Monday, January 23, 2012

Have you been hearing this phrase at work?

"The Evolution will be televised and tweeted and Facebooked and Livestreamed and . . . "

-- banner in the lobby of a Gannett worksite, according to Anonymous@9:56 a.m., who indicates this is part of a Feb. 2 kickoff of Corporate's latest transformation initiative.

(That phrase sound familiar? Ironically, here's why.)

6 comments:

  1. Here are the lyrics of the original 1970 counter-culture song, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." (Note the anti-corporate, anti-mass media lyrics.)

    You will not be able to stay home, brother.
    You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
    You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
    Skip out for beer during commercials,
    Because the revolution will not be televised.

    The revolution will not be televised.
    The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
    In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
    The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
    blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
    Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
    hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
    The revolution will not be televised.

    The revolution will not be brought to you by the
    Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
    Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
    The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
    The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
    The revolution will not make you look five pounds
    thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

    There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
    pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
    or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
    NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
    or report from 29 districts.
    The revolution will not be televised.

    There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
    brothers in the instant replay.
    There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
    brothers in the instant replay.
    There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
    run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
    There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
    Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
    Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
    For just the proper occasion.

    Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
    Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
    women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
    Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
    will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
    The revolution will not be televised.

    There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
    news and no pictures of hairy armed women
    liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
    The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
    Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
    Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
    The revolution will not be televised.

    The revolution will not be right back after a message
    bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
    You will not have to worry about a dove in your
    bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
    The revolution will not go better with Coke.
    The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
    The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

    The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
    will not be televised, will not be televised.
    The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
    The revolution will be live.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Consider the impact of "The Revolution . . " on the movie "Network", where the various revolutionary groups are negotiating with the network execs for their own TV (reality) show.

    One of the best performances ever on Saturday Night Live came early on, when GSH performed "Johannesburg".

    Have you heard? Johannesburg!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The revolution will not be televised. It will be downloaded illegally free of commercials.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ironic as hell that Gannett would cluelessly rip the meme from Gil Scott-Heron.

    Ironic except for the "clueless" part -- with Gannett, that's a given.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gil Scott Heron would be rolling over in his grave. A principled man like that would shriek with Gannett ripping him off. And it shows how truly clueless most of Gannett's managers are that they would paraphrase a revolutionary like that. Like Newt campaigning in one of those iconic Che Guevara tee shirts.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have this on wax (album).
    Bought it in 1974 and it's still in pristine condition!
    It's by Gil Scott Heron, Brian Jackson and the Midnight Band and from the album "Winter In America"

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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