The whiner line

Our local ESPN radio has a feature called The Whiner Line. Listeners call in and bitch about whatever sports-related topic they want to bitch about.

Our entire media is becoming a whiner line. People who are mostly powerless, as we all are, are asked to call in and express their opinions about all variety of political and social issues. This meaningless activity may fool some into thinking they have more control over their lives than corporations do -- which actually they do if they grab it, but you don't grab it by expressing an opinion into inconsequential airwaves. You do it by taking charge of your life, which will mean making sacrifices since corporations control so many aspects of daily living.

When you look hard at reality, it is astounding how little we have to say about anything. Corporations give us choices, this car or that say, but none of the choices have to be anything we actually want. We are consumers first in this culture, Homo consumerus, and the quickest way to take charge of one's life is to break this very link and refuse to be a consumer. It's not easy. It's not even desirable by most probably, who don't mind trading freedom for convenience or comfort. And if you let us spout off on a television or radio show, expressing opinions that vanish into the airwaves, well, we might fancy the delusion that our opinions matter, that they can have an effect on the world. They can but not this way. This is the way corporations keep us happy.

We are becoming one gigantic powerless whiner line.