Censorship is still just about corruption

The authoritarian project currently underway in the United States, like all other authoritarian projects in history, has nothing to do with any specific policies or official statements except those that concentrate wealth in friendly hands. It's entirely about power and control. The specifics do not matter to the people trying to take over.

Corruption is the main reason why Disney/ABC pulled comedian Jimmy Kimmel from its network yesterday. The conglomerate claimed that this was because of Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk's murder, which is only about 5% true. As NPR and others reported, this was really about the OAFPOTUS threatening to get in the way of already rich people making a lot of money:

Nexstar, which operates 32 ABC stations around the country, is seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion dollar merger. After Nexstar announced it was pulling Kimmel's show, Sinclair Broadcast Group was next. That major TV station operator said in a statement that suspending the show is not enough. "Sinclair also calls upon Mr. Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family. Furthermore, we ask Mr. Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA."

Sinclair, as you may know, has pronounced right-wing leanings, and is also one of the largest operators of TV stations in the US following the FCC's loosening of ownership rules in 2022 (and at other times).

This isn't hard to follow. Huge media corporations want to become bigger, to get even more wealth, so they can become bigger. (Any similarity between mega corporations and cancer is purely coincidental.) The philosophies of the managers and boards of these companies tend to be right-wing, i.e., encouraging the concentration of wealth and not caring at all about people who aren't wealthy like them. Owning media companies makes it easier to flood the zone with propaganda supporting those positions. This is a very old cycle.

The FCC chair himself calling for Kimmel's censorship demonstrates that we're in late-stage regulatory capture: the media mega-corporations can influence the regulator to decide things in their favor.

So how do we fix this? Simple: Win elections. Fight corruption. Break up mega-corporations. And quit being distracted by the bullshit.

We've done it before. We can do it again.