I tried to read that article on the Foundation for a Better Life. The entire thing is just nonsense, only tangentially related to this Foundation. Most of it is spent talking about biker culture, racism, and other irrelevant drivel.

I went back and read that piece and a few others on ctheory.com (I'm only guessing the "c" is for "critical"). Seems to be a bunch of papers by adjunct sociology professors from West ____ University. Lots of overblown language in places reminiscent of parodies of academia.

I was interested in what kind of organization is behind these messages, whether good or bad, but he doesn't even seem to talk about that. Instead, he tries to claim that this is propaganda, so therefore it supports facism, without anything backing him up.

Well, given that forbetterlife.org pretty much *refuses* to tell you anything about the organization behind the message, that hyperbolic fascism essay was the best I could do. Plus, I think I took a little more factual value away from it....

The homey forbetterlife.org espouses Dependability, Do the Right Thing, Ethics, Honesty, Integrity, and Responsibility among many others. From the ctheory essay, I find a reference to:

"Anschutz is the majority shareholder in Qwest Communications. Qwest is currently under investigation by the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission for $1.4 billion in "accounting irregularities," similar to those of the recently bankrupt WorldCom. Because of these "irregularities," Qwest has been compelled to withdraw its original earnings reports between 1999 and mid-2002, as its stock plummeted to levels that triggered its delisting by the New York Stock Exchange. "

Hmmm, perhaps Anschutz was off that day. But, really, we're receiving homilies on ethics and honesty from this guy? Perhaps things have gone so wrong that a mere 1.4 billion "mistake" just doesn't rate anymore....


There was a small amount of relevant information:
-The man behind this is a Presbyterian and supporter of the Republican Party. He is very rich and is purchasing a lot of movie theaters.

Also from the essay: "As the Portland Independent Media Center article notes, the sum total of all this activity is that Anschutz is assembling a production, distribution and point-of-sale nexus that has all the economic characteristics of a vertical monopoly. And, the Foundation's claim that its messages play in more than 6,000 theaters every day can be taken at face value. After all, Anschutz owns both the message and the means. "

This certainly aims to make things sound sinister, but, on a more factual basis, it does not seem unsupported. That's a lot of theaters.

-The advertising company is owned by the Mormon Church

I wasn't sure what to make of that, but it appears that the ad campaign may be recycling previously-developed LDS ad content. I didn't pay much attention to the billboards, but that is one of the similarities that made me look up at the TV when I heard one of the TV spots for the first time last night. OK, I admit it, those syrupy Ozzie and Harriet LDS ads give me a case of the ass. They just feel very smug.

Beyond that, everything is FUD. I really didn't understand the parallel he tried to draw to the holocaust.

The author might believe all of that, but I found it to be a stretch/hyperbole.

Still, I have what I guess I would say is a basic distrust of "feel-good" media, especially when the provenance is murky. I do believe that forbetterlife.org is propaganda...of some sort. It's my feeling that true examples of heroism from the media (say "Band of Brothers") are being expanded with other imagery to create a broader "feel good" foundation. And, yes, I fear media consolidation and homogenization, whether Sony, AOL/Time-Warner, or this Anschutz.

I have this vision of 27 million Americans sitting in a United Artists theater on a Friday night watching a 1-minute warm-up about Compassion as, 12,000 miles away, some staff sergeant points his laser at an Afghan hillside to direct the first of the tactical nukes.