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I dont have time to read as much politics as Id like these days - im mostly reading stuff about 9th century Byzantium.
But what politics I do read certainly wont be Noam Chomsky.
Closed mind, eh? Well, aren't we the smart one... I will listen to other arguments myself, it is the only way to know the truth - to listen to all arguments and combine the strongest factors of each, to find the ultimate goal - the best way.
A closed mind is the bigest weakness, really. I may not agree with the likes of Nietzsche, but i'll read it and think it over.
Also remember - to fight an enemy, you must know the enemy. Without knowing the way another system works, how can you hope to fight it?
So you dismiss opinions and critiques without finding out about them. Ok, glad we got that sorted.
What is "the ultimate goal"?
Define.
The perfect system. We cannot know truth through only listening to one source - like quoting the Daily Mail as fact.
But from your posts otherplaces here, I guess you would.
Lets start with the millions of pounds spent on the segway sdequences, you know, the artsy-fartsy dancuing bullshit. And then the tens of millions spent changing the diamonds in the logo to squares. And the balloons.
And then lets mention the £650,000pa salary one local newsreader with the initials Christa Ackroyd earns (she was "poached" from ITV). And the £500,000 pa Davidson earns. And the multi-million salaries other "stars" such as, er, Nick Berry and Gaby Roslin were on. And that's before we even mention the real thieving cunts, like Graham Norton, Ricky Gervais, John Birt and Greg Dyke.
The BBC pisses money away down the drain because it doesn't matter. It always has a guaranteed income. Even if it does something that fails- and it does that a lot- it doesn't matter, because it can always just have an extra slurp of the cream from the public purse.
The BBC should, quite obviously, be shut down and sold off.
The only things that the BBC can justify keeping open are those programmes that are in the public interest- local radio, and religious, ethnic and current affairs (and by that I don't mean Watchdog and "News for Morons" on BBC Three).
Comparing the BBC to hospitals and schools is quite clearly ridiculous. Does EastEnders save lives? Does Casualty teach kids how to spell? Does Dale Winton do open-heart surgery? Does Celebrity COme Dancing solve world poverty?
Of course it doesn't. Don't be so stupid as to compare ethical necessities like education, health and welfare with Britain's Worst Toilet and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.
Those millions upon millions you speak about still amount to probably 0.1% of the total budget. The BBC is a very large organisation (no surprise, considering that it commands more than 100 local radio channels, 7 digital radio channels, many TV channels, additional media, support for arts and comedy, the best and most comprehensive website of its class in the world...) and as such it has a very large budget. You should view things in the context of the percentage of your money that is being 'wasted'. My bet is that it is very little.
Of course there are expenses that could be cut- as is the case with any large company. But that is not to say the BBC is throwing large or considerable amounts of money away, or that it deserves to be 'closed down' for running a less than absolutely perfect operation.
Two more thoughts for consideration:
1. Even if the licence were to go up to £180 a year by 2013, compare that with the £600 per year or so the piss-poor Sky will charge you by then.
2. Do you really want the only significant and influential media corporation in the world not in the hands of right-wing businessmen and megacorporations with many axes to grind to be sold off? What do you think it'll happen to it?
You of all people, who are very aware that the masses are easily manipulated into doing (and voting) as they are told, must realise of the utmost importance to keep the BBC as a public institution safe from the likes of Rupert Murdoch.
You are quite right. The whole thing is an entirely voluntary act. No doubt you would happily pay your licence fee even if you weren't forced to.
That being the case, why not make it the case and stop strongarming everyone else to pay for your viewing.
Look, the whole issue is whther you think it's right to use violence to pay for TV. If you do, good luck to you, but you aren't convincing me ever that it's a worthwhile thing to do. How about I send some armed men around to your house to steal cash to pay for this film I want making?
What is that 'violence' you speak of?
No, I dismiss opinions, such as Chomskys, which distort the truth and misuse evidence to push an (anti american) agenda.
The news arm of the BBC is not very large, and could probably be justified as a public service, if cuts were made to salaries of the "stars" that present it.
Television is not something that can be justified as requiring public money, and it certainly cannot be used to justify imprisoning people. For 90% of the BBC's output it doesn't matter if it is public or private, anyway, as it is simple entertainment. Would the quality of life and reporting really suffer if Radio One was sold to Galaxy? Of course it wouldn't.
You can just about justify one public service channel to be kept open through taxation, and the local radio stations. You cannot seriously sit there and tell me that the world would collapse if EastEnders had an advert break in the middle of it.
IF people love the BBC's entertainment output then they can choose to pay for it. I expect most people would still take the BBC on a subscription basis. Entertainment is not something that should be paid for through tax, and non-payment of BBC fees should not be punishable by imprisonment or a gigantic fine.
Out of interest, why would it matter if Murdoch owned the BBC channel that produced Britain's Worst Toilet? Except for your own personal prejudices against Sky, of course.
The distinction you fail to grasp between the BBC and Sky is that if I don't want to watch Sky then I don't have to pay for it. If Sky charged me £126 a year to watch ITV then I would condemn them as well- crucially, they don't. If I find Sky to be too much money, or if I find Sky to be not to my taste, I ring them up and cancel my subscription.
Quite right. Thing is, if I want one to play nintendo, or to watch DVD's or to (gasp) watch one of the commercial channels, then I will be found, taken to court, and threatened in varous ways to extort money from me to pay for the BBC. Eventually, if I still demurr, then I will be kidnapped, probably beaten, stripped, and put in a cage.
(That would be the violent bit
Even if I don't own a TV, i will still have my time wasted by people coming around to see if I have one. Again, non-compliance with them would lead to the usual consequences you get when you deliberately ignore the anti-social mena and women who work for the government.
Everything the "state" does is backed by violence.
Actually, you only need a licsense if you receive a TV signal.
We happily had a TV for years without a license, because we watched films on it.
What do you reckon the chances of getting a refund are?
Good question.
I've watched the Beeb for about three hours in as many months. I doubt I'll be getting a refund either, because I watch Sky.
Surely you're not attempting to judge the overall quality of a TV channel on 0.0001% of its output?
But you just said that you don't read Chomsky and won't read Chomsky - so how do you know?
Nah, you'd rather read something that distorts the truth beyond beleif to push the pro-right wing, American, Christian agenda. Right?
Im not American, I havent said anywhere that I am a Christian and to call me right wing in the old sense of the word would be pushing it a bit.
Not that you've ever been well acquainted with facts, eh?
Hardly old right wing. That died long ago.
But you DO seem to support the whole agenda of the US in spreading its views all over... I know you are not American. But you do not have to be American to support the Americans. I hope.
I would support the spreading of those ideas.
Liberty and a night watchman state will create the grounds for massive increases in living standards for the whole community.