So a big article in last night's evening standard was about how Gordan Brown is indirectly punishing Rupert Murdoch for saying derogatory things about him in The Sun (UK paper that Murdoch owns) by not giving exclusive rights to Sky (UK TV network Murdoch owns) to show The Ashes (which is apparently World cricket tournaments?). I found the extensive nature of the article pretty amusing- ES went as far as to show pictures of the two men and give descriptions of both (age, politics, where they are from etc) as if they were about to have a dual with swords or something. Clearly, there is no battle here. In the world we live in, Murdoch has won and will continue to win if nothing changes. As much as I would try to keep from making conclusions and painting the world in black and white, to me- Rupert Murdoch is Mr Potter from It's a Wonderful Life. He owns everything and anything he wants and is not concerned about the welfare of indiviual humans. Surely his monopolization of the communications industry has cost numerous people their jobs and numerous businesses their existence. I read an article last year about how he wanted to start charging people to read the news online. And the author of the article basically concluded that paying to read the news online would be the way of the future, just because of Murdoch saying it. And in saying all this about why I am against any person/ business having this much power (Murdoch in this case)- it makes me not even want to trust anything I read because if one person controlled all communication, how would anyone know what they were reading was the truth? Surely we can't. (Re: US government propganda etc etc). I simply know, every time I see or read something about Rupert Murdoch, chills run up and down my spine.*
Just a general comment about one difference I've noticed between US and UK papers. It seems that in the UK papers, a lot more attention is given to social problems in the UK than similiar problems in the US in US papers. It seems that every day I read about 'broken Britain' and how this party will make these reforms, or this went wrong on this housing estate etc. And last night, there was an article on how some households on benefits are making 20,000 a year. Another the other night, David Cameron talked about his plans to channel government funds for poverty through charities that work on social improvement and tackling poverty. As sad as it sounds, I feel that the US papers don't gve very much coverage to social issues and you never hear about 'broken America'- though it most definitely exists. I saw people every day who were jobless, homeless, living in government housing etc. But I never read about them. Their existence always seemed ignored in the US. If anyone talked about welfare in the US it would simply be to complain about how those on benefits 'mooched off the system' etc. My attitude on this has fluctuated a lot over the years. And I do believe that people should be taken care of by a govenment/ some other body rather than being left to fend for themselves on the street somewhere. I think the issue will only become bigger as the world grows- it's completely interlinked with immigration issues as well. The current solutions to poverty, joblessness, and immigration make so little sense- and it seems like groups with power- national governments and big businesses don't give two ****s. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but my point being is that the US papers SHOULD discuss social issues like UK papers seem to, but both countries (as well as everywhere else in the world) need to work towards new solutions for problems that will NEVER go away if not addressed properly.*
I've been very into reading healthy food blogs lately. My friend A just started her own and it's great- as are the similiar blogs to be found out there in cyberspace. I love the food pictures, descriptions of weight loss, etc. I just wonder, where are the blogs like mine? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. But surely there must exist other blogs where people discuss politics/ social issues without making themselves sound smart (which I hate). In the meantime, I shall admire the healthy food blogs for everything mine is not- entertaining on a wide scale.
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I have been thinking about re-naming this blog, to 'the personal is political' as the recent blogs have been purely about political and social issues and my opinions about them. However, I may venture back into the pure book/ movie review format so we shall see. Ta ta for now.
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