Technology is inherently wonderful, say the producers, and the consumers respond obediently. The citizens of this country have sung in chorus that 50 channels of shit are better than 13. A population afraid to think that our government is regularly involved in terrorist activities, or that our trusted banks are on the brink of implosion, welcomes empty news presented as entertainment. We have told the corporate investors that we prefer the latest trends. We want to be plugged in and spoon fed. We the people, in order to be in more perfect union, would like someone to decide for us what is good.

We asked for it. Now we're in for it.

Last October, Bell Atlantic announced that it would like to buy Telecommunications Inc, the World's Largest cable company, in order to develop an interactive information 'superhighway.' Only by uniting all aspects of electronic communications within one body can the project be effectively accomplished, they say. Their only problem is that such a merger is explicitly illegal, under the cross-ownership restriction of the 1984 Cable Act. Even amidst the wanton deregulation of Reagonomics, those monopoly-conscious gentlemen who broke up AT&T wanted to make sure no single entity had too much control over the distribution of information. Despite this, the largest media merger in history has been praised widely. On January 11, Al Gore put forth a proposal which included wiping out that meddlesome little law. How better to ensure we don't blow it this time, the way we did with the automobile, stereophonics, and the microwave oven. Fibre-optics will be the panacea of the previously doomed US economy. (Don't believe the latest feel-good 'recovery' reports.) The private sector is going to score big on this one. Let them run away with it.

It'll be a little box, we are told, capable of bringing whole malls of movies and video games to your favorite couch. It will enable you to bank and shop in the comfort of your own home. One could videophone friends, make stock trades, play the hottest new CD, and order supplies of Coca-cola and dog food all through this magic box connected to a telephonecomputertelevisionstereo.

Admittedly, this is remarkable technology. Fibre-optics (light waves running through plastic cables, essentially) is a damn good idea. It has been compared in revolutionary scope to Gutenberg's printing press. I myself would like to be able to access on a whim any newspaper or journal article ever written. But I realize first that folks like me won't be able to afford the fees for these services, at least not until the whole thing cools down 30 years from now. The non-rich will be left out in the cold as traditional news services are cut back in favor of those in with the system, much the way cable TV is continually stripping broadcast television. Cable radio, already a growing phenomenon, will squash out AM/FM as it is incorporated into the mainframe. And here we have the real problem. The access to ears, the rights to the dissemination of information, will be reserved for a handful of Big Brothers.

This first merger, with something on the order of 30 billion dollars changing hands, is sure to be followed by half a dozen more, region by region. There is already twice that amount set aside for the backbone cables to be laid. The $1 trillion spent by US businesses on information technology in the 80's will undoubtedly be surpassed many times over by the end of this decade. With this kind of cash flying around, the Money Monarchs want to guarantee a hefty return on their investment within their lifetimes. They will therefore offer as little as possible, while charging as much as they can for it. This is a strategy for power that feeds upon itself. The more they dazzle us with programming devoid of any substantial content, the less we will be open to hard facts and second opinions. The truth hurts, and it doesn't sell anyway. It's a great excuse for flooding the public's main vein with sedatives. "Good news, everybody: Nothing is really the matter with anything. Just continue being lazy, and stay tuned to this channel for the movie version of last week's massacre. We'll bill you later."

National Public Radio started out focusing on matters of substance. Then they tried to get their message through to more listeners by making their broadcasts more appealing. In doing this, they took a step back on their intensity and bought a lot of expensive equipment. This 'upgrade' is now being paid for by corporate sponsorships, forcing them to take another two steps back. NPR News is getting sharper all the time, while choosing to ignore more and more issues. Even still, they are being attacked for being too liberalby our 'elected' legislators, who control funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In this environment, how far is any upstart young congressperson going to get arguing for the public interest in the already concluded, upcoming 'debate'? We may get 3 or 4 underfunded public stations sandwiched between 496 others flashy enough to prevent anyone from thinking.

While every government that has ever existed has worked hard at the suppression of information, never before has it been done in such a creative and impenetrable manner. The American oligarchy has swindled its subjects into believing that they are getting more, when the opposite is true. 500 channels of pop-culturalist rubbish replaces the competing newsrooms of the clumsy Gazette and the typeset Star. It is a brilliant plan, consciously being carried out by our rulers, with all the pieces coming nicely into place.

If I had a few dozen billion dollars, I'd buy me one a them things, too. I'd challenge all preconceived notions and give everyone a voice. I'd work like hell trying to wrench open the minds of an unsuspecting audience. But alas, I haven't the means to perform this service. All I can do is to advocate quietly the merits of simplicity, and ask you all to give your transistor radios a great big hug.

[Brad is breaking camp at Fort CBN and heading for a Radio For Peace International short-wave station in Costa Rica. WCBN moves to Central America --Ed.]

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