Results tagged “ranting” from Subversive Soapbox

Hi, my name is Bob, and I’m a gratefully-recovering CNN-addict.

Hi, Bob.

I really wanted to name this post: wtf is wrong with the US media, part III, but I thought it was getting stale.  I just really can’t think of anything else to say.

First of all, two of the top stories on cnn.com are about sick/dead celebrities’ children.  Yes, it’s sad that your son has just been diagnosed with some rare disease/has died .  Thousands of people die every day, but we don’t hear about them. Thousands die because of American and foreign corporations that are raping the earth, but we don’t hear about them.  Thousands of Iraqi civilians have died in the war, but we don’t hear about them.  I still do not understand why celebrities are considered news.  Perhaps the only time a celebrity should be in the news would be a headline reading: “Madonna Receives Nobel Prize for Physics Due to Discovery of Quantuum Worm Holes in Deep Space”.  You know, something significant.   

Second of all, I was reading this article that was waxing poetic about the possibilities of politics in 2009.  Part of it discussed the deflation of the Republican party, which is of importance since it is now the opposition party.  And then, then the article states: If the Republican Party is not effective, does the national media become the opposition voice?

The nation media has COMPLETELY CEASED to have the ability to become the opposition voice!  When the current administration was banging the war drums, the media rolled over and served as a megaphone for the Beltway.  During the entire primary and election season, the media parroted and sound-clipped the trail, but didn’t do any significant vetting or provide citizens with coverage of any third party candidates.  The media has ceased to be the ‘fourth estate’, and no longer can be used as a tool to keep other branches of government in check.  “Does the national media become the opposition voice?” Dream on, CNN.  If you think you are capable of becoming a true voice of opposition, I’m capable of growing a second head.  Seriously.  How can they even delude themselves?  The nation media is stuck in the entertainment business, when they should be in the journalism business.

And, me, like Bob, can’t stop going to these sites and watching/listening these shows. Does it make me a more educated soapboxer, or is it the worst thing I could possibly be doing?  

I was watching this interview of Utah Phillips, late folk singer/activist.  He was interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! If you get a chance, do check out that interview; Utah Phillips is fun to listen to.  Here’s what he said in response to a question about the media.

UTAH PHILLIPS: “Let’s see, you started out with what media has done to people. You know that better than I do. That’s why you do what you do. See, you’re doing an alternative media. And if we play our cards right and have enough time, then pretty soon it won’t be alternative media anymore. But then, we have a thorough understanding—don’t we, Amy—that they fight with money and we fight with time, and they’re going to run out of money before we run out of time. So we’ll just be patient, and you do your work, and I’ll do mine, and we’ll catch up and overtake them.

It’s a damn shame, though, that we have to be alternative. But then, we’re in a capitalist environment, we’re in a capitalist system that’s built on—that’s built on the least commendable features of the human psyche, greed and envy, rather than the best. We in community radio, in pirate radio, in alternative music distribution, we reach for the best in people, you know, we don’t—not lowest common denominators. And we are building a new world within the shell of the old.

I don’t feel pessimistic about that at all. There’s simply too many good people right here in this room, too many good people on the street, close to the street, doing too many good things for me to afford the luxury of being pessimistic. I’m going to—I’ll tell people that tonight, damn it. I’m glad it came up. If I look at the world from the top down, from FOX, God help me, or CNN or—there ought to be a CNN-Anon to wean people from that idiocy. If I look at it from the top down, I get seriously depressed. The world’s going to hell in a wheelbarrow. But if I walk out the door, turn all that off, and go with the people, whatever town I’m in, who are doing the real work down at the street level, like I say, there’s too many good people doing too many good things for me to let myself be pessimistic about that. I’m hopeful, can’t live without hope. Can you?”

In the wake of an election that some people have been anticipating for 8 years, I am accepting the fact that I'm sitting this election out. 

Not voluntarily.

I am currently living in Chicago, Illinois, and requested my absentee ballot way back in September.  In fact, my father even put in an additional request about a month ago.  They received their ballots, and I never received mine.

I called the supervisor of elections in Hillsborough County, Florida, last week.  Which, apparently, was just too late.  They stated that they sent out the ballot a long time ago, and it must be the post office's fault, thank you very much. She informed me that they've been getting a lot of these calls.

She said that she would issue a new ballot.  It is Monday, and I have yet to receive the ballot in the mail.  The mail doesn't come until about 3.  I would have to rapidly fill out my ballot, rush to the post office, and send it overnight.  Since, as the woman told me, the ballot has to be physically in their office on November 4th.

So even if I manage to get home in time from the library, where I am currently working on job and grad school applications, and get to the post office before it closes, it will cost me 16 dollars to theoretically get my ballot into the voting office.

This doesn't even answer the question: what happened to my original ballot that was mailed out by the Supervisor of Elections?  Let's say that someone got this ballot and used it to vote, and sent it in.  What happens when my 16 dollar ballot comes in, and they say, "Well, this person can't vote twice?" Do they throw out both of these ballots? 

I want to know who stole my ballot!  It's not fair.  It's not fair that I might have to pay 16 dollars (when I'm so broke and unemployed) to vote in this election.  It's not my fault that I didn't recieve my ballot.  Why does it have to be in on November 4th? 

Apparently Florida has had one of the largest problems with missing absentee ballots in the country.  I feel robbed of my right to vote.  I might be bitter about this one for years.  I can't believe that people choose not to vote.

I'll never get this vote back.  For the next two, four, eight years, when I am upset about a politician, I won't even be able to say, "I voted for the other guy."  I have become involuntarily apathetic.

