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CounterPunch
August
30, 2002
Opie, Anthony
and Enron
by Jay Diamond
The maelstrom surrounding the termination of two
radio broadcasters for encouraging a sex stunt in St. Patrick's
Cathedral affords us a rare and salient opportunity to think
about some of our political assumptions and to examine some of
the political cant that confounds the debate over the role of
government in our lives.
Firstly when we refer to "government"
we are being imprecise, even misleading, for, after all, we could
more accurately substitute "the voters", or "the
citizens" when we refer to the actions of government regulators
who are appointed and confirmed by the representatives of the
people in our republican form of government. The "government"
is not imposed on us by Martians; we, the citizens, construct
our government from the ground up at every level through our
participation in the institutions of democracy.
I'm bemused to see that some of my fellow
citizens who have been most intense in their denunciations of
the role of "big government" in our lives, have been
among the most strident accusers of Messrs. Opie and Anthony.
The very same individuals who recoiled at the suggestion that
the SEC implement a more rigorous regulatory regime in the matter
of corporate governance, now call for another regulatory agency,
the FCC, to fire not only Opie and Anthony, but their managers
too!
How is it that some of my fellow citizens
who relentlessly proclaim the virtues of economic liberty, have
a seemingly more casual commitment to cultural liberty? And how
is it again, that these same guardians of the cultural commonweal
don't grasp the gritty reality that their ideology of laissez-faire
economic libertarianism is the true cause of the cultural dissipation
that they correctly abhor.
For, in truth, the very same economic
forces and incentives that encouraged the chicanery rampant at
Enron and other corrupt corporations, have made Opie and Anthony,
and their imitators inevitable. When powerful private interests,
be they energy traders or radio stations, manipulate the political
process in order to prevent voters/citizens from employing the
legitimate power they derive from democratic institutions so
as to assert a minimal standard of ethics in the way these private
entities conduct their business with the public, they beget the
cultural anarchy that is a natural and ineluctable consequence
of the economic anarchy in which they revel.
If we are honest with ourselves, we will
come to grips with the immutable, albeit inconvenient, truth,
that what some ideologues mislabel economic "liberty"
is a prescription for the very social and cultural unraveling
that they so adamantly deplore. Enron's managers pursued a strategy
of anarchic deregulation whereby they hoped to reap in the short
term an enormous bounty of riches without the valid governmental
constraints specifically designed to guard the public economic
interest from powerful private economic predators. These valid
constraints, previously imposed by the voters/citizens in their
own legitimate interest, were removed through a combination of
legalized bribery in the form of political contributions as well
as a costly and perniciously effective propaganda campaign carried
out by industry sponsored think-tanks and foundations utilizing
proven modalities learned in the public relations and advertising
industries.
Similarly, Opie and Anthony's managers
benefited from an evisceration of broadcasting standards that
allowed them to exploit the immensely profitable vulgarity of
their charges as they garnered great private rewards by sullying
our publicly owned airwaves. It is a sure thing that the station
encouraged Opie and Anthony to carry on as they did precisely
because it was hugely profitable. Like the executives at Enron
there was little incentive to worry about tomorrow while the
champagne was flowing today.
The FCC, just like the SEC, was defunded
and defanged at the behest of interested private parties who
nurtured an exotic and deceptive notion of freedom that was ultimately
grossly destructive to both the public pocketbook and the public
culture. People who decry the excesses of Opie and Anthony have
to understand that public culture is affected by immensely powerful
private interests and that these private interests are not primarily
concerned with either economic or cultural morality. They are
focused on maximizing their own private profit today, come what
may to the public weal tomorrow.
Much as it may be "conservatively
incorrect" to concede, the inescapable fact is that Opie
and Anthony represent a colossal free-market success at the same
time as they amount to a sordid moral failure.
Regrettably, this is a contradiction
that orthodox "free-market" enthusiasts are reluctant
to face. Inasmuch as these private interests have an enormous
impact on the public life of our nation, the citizens/voters
maintain a wholly valid interest in making certain that neither
our public economic or cultural priorities succumb to the narrow
and myopic prerogatives of a relatively small number of people,
whether they be Enron managers or Opie and Anthony managers.
Jay Diamond
is a New York radio commentator.
He can be reached at: JAYKDIAMOND@aol.commailto:JAYKDIAMOND@aol.com
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August 29,
2002
Chris Floyd
The Secret
Sharers:
The CIA and the Murder of Frank Olson
August 28,
2002
William Ring
War on Iraq:
The Brightest Scenario
August 27,
2002
Sam Bahour
The Violence
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Wenonah Hauter
From Johannesburg:
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Jerre Skog
Wanted:
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Uri Avnery
Letter
to a Pilot
August 26,
2002
Sami Al-Arian
Fighting
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Ruebner /
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What
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Brazil
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Robert Fisk
War Crimes:
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Douglas Valentine
Phoenix,
CIA and Maj. Gen. Bruce Lawlor: From Vietnam
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August 24
/ 25, 2002
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Proverbial
Wisdom:
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Falk / Krieger
No War
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Ceylon Mooney
Fasting
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Jonathon
Wright
Police
Brutality in Atlanta
Ralph Nader
Congress's
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Jeffrey St.
Clair
Chainsaw
George
Alexander
Cockburn
Alterman
Cheapens Holocaust
August 23,
2002
Dave Marsh
Selling
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Anthony Gancarski
Super-Duper:
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William Hughes
Lieberman's
Conflict
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Kurt Nimmo
The Lapdog
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