Monday, April 17, 2006
Wake up, America!
It is simply terrifying to read the latest reports about the Bush Administration's designs on Iran. No, it's not comforting to imagine the Iranian regime, which is known for its harsh fundamentalism, with access to nuclear weapons. But the idea that such a specter could be resolved by more bombing is just trigger-happy nonsense.
We've been down this road before, and so recently that our young men and women in the armed forces are still dealing with the aftermath. But other than a few columnists, I'm hearing very little outrage from Americans. And that's the scariest thing of all: as a nation, we seem to be sleepwalking in some kind of trance. It seems like our leaders can do almost anything and get away with it.
Cut taxes for the wealthy and cut social services for the poor? No problem! Neglect our public school system while cutting back on funds to support higher education? No problem! Allow corporate giants like Enron, Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil and so many others to engorge themselves on money that properly belongs to American citizens? No problem! Play golf while the people of Katrina suffer? Why not?
One could go on and on with this depressing list. The point is that all this has happened in the past few years, and still Americans just don't seem to get it. Or even if we do get it, we sit and rage impotently, lacking a coherent movement to give shape and direction to our anger.
Where is the political movement that will throw those jokers out of the White House, out of Congress, and out of the media? What will it take to restore simple human dignity and decency to our nation?
One has only to visit Alternet.org to know that there are indeed voices out there who see what's going on with our country and our world, and have some alternatives to present. The problem is, these voices are not widely disseminated enough. Most of the columnists on Alternet are shut out of major news outlets like The New York Times, not to mention television, which is, let's face it, where most Americans get their sense of what's going on in the world.
Judging from the students I'm encountering these days, fewer and fewer people actually spend time reading, and if they do read, they want escapist fiction, not depressing political reality or exortation. The only way to get to these people, who are the majority in our country today, is through the visual media--TV and film.
What's needed is a concerted assault on the bastions of power in the visual media, a serious and well-funded attempt to open up a space for alternative voices on television and in film, done in a way that looks like what Americans are used to seeing in their media, but says something quite different.
So far, the only thing that has managed to startle sleepwalking Americans out of their collective stupor is horrendous disaster. We woke up briefly for 9-11, for the bombarding of Baghdad, for the tsunami, for Katrina. Each time, though, our collective attention span was brief, and we were easily lulled back to sleep again.
How bad a disaster does it have to be to really get Americans' attention?
We may find out, one of these days. But in the meantime, I'd like to see a new television network founded, with completely independent funding, dedicated to bringing to primetime voices and faces who are willing to speak truth to power. They're out there, and they've been shouting with all their strength for years now, but without a microphone and a platform, no one can hear them. It's time to give them a chance to shake the American people awake.
We've been down this road before, and so recently that our young men and women in the armed forces are still dealing with the aftermath. But other than a few columnists, I'm hearing very little outrage from Americans. And that's the scariest thing of all: as a nation, we seem to be sleepwalking in some kind of trance. It seems like our leaders can do almost anything and get away with it.
Cut taxes for the wealthy and cut social services for the poor? No problem! Neglect our public school system while cutting back on funds to support higher education? No problem! Allow corporate giants like Enron, Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil and so many others to engorge themselves on money that properly belongs to American citizens? No problem! Play golf while the people of Katrina suffer? Why not?
One could go on and on with this depressing list. The point is that all this has happened in the past few years, and still Americans just don't seem to get it. Or even if we do get it, we sit and rage impotently, lacking a coherent movement to give shape and direction to our anger.
Where is the political movement that will throw those jokers out of the White House, out of Congress, and out of the media? What will it take to restore simple human dignity and decency to our nation?
One has only to visit Alternet.org to know that there are indeed voices out there who see what's going on with our country and our world, and have some alternatives to present. The problem is, these voices are not widely disseminated enough. Most of the columnists on Alternet are shut out of major news outlets like The New York Times, not to mention television, which is, let's face it, where most Americans get their sense of what's going on in the world.
Judging from the students I'm encountering these days, fewer and fewer people actually spend time reading, and if they do read, they want escapist fiction, not depressing political reality or exortation. The only way to get to these people, who are the majority in our country today, is through the visual media--TV and film.
What's needed is a concerted assault on the bastions of power in the visual media, a serious and well-funded attempt to open up a space for alternative voices on television and in film, done in a way that looks like what Americans are used to seeing in their media, but says something quite different.
So far, the only thing that has managed to startle sleepwalking Americans out of their collective stupor is horrendous disaster. We woke up briefly for 9-11, for the bombarding of Baghdad, for the tsunami, for Katrina. Each time, though, our collective attention span was brief, and we were easily lulled back to sleep again.
How bad a disaster does it have to be to really get Americans' attention?
We may find out, one of these days. But in the meantime, I'd like to see a new television network founded, with completely independent funding, dedicated to bringing to primetime voices and faces who are willing to speak truth to power. They're out there, and they've been shouting with all their strength for years now, but without a microphone and a platform, no one can hear them. It's time to give them a chance to shake the American people awake.
