The Charlie Sheen Issue and the Attention Diversion Tactics of the Media

Hi. This is my second thread ever created on ATS. I hope I can make this a good one.

The title of the thread is exactly what I mean and will be discussed here.

Most of us have seen the interview with Charlie Sheen where it was infamously dubbed the "I'm not Bi-Polar...I'm Bi-Winning" interview. Now, regardless of your own personal opinion of the man, this interview is very telling of a man who has had his major ups and downs.

Charlie has been the star of many films that have brought laughter and joy to so many people. Yes, some of them were kind of low brow in humor, but they were funny none-the-less. I know that is not much to go by but then you have the famous Alex Jones interview. This is what, if anything, this whole situation started with. This was a major celebrity coming out questioning the official story of 9/11 (who anybody, in my opinion, can see doesn't even match up with the basic facts of what happened on that day). This was a major celebrity, despite a history of drug usage, bringing light to his personal beliefs. That, alone, is admirable since doing so has brought many, if not much, attention to this topic.

After Charlie was rumored to be the narrator of the final cut of Loose Change, he started taking even more flak from a lot of the media, mostly Bill O'relly and Fox news *cough* He eventually declined the offer and he wasn't really present in the topic since.

Then we have the fight with his wife that almost led to a divorce recently. This was what led to the drug frenzy that brought us the current topic regarding him lately. You can tell from the "..I'm bi-winning" interview that this is a man who honestly does not care anymore about the media's opinion of him. He does have a renewed outlook on life since he is clean now. In a way, we can all learn from him. Charlie accepts his actions, good or bad, and knows he can only go forward and not dwell on his mistakes.

I'm not saying that he is to be copied in the most part, but you gotta admit that he does have a positive outlook on life.

But now the 2nd part of the topic. The whole focus on Charlie's issues is, as most people already know, a thing that is not really deserving of the attention it has gotten in today's plethora of issues.

We have the Gulf of Mexico being forgotten about by the media, regardless of how much coverage it has gotten before hand. This is a major part of our world that is ruined and we still have not held BP accountable for this disaster. You can go on all you want about the gulf being international waters but that does not absolve BP of any responsibility to do whatever is in their ability to take care of this mess. This is not a matter of politics and diplomacy. THEIR rig blew up, THEY are the ones responsible for poisoning the Gulf of Mexico for generations to come, and NOBODY seems to care anymore that this criminal empire is not doing a dad-gum thing but going about business as usual with the Gulf being, seemingly, on the back-burners of their priority list.

However, this is as bad, if not more so, as the fact that the media's reaction to the USA's presence in Libya. Before I go too far into this, I am not absolving the Libyan government of the the atrocities against the rebels/protesters, but the USA's, my own government's, involvement is completely against our constitution. This is the most heinous thing Obama has done so far. This is as bad as Korea and Vietnam, without drafting. This is not a country that was going to attack us or has the capability to attack us in any meaningful way, yet we have troops fighting there when we already have our troops spread thin in two other "wars".

This brings me to my next point. The Afghanistan and Iraq "Wars". These are terms that need to be dropped COMPLETELY and totally. These are not Wars and have not been Wars since the first month of each. We have no definite enemy and are not fighting a nation or army. We are fighting "insurgents". However, an Insurgent only has to be a person with a weapon (which tons of troops have admitted to being encouraged to carry "drop weapons" in case of an accidental kill). These are not wars, these are not battles, these are simply occupations by a government and military to stubborn and conceited to call them occupations. They are simply causing meaningless casualties and deaths on both sides. Again, I am not absolving either former governments of their crimes. But you have to realize that after millions of Iraqis and Afghans and tens of thousands of soldiers dead for Ill-defined and unsuccessful mission parameters, anyone can see that these were, at very least, very costly and damaging repercussions (with major heads in the Muslim world saying that Bin Laden has been dead since Dec, 2001).

The information above is null in the media since they will never question the legitimacy of the invasions except for the Afghanistan one since we were "looking for Bin Laden". We have major media heads literally asking "what are we doing exactly" like its not a big deal when you should never have to ask that in a Legitimate war. But you have the word War used so much that people are just accepting, "well, we ARE at war. But thats too depressing to think about. Hey, Dancing with the Stars is on!" and just going on as usual. When the president has to stand up and say "listen!" before almost everything they say, they are not acting like a President, they are acting like a Dictator. (even though the president at my work is like that LOL) Presidents lead, they don't decide things and convince you to accept their actions.

So I will close this with a statement made by a very controversial man, but one who's heart is, for the most part, in the right place. Alex Jones (With my own personal additions): "Now, in the 21st century, We, as a whole need to stand up and realize, that we should not allow ourselves to be crammed into this "rat-maze". We should not submit to Dehumanization. I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world. I'm concerned with the structure. I'm concerned with the systems of control, that exist and are being built. Those who would seek to control my life, and then seek to control it even more. I want freedom and our country and world to be the way it is supposed to be. And, in my opinion, that's what everyone should want to see.

With all due respect, I'm not buying the Charlie Sheen "distraction" thing. The MSM doesn't need to create a Charlie Sheen-like distraction. Creating such a distraction is a waste of resources. They simply don't tell you the whole story, if they tell you at all. They could honestly care less about Charlie Sheen. He's a ratings grabber, nothing more. Soon (very, very soon) the people will grow tired of him and the media will discard him and move on to something else.

The media profits off the short attention span of its audience. That is why Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf recovery, even Libya and soon-to-be Japan, is old news.

Burying news is old news, and you're absolutely right! Charlie may or may not specifically be on the payroll, but the whole 'sensational celebrity news' thing is definitely a plus for TPTB.

reply to post by Lynexon


I'm glad someone posted this. I'm totally with you...

The media's job is not to cover every little detail of every celebrities personal life. It is to report whats going on in government. BUT it seems like every time we have a big disaster/war/political scandal etc., they always find SOMEONE who has tons of money to make a story out of...or rather, the celebrities make the story, and then the media covers it for the next 3-4 weeks until the masses are all talking about Brittney Spears/Tiger Woods/Ben Roethlisberger/Lindsey Lohan/Kanye West/Charlie Sheen etc. instead of The Gulf of Mexico/Lybia/Japan/Egypt/Katrina/Bailouts/The economy/Iraq, The pattern is definitely there.

S&F

Ultimately, they report what sells. They know that advertising an upcoming interview with Mr. Tiger Blood Sheen will lock in more viewers than yet another day of coverage on many of the nefarious happenings that directly effects the viewers. Want proof? Look at the content of reality shows. They are about promiscuous, over privileged, drains on society and not about humanitarian efforts in Japan or about human rights violations in Africa.

The media is a direct response to the spoken word of the market. If they report it, it's because we asked for it. Call it capitalism if you want but it's broken journalism if you ask me. If there is blame, it is on the relationship between money and news... and of course you neighbors for begging for that garbage to be rammed down our throats.

reply to post by Lynexon


i didn't see the interview and i dont watch his sitcom i have better things to do with my time

i honestly could care less about charlie sheen or any other "hollylame" figure