Over the last week or so, I've been trying to diversify my podcast subscriptions. As I've mentioned on the podcast, I've completely abandoned most other forms of media, so I wanted to broaden my podcast selection. I'm pushing the limit of the number of BBC and video game shows I can stand.
The aforementioned forsaking of other media is part of a goal of mine, not to be as big a consumer whore in 2007 and onward as I have been in the past. So imagine my disappointment when I went searching for anti-consumerism podcasts and came up empty. The closest I came was a greatdownshifting podcast, which I subscribed to and enjoy, but wasn't what I had in mind.
So I broadened my search. I looked for "counter-culture" podcasts. Nothing. Podcasts about corporate accountability. Not so much. Podcasts about the deceit of marketers in this day and age. Tumbleweeds.
Well, I take that back. There are plenty of those. But it's the marketers making them. And they're not making them out of shame; they're making them out of pride. I was genuinely surprised at how freely and shamelessly they admitted to their contempt for free speech and their love of mind control. (Or, in their words, "message control".)
Rational people think that megalomaniacs with designs to control peoples' thoughts are evil. Marketers call those people "role models".
Don't believe me? They're happy to tell you themselves. Go listen to their podcasts. There are dozens of them, all about how to put out crappy corporate podcasts nobody wants to hear, how to manipulate, deceive, and control the public, and how to crush free speech on the internet. User-generated content (like this website, kids) is an "onslaught" and "very very dangerous", according to one. When bloggers start holding companies accountable for their misbehavior, their blog posts and search results must be "suppressed". Seriously.
So you can see why I would appreciate a podcast or two, to hold these evil people up to the noble light of truth and freedom and expose them for the would-be dictators they are. But I can't seem to find any.
How, then, did it come to be that podcasting, touted as the citizen's voice, the bastion of freedom from corporate overlords and the evil, corrupting influences of mass media, has totally dropped the ball for providing a check on all this stupidity? Where's the Adbusters of the podcast world? Where's the No Logo of the podcast world?
If I want podcasts about what new video games or gadgets I can blow all my money on, there's too many to possibly listen to in a week. Where are the podcasts about how to be entertained without dumping a truckload of cash into gigantic multinational corporations that put out shitty, unfinished games and rape their employees for minimal compensation?
Have I simply not looked in the right places? Not used the right search terms? Is there some underground podcast directory I didn't check? Where the hell are these podcasts?
Did I miss the memo when everyone sold out?
The Bman - January 24th, 2007 - 8:00 AM
Over the last week or so, I've been trying to diversify my podcast subscriptions. As I've mentioned on the podcast, I've completely abandoned most other forms of media, so I wanted to broaden my podcast selection. I'm pushing the limit of the number of BBC and video game shows I can stand.
The aforementioned forsaking of other media is part of a goal of mine, not to be as big a consumer whore in 2007 and onward as I have been in the past. So imagine my disappointment when I went searching for anti-consumerism podcasts and came up empty. The closest I came was a great downshifting podcast, which I subscribed to and enjoy, but wasn't what I had in mind.
So I broadened my search. I looked for "counter-culture" podcasts. Nothing. Podcasts about corporate accountability. Not so much. Podcasts about the deceit of marketers in this day and age. Tumbleweeds.
Well, I take that back. There are plenty of those. But it's the marketers making them. And they're not making them out of shame; they're making them out of pride. I was genuinely surprised at how freely and shamelessly they admitted to their contempt for free speech and their love of mind control. (Or, in their words, "message control".)
Rational people think that megalomaniacs with designs to control peoples' thoughts are evil. Marketers call those people "role models".
Don't believe me? They're happy to tell you themselves. Go listen to their podcasts. There are dozens of them, all about how to put out crappy corporate podcasts nobody wants to hear, how to manipulate, deceive, and control the public, and how to crush free speech on the internet. User-generated content (like this website, kids) is an "onslaught" and "very very dangerous", according to one. When bloggers start holding companies accountable for their misbehavior, their blog posts and search results must be "suppressed". Seriously.
So you can see why I would appreciate a podcast or two, to hold these evil people up to the noble light of truth and freedom and expose them for the would-be dictators they are. But I can't seem to find any.
How, then, did it come to be that podcasting, touted as the citizen's voice, the bastion of freedom from corporate overlords and the evil, corrupting influences of mass media, has totally dropped the ball for providing a check on all this stupidity? Where's the Adbusters of the podcast world? Where's the No Logo of the podcast world?
If I want podcasts about what new video games or gadgets I can blow all my money on, there's too many to possibly listen to in a week. Where are the podcasts about how to be entertained without dumping a truckload of cash into gigantic multinational corporations that put out shitty, unfinished games and rape their employees for minimal compensation?
Where's the podcast about indy MMOs that are cheap and fun, that I can play with a clear conscience, knowing I won't support a company that steals my bandwidth and installs spyware on my computer?
Have I simply not looked in the right places? Not used the right search terms? Is there some underground podcast directory I didn't check? Where the hell are these podcasts?
Maybe they just got suppressed.