Why the US Congress Should Create a Public Sports Network

Had people been more willing to ask questions and educate themselves, they would have been more skeptical of predatory lenders.  That though does not absolve the Wall Street businesses that spent and invested beyond their means, and thus aggressively pursued naive customers.

Anyone who follows my articles would know that I don't back down from what I believe, and that I detest corporate news in all forms: MSNBC, FOX News, CNN, E!, ESPN.

They're all the same to me, and the fact is that, the jobs are transmutable. 

Reporters from ESPN have left for employment with networks like MSNBC to cover subjects unrelated to sports, such as Keith Olberman.  In another case, a reporter of entertainment gossip at Inside Edition would leave for employment with FOX News' Bill O'Reilly.

Why are those jobs transmutable?  They all have the same goal and same criteria for news. That goal is to submit to the corporate line and propagate whatever makes money, even if unethical; and whatever makes money is what entertains the viewer (consumer).

Thus, there is fault by all involved.  This point has historical examples as well.

Those Who Don't Know History or the Contemporary

When Christians were thrown to lions as sports entertainment in the Roman Coliseum, the audience was just as guilty for being entertained by the event.  That fact applies to many groups, not just Christians.  In that, people have been dehumanized throughout history for the entertainment of others, even if the event is inherently hypocritical.

Meaning that, at one time, it was okay to throw people to lions as bait, even though it was against the law to commit murder.

I do believe that in a responsible society, the people should be allowed and committed to entertainment that inspires, questions, or investigates.  I don't believe that everyone should adhere to what I see as virtuous.  However, I do believe that when examined, you will see that the evidence shows a glaring problem that must be addressed.

The problem being that, when a nation is entertained or fascinated by the incendiary rather than the inquisitive, that will create predatory reporting that is only interested in money and protecting reputation when you've flirted with negligence, malice, and simple self-interest.

That problem has manifested itself in various ways.  From reality TV "stars," reckless celebrities, murderers, child abusers, and other nonsense that only serves as a distraction from the problems that affect the stability of a person's life, such as the economy.

What Else Is On?

We have seen that today, for too long, people turned away from "boring" news and watched the news that entertained rather than educated.  I do believe it is that intellectual laziness on the part of the average person that has contributed to national problems, such as the economic meltdown.

In a contemporary example, it was the average baseball fan that looked away from the stories about the problems with steroids in baseball in 1998.  Those stories had no entertainment value, thus left without investigation.  I don't believe however, that the sports media can wash their hands of fault, simply because viewers didn't want to hear things that questioned the illusion.

Ultimately, the problem grew up to be an elephant in the room that it was dumped on Congress to investigate in 2005, because the interests of greed had prevented the conduction of investigations into steroids at an earlier time.  In doing so, the steroids problem wasted massive amounts of time and money of the public and the officials who seek to advocate the public interests.  Had the direction of public inquiries sought to address other problems, in the real estate market for example, I do believe that the economic mess would, if nothing else, have been less severe. 

I should note that signs of trouble in the real estate market had appeared in 2005, but the national agenda had been set to address a monolithic problem in baseball that had gone unresolved by the MLB because of greed.  Like Wall Street, everyone was getting rich from juicing (including ESPN) and no one wanted to stop, until the public started to wonder if those homeruns were actually foul.

In another contemporary example, the sports media (ESPN) did not investigate the veracity of accusations against NFL player Pacman Jones. Instead, they reported every scandalous accusation against the troubled player to the point where it only annoyed viewers, and in effect left him out to dry for malicious fans and a Commissioner that just wanted the issue to go away to protect the bottom line.

Had ESPN truly investigated, I guarantee the issue would have gone away without Commissioner interference.

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