Intractable and adamantine.

I should make it clear right up front that I haven't watched any television since the November 3rd election and I doubt I will ever watch the boob tube again. To qualify that declaration I need to explain that I grew up with television in it's 2nd golden age, when there was still only 3 networks and a few UHF channels that were pretty fuzzy on the cathode ray tube, and it was "on" in my house pretty much all the time. I watched all the famous shows as a kid and people of my generation have a strange kind of shared consciousness from a virtual world that we ALL experienced regardless of where we grew up - from Washington DC to Washington State, from the Alamo to Niagara Falls, from America's flaccid penis to America's erect penis - we all were marooned on Gilligan's Island. As I grew older and moved into my own home I maintained the habit of my youth and kept the TV on as a kind of electronic squawking carnival in the background of my busy life. By the time I reached middle-age I almost exclusively watched News and Sports with a few TV Dramas tossed in - I can name them: The Shield, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Vikings, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Yellowstone and that's about it (okay. okay I'm married {to a woman} so Downton Abbey, The Crown, Pretty Little Lies) - but the point is that my television was always running. I'd turn it on at 7AM in the morning when I made my coffee and I'd turn it off at midnight when I went to bed because... well, I have no idea why to be honest. Because I wanted to be informed I guess, at least that's what I told myself but I knew it was all bullshit and in actuality I had a long standing verbal argument with my television and would often talk back to (and sometimes yell at) the screen - especially at FakeNews talking heads and politicians. So when I say I haven’t watched television what I mean is I have not turned on the TV to start the day and it’s not on at the end of the day - it’s not on right now for example and that, in the life I lead before the 2020 Election Day, would have been very odd.

Has it been hard? No, not really, but that is a testament to the unfathomable depths of the disgust I feel for everything about our society, our pop culture, our politics and anything that television promotes, sells or validates. I finally tasted the poison and spit it out for good. Exceptions: I watched the Washington Rollerball Team compete thrice - once Thanksgiving Day against the Cowpokes (W) and another game against the Dirty Birds for a playoff birth (W) and finally against Tom Brady's Bucs in a playoff game (L). I also watched about 60 minutes of CNN/MSLSD/FauxNews on January 6th when MAGA Patriots tried to Save America by Marching to the Capitol and forcing Mike Pence to "do the right thing" and refuse certification of the fraudulent Electoral College votes. That's it. Those are the 4 times I have consumed any programming from the degenerate, foul and sickening broadcast networks and the less I have the sedative dulling my mind the better I feel.

Reaching the end of the line came abruptly when the Fox News Decision Desk called Arizona for Joe Biden at 11:20 PM EST (8:20 PM in AZ) just before Trump was going to claim victory and thank America for his landslide win. Shot down by the fair and balanced journalist from the number one cable news network in America for 20 years running ( no longer true). Lies upon lies, the voting stops for the night in key swing states, uncounted ballot numbers start increasing in select districts, the fix is in but the TV keeps lying and lying and lying. It’s defiantly still lying today but I don’t watch it so, I’m happy to report, I never hear the lies directly - only second hand. Call it my "Mr. Jensen Moment" when I finally understood how this whole show ends. It's not as though I'd never admitted these ideas into my consciousness - they've been rolling around my mind for decades - but I had never fully believed them before now and in order to accept a reality a person must first believe in it.

By citing Mr. Jensen I am of course referencing the fictional character of Arthur Jensen, played by Ned Beaty, in Paddy Chayefsky's award winning film "Network." This movie, and especially a principle character named Howard Beale (Peter Finch), was cited repeatedly during the 2016 election (especially by lazy NeverTrump "conservative" opinion writers) to explain away the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" ethos of Donald J Trump and his MAGA movement. The Sharks and Clowns and Nerds involved in the news business love to wax poetic about the first two acts of this 1976 film which dramatizes a TV news anchor experiencing a psychic break (moment of clarity) and admonishing his audience to shout out their frustration to the world - which they do because TV is a brain washing tool and the Deplorables basically do whatever they're told. But America's thought leaders all too often ignore or obfuscate the movie's final act when "the mad prophet of the airwaves" is provided a second-sight epiphany courtesy of Corporate master of the universe Arthur Jensen and this revelation has a profound impact on Howard Beale's nightly sermons.