You know what bothers me?  You never hear about truly liberal political think tanks.  All you ever hear about are these big Republican think tanks that are creating language and foreign policy that allows the media and government to dupe everyone into war. 

Even the liberal think tanks aren't all that liberal.  That's the problem with the media.  They've got people thinking that CNN is "liberal" and that the Democratic party is "liberal".  NO! The media is not liberal.  It's extremely centrist.  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are not liberal.  They are centrists. 

 
The two-party system is an illusion.  It's an illusion of polarity, and an illusion of choice.  In America, it's not left vs. right or liberal vs. conservative.  It's some moderately centrist folks against some less moderately centrist folks.  There is no choice, and only an illusion of opposition.

This is where I fall:

I want a leftist, libertarian think tank.

I want a political system that isn't a hotbed for people who claim to be "liberal" or "conservative" who are really just centrists all day long.  The American people deserve true choices.  True choices among a slew of political candidates.

Here's Ireland's political landscape. 

Wow.  Amazing.  More than two major parties.

I'm moving to Ireland and building my think tank there.

Images courtesy of politicalcompass.org.

I really can't stop listening to Fox News Radio.  Yes, it leaves me feeling a little ill, but I think it's important to figure out how the 'right' is doing such a fabulous job of brainwashing citizens.

People who listen to talk radio are, on average, more politically involved than most citizens.  They like to be informed, and are rather knowledgeable of current events.  Unfortunately, they don't actually report on current events on Fox News.  They typically take a single talking point and repeat it over...and over...and over...and over.  For the past three months, they have been talking about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I'm done listening to that.  Apparently they have been talking about this for a while.

I really recommend watching the documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. In the documentary, they show how a memo is sent out each day to everyone in the Fox world as a topic for the day.  Then, the "journalists" and "reporters" repeat this idea over...and over...and over...and over.  This is not reporting.  This is repetition. What is worse, other media stations, papers, and broadcasts will eventually pick up this "talking point" and do the same thing, to a lesser extent.  A prime example of this was the Jeremiah Wright story.  Eventually, other networks picked this up and it became mainstream news.  In theory, this isn't completely bad.  I believe that it's important that anyone aspiring president should be vetted for the company that he/she keeps.  In the end, we were left with a nice speech on racism in America, and some people have reopened dialogue on this topic. 

Other media networks do this sometimes, too.  They will latch on to a topic until they finally convince people through repetition, rather than persuasion. However, other news outlets don't have the type of clout that the Fox spin machine does.  Here is the list of assets owned by News Corporation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation. The sun never sets on the Fox empire.

This is not journalism.  This is a noise machine.  This is not holding politicians accountable.  This is finding something negative about a candidate or a candidate's affiliations and spinning until you're blue in the face.  If our current president's pastor had made any inflammatory remarks like the Rev. Wright did, Fox would not be repeating it months on end.  If this election cycle wasn't already infused with racial tensions, Fox would not be capitalizing on these events. This is not journalism.

In college, there was a firebrand preacher that would come speak in the "free speech zone" on my campus.   He was truly old school.   He wore a suit.   He could point to the earth like a disco-dancing John Travolta when he shouted the word "Damnation!".   He preached on the evils of short skirts and the neccessity of stoning gays. His crew of offspring and his timid wife watched silently.

The lefties all hated him.   The atheists hated him.   The Jews and the Muslims hated him.   And because he made loving Jesus look like following Hitler, the Christians hated him too.   Finally something united the campus!

But secretly, I thought he was great.

People that would usually go home and play Dance Dance Revolution before getting drunk and cramming for an exam  were driven to their sacred texts.   The Muslims would pop open the Koran.   The atheists would turn to Mark Twain.   The Christians would dig into their Little Black Book.   And fueled with fresh evidence, they would throw fresh facts at the Firebrand Preacher, fueling long, heated debates.   The LGBT group would hold hands and wear a rainbow flag.   The Christians would pass out candies assuring us that Jesus loves us after all.   Five days a week and this guy never failed to draw a crowd.   It was beautiful.

But standing on a soapbox and giving a speech hasn't always been the sole purview of the religious fanatic.   The U.S. labor movement was built by immigrants  standing on a platform and shouting, "Fellow workers..!"   How freeing it must have been to announce at the top of your lungs: This is what I know to be true!   Join me!   We will change the world!    

But these are not revolutionary times.   These are times when the words "liberal" and "progressive" are used as slurs.   And anarchist, communist, socialist?   Forget it!   You may as well be wearing a straight jacket.

Many people in our country (the U.S.) still support these ideas but are afraid to stand by them.   They think they may as well pack their bags for Guantanamo.   And still others think, what's the point?   They slog on year after year, voting for the Democratic nominee and writing a yearly check to P.E.T.A.   But in their hearts there is a stirring, a desparate rage and a yearning for utopian visions.

Thus, we do not want to be a "liberal" soapbox or a "moderately left-leaning" soapbox.   Hell no!   We chose the name "Subversive" to be shamelessly, unabashadly radical.   We believe that the time has come for lefties to step up to the soapbox and raise their voices.   This is what we believe and we are not afraid to shout it.

      

--Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

Calling all instigators!  Calling all agitators!

Subversive Soapbox is a platform for radical social commentary. We may go by titles such as: Independent, anarchist, socialist, protestor, organizer, or march leader. But we take other titles too: lawyer, poet, chemical engineer, publicist, therapist.   We are not afraid to alk about religion or politics.   We believe such conversations are essential to continuing democracy.

Imagine or words not in the quiet voice of Times New Roman but belted from a megaphone at busy street corner near you.