A couple of points.
I don't think the issue here is alternatives. In many places (including here in Oz), the Murdochs/Packers etc. do actually have what boils down to a media monopoly. I know it's different in the UK. Damn Australia's loose media ownership laws!
& when they (the owners) dictate editorial policy in that situation - then there arises many problems. You make that point about Sky and sports broadcasting. Considering how much sport relies on sponsorship revenue, I don't think any amount of in-stadium income would even touch the sides compared to product placements & tv ads. Hence the huge fucking bunfight every year over here as to who gets to show the footy on free-to-air.
The problem with LCD sheeple is that they'll eat shit if it's spoon fed to them. & when muntungular frattocks like the Murdochs etc. decide what flavour of shit it is - there-in lies the problem.
EDIT: To put it in perspective - the police/secret service (whoever you might think of while burning your toenail clippings) have had the ability to tap our mobiles for years and apart from a few bleats from some civil liberties groups no-one has batted and eyelid. Cause we're fighting a war against the horrible terrorists. Right?
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 19:05, 1 reply)

Yes, but...
...the point I made about sports surviving before TV money came along is a valid one. In the UK we now have the situation that there are a handful of clubs who have money whereas most are in horrendous debt. If the Russians / Arabs decided they wanted to pull out of football, many major clubs would go to the wall. Football's been played for years without the amounts of money floating around that ensure that organisations like FIFA are massively corrupt. So it doesn't have to be this way.
However the more general point is that either the "sheeple" are allowed to make their own decisions - which we can regard as ill-informed - or they can be dictated to. And there is no such thing as a benign dictator. Power corrupts.
Finally, yes, lots of powers have been granted to world governments since 2001 as part of the "War on Terror" but again, there have been elections since then in the US, the UK and Australia, and obviously those powers are not an issue to the electorate.
EVERYTHING - the media, the politics - is a result of surveys and focus groups. If people cared enough about issues like privacy then these would be brought up at election time. They don't, so they aren't - it's a case of bread and circuses to keep the proles happy. Be interesting to see what happens now the financial situation means we're running low on both.
(TheImmortalJenkins, Mon 2 Jan 2012, 20:47, closed)

Sorry to go OT but...
The money for footy is probably fairly similar & we've had our share of clubs with financial probs. But it's got to come from somewhere. No amount of rich, multi-billionaire Russian playboy-gangsters is going to be able to afford next seasons salary caps or the season after that & so on & so on...
So the steady income you'll need to give the top players their lovely handouts (on top of their own personal sponsorship!) will come from advertising sponsorship. The the quickest & easiest way to snag advertisers is make sure their name/logo is on the back of your star player as he kicks that perfect goal at your homeground festooned with ad banners and flyers.... on television. Think about the advertising moneypit that is the Superbowl.
I don't agree with it, but it is the reality of todays major sports income model.
EDIT: I don't disagree that soccer's has been played for years without the money being an issue, but like I said - in this day and age for a club to be financially viable tv sponsorship is a must.

I wasn't so much talking about eroding freedom with my point on phone taps. More that some celebs get their smoochy convos recorded & it's a big thing but *places tinfoil firmly on head* the cops probably started monitoring this thread when you mentioned the "Socialist Worker".
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 22:09, closed)

I doubt deluded students and other upper-middle class moochers represent that much of a threat to state security.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 2 Jan 2012, 22:46, closed)

See, I knew you were going to say that.
Cause I can read your thoughts. Tinfoil is your friend dude.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 22:49, closed)

Tell you what, when I lived in Normanton I had terrible trouble getting a mobile phone signal or radio reception anywhere indoors.
Maybe I should make a protective helmet out of Normanton bricks and rent it out to conspiracy theorists for £20/day.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 2 Jan 2012, 22:52, closed)

Nope. That was the jammers at work.

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 2 Jan 2012, 23:05, closed)