If you've ever studied film history, political science or creative writing you've probably heard the "you have meddled with the primal forces of nature" diatribe that Mr. Jensen delivers to Howard Beale because it's an absolute favorite of the smart set who, like the Ecumenical Liberation Army, swallow the black pill and love it. All the One-Worlderism where everyone has a share and every need, anxiety - even boredom itself - will be satiated by the Corporation State is sweet music to the Leftist ear. And you, dear reader, are probably thinking my "Mr. Jensen Moment" is when. on election night, that vast cosmology of the corporate universe was fully exposed and its verification through election fraud destroyed my simple-minded illusion of America, democracy and individual sovereignty. But you would be wrong because all of this fiction was created during Leslie Lynch King Jr's rule and while Mr. Jensen's sales pitch seemed prescient at that time the next 7 presidencies were filled with enough "war, famine, oppression and brutality" to expose the confidence game for what it was. 

No, the moment I'm talking about comes right near the end of the movie and is delivered by Mr. Jensen's Golden Boy, Frank Hackett (Robert Duval) who is holding an emergency meeting with his executive team to figure out a way to solve what has become his Howard Beale problem. The new, more enlightened Beale has quit the "mad as hell" gibberish and starts preaching Mr. Jensen’s gospel of ecumenical corporate utopia - "What's finished is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom and flourishing of every individual in it.  It's the individual that's finished.  It's the single, solitary human being who's finished.  It's every single one of you out there who's finished." Viewership is slipping, advertisers are pulling their funding and affiliate stations are pissed but Frank Hackett is having no luck convincing Mr. Jensen to make a change.

HACKETT 

Mr. Jensen was unhappy at the idea of taking Howard Beale off the air.  Mr. Jensen thinks Howard Beale is bringing a very important message to the American people, so he wants Howard Beale on the air.  And he wants him kept on... He didn't really care if Howard Beale was the number one show in television or the fiftieth. He didn't really care if the Beale Show lost money.  The network should be stabilized so that it can carry a losing show and still maintain an overall profit.  Mr. Jensen has an important message he wants conveyed to the American people, and Howard Beale is conveying it.  He wants Howard Beale on the air, and he wants him kept on.

All the executives voice their concern about Howard Beale's deleterious effect on the companies standing and profit but Hackett reiterates that Mr. Jensen's position on the matter is "intractable and adamantine." If you've seen the movie you already know what happens next and if you haven't seen it then don't worry, I won't spoil the ending, but just wait a few weeks and you'll see it play out in real life before your bewildered eyes.

If Donald J. Trump was the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" version of Howard Beale then Joe Biden is the "in the bottom of all our terrified souls, we all know that democracy is a dying giant, a sick, sick dying, decaying political concept, writhing in its final pain" version of a modern day prophet politician. Joe Biden is a "mass-produced, programmed, wired, insensate humanoid" who's "living in what has to be called a corporate society, a corporate world, a corporate universe" where the "whole, endless, ultimate cosmology is expressly designed for the production and consumption of useless things" like him, his government and his country. And just like Howard Beale, Lunch Bucket Joe will get what he deserves (as will everyone that supports this farce of an election, certification and inauguration) because he’s a dishonest coward mouthing his masters words. Say what you will about Donald Trump but at least he didn’t bend the knee to this pathetic Jo(((k)))e - #NoHandshake- and validate the sham election or filthy lies the politicians and FakeNews keep telling about it. Anyone who showed up at the inauguration on Jan. 20th is a complicit cuck and some, who had been repeatedly cheated by the same criminals who robbed DJT, proved themselves to be the lowest form of criminal.

Jo(((k)))e sniffs a bum.

The Mr. Jensen moment is when the boss drops the illusion, the fantasy that the system is designed in any way other than to dehumanize its subjects and demoralize the soul. It’s not about creating an ecumenical garden of delights here on earth. It’s not about bridling the four horsemen or providing every need and desire of modern man. The only thing Mr. Jensen cares about is seeing people follow his orders and buy the bag of bullshit he’s selling. The lie his puppet tells the TV audience IS THE PONT and the bigger the lie the better. So turn off your TV. Turn it off right now. Turn it off and leave is off. Save your mind and save your soul by keeping this horrible signal locked in the aether unconsumed and impotent.