National Public Radio

IF ONE WISHES TO CAST OFF the bonds of enslavement to the corporate industrial complex, and assume for yourself the freedom to thrive intellectually, implicit in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, the first thing one must do is rid one's household of all cable and satellite television. Replace it with National Public Radio, which is within reach of almost everyone in the lower forty eight United States, if one has a decent radio. National Public Radio, as the name implies, is free from corporate seduction, coercion, and control. Hence, no advertising, which is a breath of fresh air unto itself. Plus, NPR is far more intelligent than mainstream television, and one can read a good book while listening. However, without any ad revenue, to make up the money necessary to cover expenses, NPR has fund raising early and often. They regularly bombard listeners with pleas for money. Anyone who is tired of that technique is perfectly free to go back to private radio and television, with its endless parade of drivel, and advertising. Either way, you can't win. Some circumstances, however, ore preferrable to others. The government provides only modest support for NPR, and less all the time, which is appropiate and proper. Public Radio should be supported by the general public; voluntarily, just like commercial media. NPR could probably even sell some commercial time, within limits, without becoming another corporate puppet; but that would be risky, a very slippery slope. The American corporate oligarchy is like the mafia, or an effective diet; once it takes control of someone or something, it never lets go.