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Today's Top News
One Nation Fails to Impress Corporate Media
NEW YORK - Thanks to the efforts of independent media outlets like Free Speech TV (10/2/10), GritTV (10/4/10) and Democracy Now! (10/4/10),
you may have been able to follow the happenings at last weekend's One
Nation Working Together rally. Organized and endorsed by hundreds of
progressive citizens' groups, labor unions and grassroots activists, the
gathering drew tens of thousands to Washington, D.C., to make the case
for jobs, peace and social justice. But the corporate media seemed
mostly less than impressed, either ignoring the rally completely or
framing it in the shadow of the Tea Party.
The network evening newscasts were mostly uninterested, with NBC Nightly News the only one of the big three to file a report, according to a search of the Nexis news database. The PBS NewsHour did not cover One Nation, though a few weeks prior Tea Party organizer Dick Armey was featured in a long one-on-one interview (FAIR Blog, 9/10/10). And far-right Fox News personality Glenn Beck's August rally in Washington was covered on the NewsHour before it happened (8/27/10) and afterwards as well (8/30/10).
The rise of the conservative Tea Party movement has
been the subject of intense, often uncritical media coverage (Extra!, 5/10), so comparisons of One Nation to Tea Party rallies were inevitable. "Liberals Take Their Turn at Rallying," said the Washington Post
(10/3/10), describing the event as "the left wing's first large
gathering designed to counter the conservative Tea Party phenomenon."
That might comes as a surprise to the organizers of
the U.S. Social Forum in June, where thousands of progressive activists
rallied and strategized in Detroit (Extra!, 9/10).
And it ignores the National Equality March for gay and lesbian rights
in Washington, D.C.--which, by some counts, drew more to Washington
than a Tea Party rally in September, though it attracted a fraction of
the corporate media coverage (Extra!, 12/09).
The Post continued its
comparison: "The rally lacked central charismatic speakers like Beck
and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin." This conclusion is typical for
a corporate media that treats every Facebook post or public appearance
by Palin as if it were inherently newsworthy.
Not all of the corporate media's coverage was dismissive; CNN featured
regular reports on October 2, many from correspondent Kate
Bolduan--though the network also made sure to give the Tea Party a
platform on the subject of One Nation, interviewing National Tea Party
Federation spokesman David Webb (10/3/10).
Some of the references to Beck and the Tea Party were bizarre--like when an NBC Nightly News
report (10/2/10) noted that "thousands of party liberals today
borrowed a page from the Tea Party movement, gathering on the National
Mall in Washington to try and stir up both passion and Democratic
voters." Of course, rallying progressives around the theme of jobs and
justice does not exactly require "borrowing" an idea from Glenn Beck;
Martin Luther King delivered a rather well-known address on those
themes some 40 years ago.
Beck's red-baiting of the rally was woven into some of the coverage. On ABC's Good Morning America
(10/2/10), Deborah Roberts asked NAACP president Ben Jealous: "Now,
Glenn Beck has said to some of his viewers and listeners on the radio,
that among your organizers are Communist Party members and a New York
City Democratic Socialist of America. What do you say to that?"
Many news accounts (e.g., New York Times,
10/3/10) concluded that the rally attracted fewer supporters than
Beck's most recent Washington rally. That may very well be true, but
numbers have never determined how much coverage corporate media devote
to a given event. Anti-war protests before the invasion of Iraq, for
instance, were massive gatherings that generated little media interest
(FAIR Action Alert, 9/30/02, 10/28/02),
while somewhat small Tea Party protests or anti-healthcare bill
protests have been given abundant coverage. Such coverage helps foster a
sense of a protest movement's strength, which has been the media's
gift to the Tea Party movement over the past year. It is no surprise
that progressive activists were not awarded a similar corporate media
platform.
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120 Comments so far
Show AllWhat a surprise, the Corporate Media Oligopoly ignores events that are not right-wing? They are protecting their interests and the interests of their mega corporate sponsors? (BigOil, BigPharma, the MIC, Banksters)
Newsflash: the five families of the Corporate Mafia own the place and they don't give a F about you.
