One can imagine how a TV station that helped organize a coup against the American Government would be treated. …”

There’s an awesome standard. If the U.S. government might have done even worse, then it’s O.K.?

“The media should reflect the views of 95% of the population, not the interests of the wealthy and powerful 5% of exploiters and oppressors. The only way we can have genuine freedom of expression and freedom of the press, is for the people to own and control the mass media.”

I agree that that would be a good thing. But there is a question as to how ordinary people can come to own and control media operations. By any means necessary? I sure hope not.

“This cannot happen via state ownership, one merely substitutes one giant corporation for several big corporations.”

So why are you cheering this gang of thugs on, since the proprietary control of airwaves by the State apparatus is exactly what they are asserting as the basis for closing RCTV’s broadcasts down?

You seem to be blowing a lot of hot air at the anticipated reactions of “liberal critics.” But that’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Of course liberals are a pack of hypocritical blowhards. What else is new? That doesn’t eliminate the obvious danger of a State–any State, not just the ones you or I especially dislike and spend most of our time protesting–becoming increasingly brazen about its rough handling of dissidents, nor does it eliminate the obvious injustice of the government using its usurped control over the airwaves to safeguard its hold on power.