Opinions
No such loss had occurred and he remains deeply troubled wondering who had done this, its purpose being clear. He quickly alerted his friends most of whom had suspected a mistake. But perhaps we're wrong; maybe somebody from Murdoch's news Empire had heard of him and thought that they could get something hot and spicy from his ample treasury of news, views and reviews. Far-fetched? Perhaps.
In 2007 two News of the World (NOTW) staff - editor Clive Goodman and investigator Glen Mulcaire - were jailed for hacking into the royal family's mail. Investigations into hacking of private mail of families of 9/11 victims and other recent excursions have revealed wrongdoing implicating London Police headquarters and the Prime Minister's office, leading to the closure of NOTW and resignation and arrest of its CEO Rebecca Brooks. London Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson has resigned following revelations that Police had employed NOTW executive Neil Wallis as an advisor and that thousands of pounds had been paid to Police by the paper. A few days ago Stuart Kuttner, another of Murdoch's former editors, was arrested by Scotland Yard, adding to their collection of arrested Murdochers. How much wider and farther does this tainted network spread? Brooks had contacts with the last three British Prime Ministers and was until her resignation associated with PM Cameron. In Parliament Cameron sought distance and called the hacking revelations a "firestorm". Prosecutors in the USA have also begun investigations. But Murdoch's empire remains intact even though he has lost the bid to own British Sky Broadcasting.
The scandal is a fascinating development. I wonder what Marshall McLuhan, whose anniversary passed recently, would say; would this crooked trend in the medium lead to more frightful messages?
Murdoch owns major press, radio and TV stations in North America, his native Australia and Britain, but has little in Canada. His powerful and influential Fox Broadcasting airs biased news segments, while strident commentators badger the public hourly, touting the far right fundamentalist position, as consolidated in the Tea Party which seeks to emasculate government and create a laissez-faire capitalist society. The rightists are almost there having achieved a major breakthrough in 2008 with the collapse of the economy and today's forcing the USA's down-graded rating towards insolvency. Murdoch and fellow corporatists have virtually collared political power just as the Rothschilds have done with money.
A proper exploration of the relationship between media and politicians would require at least a book. Stanley Baldwin, a 1930s British Prime Minister, summarised it succinctly when he compared media to prostitutes condemning them for desiring "power without responsibility - the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages".
It is no secret that in most nations major media – like other corporations or monopolies with large lobbies – make deals with politicians to reduce regulation and oversight and relax standards of morality and ethics to permit the most sleazy forms of communication and advertising and to expand their scope of operations and control to include not just newspapers but all other media including the Internet, just as Wall Street bankers had pressured US administrations to allow them to pursue financial adventures that caused the 2008 collapse and left the USA deeply indebted! Politicians have traditionally courted media for favourable publicity and bankers for generous campaign donations. It's a cosy quid pro quo (note quid is British slang for £).
As monopolies grow corporate control of governments will increase until the Corporation is the government; the USA seems already there. The last Republican government, like so many previously, had raided the nation's pockets, increasing public debt and left the mess for the Democrats to clean up; since money does not grow on trees the same suckers who lost under the Republicans are again victimized as attempts to raise taxes from the wealthy who had trashed the previous treasury are now blocked by "paid" minions in Congress. Thus, with each government, Republican or Democrat, the rich get richer and the poor poorer.
Lesson in 'behaviour' on first
school day
I thought recently that I should write down a few of the memories of my first day at kindergarten before age catches up with me and I forget.
I recall being frightened by the newness of the experience and having to be persuaded by my mother to walk across the field on my first day of school. She did this with a treat, promising me a piece of the pretzel-shaped sugary, deep-fried jelabi if I behaved myself. Looking back now, I think she knew what was going to happen and was ensuring that I "behaved myself".
Around me other mothers were doing the same with treats. However, a few were not using 'treats', but threats.
One young man was being particularly stubborn about his first day at school. He was being escorted by both mother and father. From the way he was behaving, one thought he was being led to the slaughter.
"All yuh don't hear me? All yuh not hearing mih? I don't want to go to school!" He was remonstrating with both mother and father. Mother was being forceful, leading the child firmly by the hand. But father was not supportive. He was making eye contact with the boy behind mother's back, dividing the family and weakening the concerted effort. This was giving the child fuel for more tears.
"I telling all yuh: I not going to school. I not going to any nasty school!" And then the child stood in place, motionless like a mule, refusing to budge. He planted feet solidly in the ground like roots of a long mango tree. Tears streamed down like a busted standpipe. Father stood helpless with arms dangling lifeless at his side. He maintained a nervous laugh while his wife harangued the boy.
And then, when she had enough, she took decisive action by striding to a nearby bush. There she energetically broke a long switch, bending with resolve the elastic branch until it tore off. She waved it menacingly at the child, who was looking at her with new meaning. She then glared murderously at the father, and walked with determination to them both.
"Yuh don't want to go to school? Well, this is yuh first lesson for the day," she said. Whap! Whap! Whap! The switch was thick on one end of the stem. It descended with a blur on his back and on the seat of his new khaki pants stiff with starch and glossy with the press of a hot iron. The child screamed at the top of his lungs, running between and around the legs of his protective father. He began a tearful game of hide-and-seek with his mother, her arm with the switch anticipating his movement, with the long, bony legs of his father getting in the way. A few of the blows caught the father on the legs. One could tell it stung from the way he tried to get out of the way, lifting his legs like a crab. The child clung on with both hands. Soon both father and child were dancing with blows, and mother buzzing like an angry wasp with no care for where the lashes landed.
"Mammy! Mammy! Don't beat mih, nah! I going to school right now. Look how I running to school, Mammy!"
Father also had enough, the stinging blows landing on his legs more than on the child: "Doux- doux," he pleaded, using the patios endearment for "Sweetheart", "Yuh over hitting me hard, doux-doux. Look how the switch making weal on mih leg."
By then the exasperated woman was out of breath, her hair in disarray, her arms tired with the exertion, and the realisation dawning that she had attracted an audience. For indeed, the spectacle of the public beating brought to a halt the procession of parents and children to the gates of the school. For some parents it was highly entertaining. For others, since it was the first day at school for their children, the moment was instructive.
"Yuh misbehave with mih like that little boy, and I will bless your little tail with blows, yuh hear!" This was being said by mothers to a few of the known errant boys who were looking on at the disciplinarian with respect and horror.
It was certain that a few among us children who were contemplating a last minute rebellion at the very gates of the school had a change of heart. The decision was helped along even more by the now-discarded branch. It had been picked up by a mother who was thoughtfully weighing it for balance and bending it for elasticity.
My mother summed it up in her typically critical, dismissive way. "That child getting too much 'dulaar'. Is the father spoiling the child. Look at the poor mother. I over feeling shame," my mother said.
She looked at me malevolently, daring me to not even think of misbehaving that way. And so I learned my first lesson without even entering the school's compound – and was well-rewarded with the sticky jelabi that immediately sugared the front of my new, white shirt.