When I attempted a Google search on the term “public interest,” I was told by my internet provider, Comcast, that it was, in big bold letters, a:
Bad Request: Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Evidently, Comcast does not like the United States Constitution either, because it gave me the same message when I requested internet access to the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
The preamble contains a troubling phrase, a phrase that profit-hungry corporations do not like:
We the People of the United States, in Order to ... promote the general Welfare...
Promote the general Welfare translates to public interest.
Corporate-owned media in America hates “the public interest.” It interferes with profit. It is not a topic open to discussion by the public -- if corporate media can manage to keep the topic out of the purview, scrutiny, of the public.
It is in the public interest to look at the huge fertilizer explosion in Texas, an explosion which killed 12 humans, including 10 first responders whose families have lost fathers, breadwinners. This horrendous tragedy was caused by willful or gross negligence by the corporate owners of the West Fertilizer Company, by the willful or gross negligence of regulating agencies in the State of Texas, which state one may safely say is a big boom for corporate profit.
Corporate media failed to adequately cover the tragedy in Texas. It was obsessed with the Boston Marathon, so obsessed that in its haste to minutely cover the incident, a great many erroneous and misleading public statements were made by media figures.
In the meantime, Anderson Cooper, who was in Texas to cover the fertilizer explosion, was yanked out of Texas and sent to Boston to cover every teeny tiny development or rumor in the Boston Bombing.
I think it was a deliberate choice in order to deflect public notice from domestic corporate terrorism to the far more exciting prospect of international terrorism by dangerous human beings.
I have issues with Comcast.
Recently, my internet provider, QWest, was gobbled up by CenturyLink, a huge media conglomerate which is ranging around the U.S. gobbling up media providers.
Customer service, which in any case was never superlative, instantly degraded to shit level in the hands of CenturyLink. I was told I could eliminate these cute little glitches in my service if I would only sign on to a service that cost $20 a month more. I was not pleased.
There is not a free market in internet service, most particularly in the United States. Certainly not to mere little consumers like me. I had only the choice between or among, huge media conglomerates. My only alternative available was Comcast.
I do not like Comcast. I was very displeased that Comcast was allowed to swallow up NBC by the FCC.
Imagine my delight when I discovered that my congreassman, Adam Smith (WA-09), wrote a letter to the FCC pressuring the FCC to speed up Comcast's bid to swallow up NBC:
I am confident that your review will be careful and meticulous, and ask that the process be concluded in a timely manner so that both parties may have certainty in planning their endeavors. ... This arrangement would create a new and completely American-owned NBCU which will be better able to compete in the market place and offer improved innovation, creativity and competition. ...the two companies would be able to combine their resources to deliver new and innovative digital media products and services to customers. ... strengthen its position in the marketplace, ... simplify its portfolio, strengthen the company's foundation and reinvest in core businesses.
I tell you, there are times when butter would not melt in the mouth of Congressman Smith.
There were other interesting glitches, which might be attributed to my technical klutziness, but interesting coincidences which interfered with my internet research.
I was allowed to easily print out in hard copy Congressman Adam Smith's letter urging FCC ratification of the Comcast/NBC deal.
When I attempted to print out a letter in opposition by Senator Al Franken, my printer went on the fritz -- but only on that one document, the Franken letter. A day later I was able to painfully print out the letter page-by-page:
tell the computer to print one page, run to the printer to retrieve the page, numerous times.
The printer had a fit when it was asked to print the final page with Franken's name on it. It took all sorts of trickery and cajolery and magic spells for me to coax the damned printer to cough up the final page. I have no rational explanation for this bizarre behavior.