CPB: The Fruits of Appeasement

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

The recent crisis concerning the Corporation for Public Broadcasting seems to
fit a familiar pattern- and what better venue to discuss patterns than 
Pynchon-l !

In this case, the once objective and relevant CPB and its network- the Public
Broadcasting System- featuring longstanding shows like The News Hour, is
finally beginning to reap the bitter fruit of years of appeasing the 
fascistic right
wing phalange that has been secretly and now openly seeking the demise of
all publically controlled enterprises, including the CPB, not to mention war.

The once independent CPB left the window open for its own demise by taking 
the
benefits of government support for granted. In recent years, however, it has 
been
forced to jump through increasingly more difficult hoops in order to appease 
the 
demands of a government which itself has grown more beholden on the private 
largesse of big corporations.  

The fruit in this case might best be described as a fig- a plant long 
associated with
the notion of censorship and repression- which has been creeping into public 
spaces
at least since its eponymous growth spurt during  the presidential campaign 
of Dick 
Nixon.

The creeping fig can be difficult to control. Appeasement seems no more 
effective 
than moral superiority, good Intentions or clean living, and seems only to 
lead to a 
never ending cycle of trying to appear "balanced" to well-funded critics of 
the
right- no more interested in "reforming" public broadcasting than in getting 
Sadam
to cooperate with weapons inspectors. No. Better to meet it head on and 
confront
it for what it is than to be coaxed into doublethink. For the CPB it may be 
too late.


Bandwraith
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