Let’s some time to think over, please

media

Does it help if readers don’t have time to think over the articles they come across?

The mainstream media (MSM) continuously bombard its audience with stories. It’s its 24/7 business. The MSM continue telling one type of stories while continue hiding another type. It continues, and gives no respite to the brains of its audience. Does the style, or tact, help its audience? Isn’t it a question? It helps the MSM, not its audience.

Isn’t it the same practice the economy carries on? From factories to offices, from work yards to home offices, all the time, all the workers, irrespective of color – blue or white – are chained in this way.

Even, away from work places, the workers are not spared. Markets around overwhelm them. There are unfulfilled necessities, and there are competitions. Both, one is required for reproduction of capital while the later is to make it audience cannon fodder of market, of these overwhelm them.

At home, the MSM’s alluring programs of all sorts consume their leisure time. Markets reach their homes with alluring messages. Therefore, there’s no respite, no respite even with eight-hour workday.

It’s a reality controlled by the owners – owners of the workplaces, owners of the markets, owners of the MSM; and all the owners are the same, or closely connected, interconnected, connected by interests. It doesn’t matter where the owners live, it doesn’t matter whether the owners sit together in the same board of directors or not, it doesn’t matter whether all the owners personally know all of them or not. It’s a web of interests; and in this web all – from child in mother’s womb to infirm destitute person stepping towards grave are entangled.

It’s the old trick of slave owners – chain physically; then, take away chain, but chain within circumstance, and chain the brain, overwhelm slave with owner’s existence, physically, psychologically, never allow slave to look around, never allow slave to think anything other than owner, other than owner’s likes and dislikes, other than owner’s taste and values, beliefs and ideology. It’s the old trick of slave owners – teach slave to believe ideologies and political arrangements are class-neutral; teach slave to believe ideologies and philosophies are class-neutral. But, the fact is contra. Hence, slave owner, and today, capital owners suggest, hide the fact.

In this reality, what can be pondered, imagined, identified other than the capital owner’s choice? In post-slave owning society, in post-feudal lords’ society, in capitalist society, this pattern of enslaving remains the same.

It doesn’t matter whether the society is, as a highly analytical group calls, post-truth or post-modern or going through fourth- or fifth- or sixth-industrial revolution.

Because, the relations of exploitation have not vanished away, because, the machines that produce consumer goods, and the machines that produce machines for consumers goods have not withered away, and the relations with the machines and the owners of those machines remain the same. Marx, the enemy of the exploiters, discusses these two types of machines, which the “inventors” of fourth or nth industrial revolution deny to look at although they unceasingly profit from those machines and relations. Those gentlemen-scholars have not thrown away those machines into oceans.

These facts are known to all, especially to the operators of the media that claim to be alternative, the media that claim to be different from the MSM.

Shouldn’t they – this alternative media – allow their audience respite? Shouldn’t they allow their audience a bit of time to think over? Shouldn’t they allow their audience to connect the facts and have a comprehensive picture of the reality the audience encounters with the help of material the alternative media presents?

Shall there be any gain if the audience is denied the opportunity to ponder, connect, think, reflect and analyze? Can the audience form their opinion, and line of work? The alternate media should consider the question.

It may happen that the operators/directors/editors of the alternative media have their brilliant logic behind their act – bombard audience with articles and articles, magnificent and trash, nice sounding but hollow, high sounding but void of primary knowledge, analyzing the ruling class while overlooking definition of class, brilliant looking but serving the ruling capital.

What’s the use if only headings are glimpsed through? What’s the use if only articles are glimpsed through?

Only glimpsing through headings and articles gives an overview of the issues surrounding life, from bacteria to imperialism, from seabed to stratosphere. But, to understand the issues, a deeper and disciplined look is required. A slow speed, at times, is required.

Otherwise, facts discovered about 200 years ago miss minds, facts nullified about 200 years ago reign heads; and ideas liked by ruling capital dominates as it turns easier for it to enslave minds.

Thence, a few, a slow presentation of articles is helpful; a time to chew and consume is required, a time to dig, to connect, to reflect is needed. The alternative media is to decide whether that time, that respite shall be allowed or not.

Farooque Chowdhury writes from Dhaka, Bangladesh.


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