“We won’t be signing off until the world ends. We’ll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event . . . we’ll play ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ before we sign off.” Ted Turner. 1980. Launch of CNN.
Ah, but let’s back up to 1973 when Rupert Murdoch bought the San Antonio Express-News. Somehow this Aussie weaseled into the U.S. market with that acquisition (in my home town) and now his empire has spawned the most virulent threat to the world: Fox News.
The news ticker began on 9/11/01 over at Fox and has continued till the present time. Let me demonstrate: fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear ISIS ISIS ISIS ISIS ISIS ISIS ISISISISISISISISISISISISIISISIS Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran Iran IranIranIranIranIranIranIranIran.
Well, one of these two men (Turner and Murdoch) said something wise back in 2006. “They’re a sovereign state. We have 28,000. Why can’t they have 10? We don’t say anything about Israel — they’ve got 100 of them approximately — or India or Pakistan or Russia.” [–Ted Turner] Now that’s a statement I can get behind.
But let’s be honest: the perceived enemy of Fox News on the national landscape (Democrats) have had their chance. Obama lost my confidence when he failed to truly investigate 9/11. Not only that, he “killed” bin Laden: thereby solidifying the false narrative which has passed by our eyes each day like that doomsday ticker at the bottom of the screen.
And so we dig deeper:
Georgia Guidestones. 1980. “..until the world ends. We’ll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event.” Hmmm. 1980. Population reduction. Let’s see: 7 billion – 500 million= 6.5 billion. Ok, so the Georgia Guidestones would seem to be advocating the death of about 92% of humanity. So, let’s see: there’s the 1%…and then the 7% they decide get to come along for the ride.
Wendi Deng. Deng Wenge. Wenge…hmmm. Mao! Cultural Revolution. 1966-1976. Purge. Violent class struggle. Youths of the Red Guards. Of course Deng was born in 1968 so her name might be kinda akin to Deng Endlösung or Deng Kristallnacht had she been born in late-1930s Germany. Back to Mao…how many were fatally purged? 30,000? 100,000? 400,000? 750,000? 1.5 million? 3 million?
MBA. Yale. Los Angeles. News Corp. Hong Kong. Rupert. Tony Blair. Hmmm…
Well, in any case: Happy Birthday to Mr. Murdoch who turns 84 years young tomorrow. Hi Rupert!
Tomorrow never dies.
Spottiswoode. 48 Hrs. Walter Hill.
Holly Palance. Jeremy Prokosch. I always thought it was Jeremiah.
And my jeremiads…
Divorced 1997. Check. The omen…
Bruce Feirstein. He dreamt up this outlandish (hardly) plot. Political commentator on Fox News. Vanity Fair contributor (say hi to Tosches for me). Film producer in China. Hmmm…
Ah, but the kicker is changing light bulbs on Newark Airport runways: Feirstein’s high school job. That really takes the cake.
Flight 93. Cell phone calls from 40,700 feet in 2001 (NPR, June 17, 2004). I’ve always hated NPR, but they make the case that much simpler. In the words of astute observers: strictly impossible.
The dialog in Tomorrow Never Dies is actually pretty good, but what can compare to the anonymous writing prowess found in such phrases as, “Hey! Hey! Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.” I mean, really: that is some heady scriptwriting to give to a non-SAG actor like “Ziad Jarrah” or whichever of the fictitious bogeyman was purported to be speaking at the time.
Ah, but we are supposed to think of Robert Maxwell says Feirstein. Yet, just like in Godard’s Made in U.S.A., we run into Donald E. Westlake. Hmmm…
Significantly, villain Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) is made to utter the phrase “new world order.” Indeed.
Opening the same day as Titanic. Let’s see: groundbreaking for The Pentagon? September 11, 1941. The CIA’s overthrow of Salvador Allende and his assassination? September 11, 1973.
I am urged to see these as coincidences.
And Henry Gupta? Are we to think of A.Q. Khan who was born in Bhopal? And Enron?
Ah yes: 1974. ISI.
“We have 28,000. Why can’t they have 10? We don’t say anything about Israel — they’ve got 100 of them approximately.”
I wish I had a Murdoch quote to balance this out. I don’t think his 2006 fundraising for Hillary Clinton or his New York Post support for Obama would have quite the same effect, but it’s worth noting. “Yeah. He is a rock star. It’s fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don’t think he will win Florida… but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk.” [Rupert Murdoch on whether he had anything to do with the Post’s pro-Obama push in 2008]
Rothschild. Waterloo. Niall Ferguson makes a valiant effort to rehabilitate Nathan, but is it true? It seems there are at least some scruples at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
We’ve heard the concept…playing both sides against one another. Indeed, funding both sides. Hedging. Divide and conquer.
It’s very important that the “right” weapons be found. High stakes. Fighting the Soviets. Afghanistan. Charlie Wilson’s War. Maybe call this guy in Israel. Fake it till you make it. Make it to fake it. Make it fake.
And so the James Bond franchise presciently taught the world about false flags back in 1997, but was anyone listening?
-PD
Isn’t Jonathan Price excellent as the Newspaper Moghul , some great lines and I like the Chinese actress, Great film and Brosnan as usual is very good, we also see the moral side of Brosnan when Pryce’s wife is killed and I loved the German Executioner again great dialogue and that car something else I wish I had a car like that.
You’re right! These Bond movies get me so worked up that sometimes I don’t even get around to the actors. The German executioner is hilarious!
Very interesting. . Adding Murdoch and Rothschild in there you got me interested in watching a Bond film which I never watch. 🙂
Thanks! Yes, I think Murdoch is the most directly applicable parallel, but the conflicting accounts of Nathan Rothchild’s post-Waterloo activity might provide a microcosm for the psychology of profit through unscrupulous strategic signaling. –PD 🙂