WILL THE REAL BABYLONIAN SOOTHSAYERS PLEASE STAND UP?

WILL THE REAL BABYLONIAN SOOTHSAYERS PLEASE STAND UP? Who has the greatest power in all the world? Who can make a prince rakish and cause a princess to fall to her knees? Who is greatly feared by politicians, celebrities, and leaders? Who can overtly or subliminally penetrate your day -time thoughts with images that produce hellish nightmares?. Who can show us limbless soldiers and skeletons popping out of coffins upon a sea of murky misery without concern; oblivious to the power of these images to instantly de-range the mind? Who can judge the famous prior to a court hearing and declare them guilty? Who can isolate and marginalize segments of our society with a few words and a few images? I am sure that by now you know who can make a president a person of loathing no matter what he truly believes? The media can do these things because we have allowed them to. We are afraid of them. They wield the power to make or break anyone, anytime, anywhere. The media have become the soothsayers of our times. Very few question their prognostications after the pundits have extrapolated and peddled their latest books. We are convinced by the "sincere" news commentator who is ready to put on his boxing gloves and fight any and every body who does not conform to his sense of morality. (All the while shamelessly hawking coffee mugs and books.) The worst culprits of all are the paparazzi. Who really killed Princes Diana? Who makes celebrities wish that they were anonymous and even homeless? Who has turned talented and naturally attractive people into "gods and goddesses" by virtue of their beautiful photographs? Being an idol in this day and age is a very risky thing. Idols are falling. Who is bringing them down? The very same people who built them up. Why are so many people afraid of these stalkers? They peddle celebrities; causing them to have to have numerous bodyguards to protect them from the people that have been whipped into a frenzy because of the latest photos of them. Oh, how they love to see the big star have a public melt-down. Bleary-eyed, teary-eyed stars are visible in a half a dozen magazines, when all regular people want to do is to buy some groceries. Are we dealing with seared consciences at large and in charge? The question is not why the media have unbridled power, but rather why has the average Joe puts up with it? Why haven't a sea of diverse people risen up and said, "enough is enough. If you do not have any new news, then stop barraging us with the same old news clips 24/7." This of course, will not happen. All of these things are driven by mammon. Brow- beating the famous pays well. What will bring change? My prediction is that the predictions of the Babylonian soothsayers shall fail: the idols are falling like Dagon, before the living God. .