A Collection of My Personal Random Thoughts
It's clear that big media's corporate ownership will no longer allow balanced reporting. We all know Fox is a right-wing mouthpiece, however, when GE (a major defense contractor) owns NBC, can you really expect them to critique a hawkish administration? When their 24 hour news channel is partnered with Microsoft, can you really expect them to offer any critiques of legislation favourable to "big business?" Likewise with Westinghouse and CBS. When ABC is owned by one of the world's largest media companies (Disney), can you expect it to say anything critical of extended copyright periods, or to critically examine what the widespread file-sharing networks might mean for the future of the music or movie industries? The same logic applies to CNN and Time-Warner.
So what do we do about it? All the liberal talk shows, liberal websites, and if they were ever arise, liberal tv shows do us very little good. These are media that preach to the choir. This doesn't win us any converts. As I see it there are a few things that need to happen. Each is important, but they can be attacked independently.
1) We need to convince more people to vote, because statistically, more people in this country lean to the left than the right. The higher the voter turnout, the better the chance of a Democratic candidate being elected. This is why the wide swath was cut through the Florida voter rolls in preparation of the 2000 election. More people cut from the voter rolls, means more damage done to the Democratic voting block.
Convince your friends to vote. I've personally printed out voter registration forms for several of my friends, and will harrass them come election day, and drive them to the polls if necessary. If they say their vote doesn't make a difference, point to the slim margins in Florida (300 votes) and New Mexico (500 votes), and show them that yes, every vote *does* count. If they say they aren't political, point to the never ending stream of Halliburton no-bid contracts, eroding civil liberties, non-stop deficit spending and ask them if that's the government that they want to be ruled under. Ask them if they think pregnant women should be able to have tuna once in a while, and ask them if they think the current administration will make that happen. Do whatever it takes to get them to the polls.
2) We need to convince more people to vote for Kerry instead of Nader. I love what Ralph has done for consumer rights in this country just as much as the next informed citizen, but we don't need any more votes siphoned from the only person actually poised to defeat Bush this year. We need to avoid having "the Nader Effect" turn Bush into the dark horse winner *again*. If you have friends that insist that voting Nader will get their message through, Ask them if they would rather have Kerry or Bush for president. Exclude Nader from the list of potential candidates and see who they'd rather have. If they still say there's no difference, then, well, we haven't done our job. If they express a preference for Kerry over Bush, then bemoan the problems inherent in plurality voting mechanisms, and ask them to hold their nose, and vote for Kerry anyway. Tell them to spend the energy they would have spent voting for Nader and work on getting Instant Runoff Voting implemented in their county/state/country. Then they can vote for Nader all they want, as long as they go with a
(preferably our) major party candidate for their "backup choice".
3) Convince more people to vote for Kerry than Bush. For you and I, this is a no brainer. For a number of moderate voters (maybe even the majority of them), I think if they were exposed to the truth, they wouldn't vote for Bush. If they could handle the truth, I think they'd be apalled, and would head down Pennsylvania Avenue with pitchforks and torches.
So what does all this have to do with media? (this is the media section, right?)
We have to make our own, and we have to take it to the people that won't come for it. I make music (shameless plug:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/geedubbeemusic.htm). Eric Blumrich makes flash videos. MoveOn has the bush in 30 seconds finalists available for download. Some people here post news segments. Send these to people you know. Send links if the files are big. Get people talking about the things that matter, instead of the misdirection.
Come October, I plan on buying as many cheap CD-Rs as I can get my grubby little hands on (labor day sales at Best Buy, Comp USA, etc. should have them for < $5/100cd). I will burn my songs, some Blumrich work, some MoveOn ads, and choice news articles from the web (i.e. all the stuff the majority of people didn't see). I will wrap each CD in a sheet of paper, basically as a news flyer. I will put one on the windshield of every car at my local mall.
Here's my logic: People will casually throw away a sheet of paper if you stuff it under their windshield. But, if a CD showed up, wouldn't you want to hear what was on it? You'd stick it in the car, and give it a listen, wouldn't you?
Thoughts? Comments? Improvements? Glowing reviews of my music for the web page? =)
P.S. Mentioning my music page at soundclick is part of my personal media strategy. If enough of you visit the page, and listen to the music, and download the music, it goes higher on the "charts", which makes it more visible to more people. All of which helps get the message out. (It's not *just* to inflate my own ego. =)
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