9

AUDIO: “It’s the Empire Stupid”, Episode 37 – Edward Curtin

In this episode of his podcast, Philip Farruggio talks regular OffG contributor Edward Curtin about the current relevance of the movie “Network”.

[spreaker type=player resource=”episode_id=16114673″ theme=”light” autoplay=”false” playlist=”false” width=”100%” height=”200px”]

“ … in the film we see the introduction of what is now called ‘Realty Television’ taken to its satirical end. Curtin shows us how writer Paddy Chayefsky captures the anger so many felt then, and how his main character, Howard Beale came to represent ‘ Everyman’ when pushed against the wall of this empire. Curtin, a professor of Sociology, has used this film for years as a bridge to understand the how much our media is

SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN

If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.

For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

9 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
frank
frank
Nov 5, 2018 12:32 PM
Gwyn
Gwyn
Nov 3, 2018 4:04 PM

A scene from ”Network”, in which Mr Jensen helpfully explains to Mr Beale the way things function in the world:

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork4.html

vexarb
vexarb
Nov 3, 2018 7:51 AM

Twilght of Uncle $cam’s Empire:

“The federal government could soon pay more in interest on its debt than it spends on the military, Medicaid or children’s programs.
The run-up in borrowing costs is a one-two punch brought on by the need to finance a fast-growing budget deficit, worsened by tax cuts and steadily rising interest rates that will make the debt more expensive.
With less money coming in and more going toward interest, political leaders will find it harder to address pressing needs like fixing crumbling roads and bridges or to make emergency moves like pulling the economy out of future recessions.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/business/economy/us-government-debt-interest.html
98

frank
frank
Nov 3, 2018 1:23 PM
Reply to  vexarb

Did you really have to link to the NYT? Don’t give these slimeballs more traffic.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/10/01/us-will-soon-spend-more-debt-interest-than-military.html

“Interest costs will be $390 billion next year, and more than $900 billion within a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. At present, US military budgets are in the $700 billion range, and themselves constantly growing.”

The US still spends almost as much on the military than the rest of the world combined.
Officially it’s at 37%. But can we trust such numbers? Does it include income from the drug trade?

A history of CIA drug trafficking

frank
frank
Nov 3, 2018 1:46 PM
Reply to  frank

For some reason that strategic-culture link stopped working. Also a bunch of other alt-news pages stopped working. Wtf is going on? It did exist:

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WFj3PA2qndQJ:https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/10/01/us-will-soon-spend-more-debt-interest-than-military.html

Jim Scott
Jim Scott
Nov 4, 2018 1:49 AM
Reply to  vexarb

Looking at the NY Times figures I cannot accept that they are correct. Recently it was revealed that the Pentagon had lost or could not account for $21 trillion that was lost over 5 years. If the Pentagon accounting is so bad or so fruadulent what other military and security accounts are as inaccurate as the Pentagon? Furthermore why has there been no correction to the US economy and why is this incredible amount that dwarfs the annual GDP is not included in the budget figures.
Or does this mean that the deep state has its own separate economy and if so where does their income come from? It would be very concerning for the survival of democracy in the US.

frank
frank
Nov 2, 2018 7:15 PM

Elect a clown, and you get a circus. That’s a funny bumper sticker but really elections don’t matter, so how the world is ever going to get out of this I don’t know.

vexarb
vexarb
Nov 4, 2018 7:36 AM
Reply to  frank

We do not know how the world will get in or out of anything; that is the human condition. The Christian story is that Jesus the man, having worked for the good all his too-short life, died under torture crying, My God! My God, why hast Thou abandoned me?

We do the best we can, and say, Hier stehts Ich; kann nicht anders.

frank
frank
Nov 2, 2018 5:32 PM

I hate it when I have to login with an account from the deep state to be able to download a podcast.