History lesson, for some background:

The big difference between England and the US is that over there the government operated tv and radio broadcasting and over here the government turned it all over to corporations to operate for profit, starting in the 1920s, though citizens tried hard to retain public channels. In the US people are afraid of government propaganda -- remember how we always used to hear that the Soviets were brainwashed? Well, what about corporate propaganda? When revolutionaries take over countries, they take over the media. Congresspeople need to kowtow the press or have their careers ruined.

And, by the way, the idea of "liberal media" is a propaganda technique. Don't fall for it -- it's a red herring. But I digress.

Look at the younger generations and compare them with when we were younger, or when our parents were younger. What are the differences? I remember in the 1970s how parents would only allow their kids to have toys made of wood, and wouldn't give them sugar, etc. Now I see kids with so many possessions that they need extra rooms for the toys. Isn't consumerism the national religion? Why is that?

What most people don't understand is that the US government was behind the formation of RCA, an early manufacturer of radio parts, and RCA developed the NBC broadcast network. For one thing, the federal govt. sees its role in part as protecting our economic system. So while we in the US like to say we have a free press, the government has been closely involved with broadcasting forever -- and they did it as a protection against Great Britain right after WWI, fearful of GB's power, since they already controlled petroleum and shipping, and were starting a broadcast company over here (British Marconi).

We had only two networks (CBS and NBC) until the 1948 when NBC was forced to split for monopoly reasons, thus creating ABC. And those 2 or 3 radio (then TV) networks have functioned using the public airwaves to make billions, barely allowing room for citizen input (PBS started in 1968, and immediately was attacked by Nixon and Agnew as "liberal" because it broadcast programs that made the Vietnam War look like a bad idea). We absolutely _need_ to have networks that those in power do not like! That's what the first amendment is for in the first place.

Right now, 5 companies -- let me say that again (with hundreds of cable channels how can this be?) -- _FIVE_ companies control almost all TV content, whether cable or broadcast (over the air). They also control book publishing. and everything I listed in an earlier post. It's sometimes called a great "echo chamber" because you hear it on TV, then you see it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio, then read books about the same ideas. So when I try to find text books to teach this stuff, you wouldn't believe how much hype I wade through to find ones that present factual accounts -- many of them praise the current US system (i.e., huge conglomerates) as though it's inevitable, natural and the best possible, explaining it by saying that these companies "need" to make their profits.

So this is why I was asking about diverse beliefs. Is there anything out there that portrays other than consumerist approaches to life? (But that deadline was weeks ago).

A conclusion I'm formulating: I see it all as propaganda, and I see the younger generations and the rest of the country (me included) as having been propagandized.

By the way, I read about all this stuff all the time because it's what I teach. And I tend to get steamed up about it. I don't want to be the last word on here though. I'd love to hear your thoughts.