Saturday, September 16, 2006
True Democracy Starts Here
I'm happy to be able to report that there are many ordinary Americans who are working hard to celebrate next week's International Day of Peace meaningfully. But you'd never know it from following the mainstream media.
It's nothing new to say, but it nevertheless bears repeating: we define ourselves by the image reflected back to us by Big Media, and sadly, most of us never actually appear in that image. TV sends us images of celebrity culture, with its attendant stress on money, power, possessions and glamorous beauty (defined, for women, as tall, thin and sexy). In the print media, you have to be a total stand-out, to have achieved recognition on one of the mainstages of life, to be allowed access as an individual to the hallowed pages of the national press.
But the Worldwide Web really is changing the picture. By removing the media gatekeepers, who almost always, these days, represent the interests of the rich and powerful, the Web has allowed a million flowers to bloom, in the form of blogs, listservs, email lists, websites, you name it. We still don't quite allow ourselves to acknowledge the power of this incredible grassroots movement--we have been too well indoctrinated by the mainstream media to believe that if it doesn't show up in The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, it isn't really something worth getting excited about.
It's true that these giant media outlets have a global distribution reach that dwarfs any single alternative press outlet. But the sheer diversity and tenacity of the millions of bloggers and web activists is beginning to shine through. I am beginning to believe that there will come a time when a substantial portion of the world will insist on telling its own story, its own way; on setting its own priorities, developed locally and at the same time in concert with thousands or millions of other local organizations throughout the world.
For this to happen, the sham of "democracy" will have to be exposed for the hollow trick of mirrors and light that it has become. Today's "masters of the universe" think they can get away with treating voters as though they're stupid sheep who can't recognize fraud even when their noses are rubbed in it. They think we won't notice that what is really going on in almost all national elections, worldwide, is a form of musical chairs among the rich and powerful and those who serve them.
By assuming control over the media giants, and hijacking the public education system, the Bush-era elites have come perilously close to accomplishing their goal of turning Americans into a country of obedient sheep. But not quite. Individual lackeys have begun to turn against their own leadership: witness Colin Powell's remarkable letter this week to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, arguing against the Bush plan to gut the Geneva Conventions.
And there's more. It was not from The New York Times, but through email that I heard that September 19, 20 and 21 have been designated "National Bush Crimes Days," when citizens all over the country will organize to speak out against the Bush administration's war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Last week, as I again heard through email, a group of concerned citizens tried to deliver an antiwar message to Bush at the White House, but were rebuffed and ignored. Here's how one activist who was there described the scene:
Here in quiet Berkshire County, citizens are stirring. A fabulous celebration of the International Day of Peace, September 21, will occur in Pittsfield next week. Our own citizen-run radio and cable TV stations are thriving.
Even in the schools, which have become carefully controlled in these days of "No Child Left Behind," I was pleased to see that my son's social studies teacher, in the Great Barrington public high school, chose to start the year by having his ninth graders read 1984, George Orwell's grim testament to the resilience of the human spirit, despite the best efforts of fascism to quench resistance. He supplemented the reading with a documentary film on Stalin, just to drive home the point that Orwell's vision is not mere fiction. Any alert student, looking out into the world today, will be able to grasp the parallels between 1984 and 2006.
It's up to us to keep alive the old, true meanings of words like "freedom" and "democracy." It's up to us older folk to show the new generations coming up that we still believe in activism, in using our bodies and our minds to create an alternative to the nightmare world conjured up by the likes of Bush, Cheney and their henchmen.
Another world IS possible. And you know what? I do hear it breathing now. Loud and clear.
It's nothing new to say, but it nevertheless bears repeating: we define ourselves by the image reflected back to us by Big Media, and sadly, most of us never actually appear in that image. TV sends us images of celebrity culture, with its attendant stress on money, power, possessions and glamorous beauty (defined, for women, as tall, thin and sexy). In the print media, you have to be a total stand-out, to have achieved recognition on one of the mainstages of life, to be allowed access as an individual to the hallowed pages of the national press.
But the Worldwide Web really is changing the picture. By removing the media gatekeepers, who almost always, these days, represent the interests of the rich and powerful, the Web has allowed a million flowers to bloom, in the form of blogs, listservs, email lists, websites, you name it. We still don't quite allow ourselves to acknowledge the power of this incredible grassroots movement--we have been too well indoctrinated by the mainstream media to believe that if it doesn't show up in The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, it isn't really something worth getting excited about.
It's true that these giant media outlets have a global distribution reach that dwarfs any single alternative press outlet. But the sheer diversity and tenacity of the millions of bloggers and web activists is beginning to shine through. I am beginning to believe that there will come a time when a substantial portion of the world will insist on telling its own story, its own way; on setting its own priorities, developed locally and at the same time in concert with thousands or millions of other local organizations throughout the world.
For this to happen, the sham of "democracy" will have to be exposed for the hollow trick of mirrors and light that it has become. Today's "masters of the universe" think they can get away with treating voters as though they're stupid sheep who can't recognize fraud even when their noses are rubbed in it. They think we won't notice that what is really going on in almost all national elections, worldwide, is a form of musical chairs among the rich and powerful and those who serve them.
By assuming control over the media giants, and hijacking the public education system, the Bush-era elites have come perilously close to accomplishing their goal of turning Americans into a country of obedient sheep. But not quite. Individual lackeys have begun to turn against their own leadership: witness Colin Powell's remarkable letter this week to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, arguing against the Bush plan to gut the Geneva Conventions.
And there's more. It was not from The New York Times, but through email that I heard that September 19, 20 and 21 have been designated "National Bush Crimes Days," when citizens all over the country will organize to speak out against the Bush administration's war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Last week, as I again heard through email, a group of concerned citizens tried to deliver an antiwar message to Bush at the White House, but were rebuffed and ignored. Here's how one activist who was there described the scene:"At the gate of the White House a remarkable scene played out. The 50-page indictment and verdict was offered to those on the other side of the gate. But the document was refused and we were told that we must send it to the White House by mail." How can you refuse us? asked Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst. We are American citizens and you work for us. It is our constitutional right to present our wishes, demands and judgments to the President who represents us. Ultimately he had to reach through the gate and drop the document on the ground while security personnel, yelping dog on a short leash, and various “inside” press recorded the event with suspicious eyes, video cameras, and cell phones."
Well, there are other ways of delivering messages to the White House!Here in quiet Berkshire County, citizens are stirring. A fabulous celebration of the International Day of Peace, September 21, will occur in Pittsfield next week. Our own citizen-run radio and cable TV stations are thriving.
Even in the schools, which have become carefully controlled in these days of "No Child Left Behind," I was pleased to see that my son's social studies teacher, in the Great Barrington public high school, chose to start the year by having his ninth graders read 1984, George Orwell's grim testament to the resilience of the human spirit, despite the best efforts of fascism to quench resistance. He supplemented the reading with a documentary film on Stalin, just to drive home the point that Orwell's vision is not mere fiction. Any alert student, looking out into the world today, will be able to grasp the parallels between 1984 and 2006.
It's up to us to keep alive the old, true meanings of words like "freedom" and "democracy." It's up to us older folk to show the new generations coming up that we still believe in activism, in using our bodies and our minds to create an alternative to the nightmare world conjured up by the likes of Bush, Cheney and their henchmen.
Another world IS possible. And you know what? I do hear it breathing now. Loud and clear.
