Visual Media “Not That Bad” Revelation

“Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people!”

Right on! I have a gun, I’m wearing a beret, and my daddy’s the richest man in America!

After having a dig at crap on TV in my last blog post, I found myself watching the box for “Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst” on Monday night. I’d been vaguely aware of the Patty Hearst story, but this documentary really pulled me in close to the details and I found it fascinating. It was a bit Michael Moore at times, but was an amazing documentary of an amazing episode in history. I didn’t know that it’s now acknowledged to have been the origin of the “media circus” phenomenon. Seeing live broadcasts of spokespeople feeding the circus the increasingly odd-ball demands of the SLA as well as Hurst’s sometimes hilarious public statements was wonderful. “I thought, is everyone stoned?” recalls one gang member of his recollection of the media’s behaviour at the time. It was intensely American in so many ways. Only, only in the USA.