Know who else doesn't an F about you? The two corporate political parties that control our electoral system. Don't vote for the bastards.
I did see part of this rally on line. It was all about Democrats but one guy, Harry Bellefonte, stood up and said that he was standing just where Martin Luther King did when he spoke out against the Vietman War (they killed him, you know - and it wasn't some single crazed gun man). Bellefonte said that the CIA says there are only fifty, and he repeated 50, al quida (or whatever they call the Iraqi people who want us the hell out of their country) and we are sending hundreds of thousands of our young men and women and billions of our tax dollars that would be better spent to put people to work and to take care of things at home. He said, "This is INSANE!"
Yet 'our' elected officials continue to squander our funds on this immoral, unlawful and unwinable war. If you want the wars to end you MUST NOT VOTE FOR ANY DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN. Please, get a little less apathetic! Don't be swayed by the trash you see on the tube. Throw out the corrupt bastards in Congress now. They don't give an F for you or your kids or your grandkids. You just get to pay for the money Congress spreads out amongst the people that pay their campaign bills---and lots more perks. You know this, don't you? Past time to vote with some understanding of the truth of what is going on. We are screwed and if you vote for the bastards you are saying, "Oh thank you. I like that. Do it again, please?"
Yes indeed. The 5 families of the Corporate Mafia own the place, that includes the Duopoly, which is a puppet controlled by the strings behind the curtain.
No worries, you can be assured that I will not cast any vote for the Duopoly. I would rather my vote be "wasted" in our WTA (FPTP) rigged big-money, corporate media controlled "election" than vote for a D or R.
Ding!
FYI, socialist:
I am compelled to immodestly observe that, as recently predicted, concerned progressive Democrat-supporters flock to CD threads during the home stretch preceding elections as the dark-eyed juncos alight in my backyard at winter's approach. And you caught one!
The juncos are much to be preferred.
It's especially touching when some veteran lesser-evildoer lurches out of the underbrush like Ben Gunn in "Treasure Island" to greet the fellow-traveling newbie with great fervor, typically blowing bilious chunks at we hopeless and infuriating recreant apostates.
Damn OS, once again you triggered a fit of laughter. Sarcasm, irony, allegory, metaphor, wry and dry humor is much appreciated in these times. A bit of poetic alliteration and choice use of vocabulary makes your posts powerful as well as funny. Cheers!
You want to vote for democrats have actually support your positions in the primary. Posts like the make me highly suspicious as the kind of mentality inside it, which is totally unworkable, plays right into the hands of the Republicans. Its almost as if that is the goal of the poster. We do have a broken election system, we need a ban on all corporate finance of elections badly, and proportional representation so smaller parties are represented. However right now we dont have that. If a bunch of progressives vote for greens, we are not going to get greens or democrats in office, but a bunch of fascist sociopathic Republicans. Until we can get proportional representation, progressives clearly need to create additional non party organisations that create a laundry list of progressive goals and support democrats candidates who pledge to support those goals. Look, often democrats we have in office are lame and have done too little, but, as long as we have this first past the post system, if we end up with votes being spread accros so many different progressive parties we will not get anyone remotely progressive elected again, do you really want tea party nutjobs in office? Most democrats really are far better than that i can assure you, although we should demand more, we need to organise around principles and demand more and demand that we have those principles respected and followed. Definitely we need to demand more from the Democrats, and the primary is especially the time for progressives to work hard to get strong candidates nominated.And also, ones, importantly, who have good communications skills and who can show progressive ideas benefit all americans, are reasonable, responsible and will help grow our middle class and eliminate poverty.
I use many of those same reasons (in spirit at least) when explaining why I haven't quit smoking yet.
You are correct that Dems don't care about us any more than the Repubs.
Obama is a major, major disappointment and essentially a con man. Wasn't going to vote for any of them in November, but then if I don't, chance of a teabagger
getting in, and then we are up ....'t's creek without a paddle. Innocents, namely children and animals (ending endangered protection act?) will suffer, and I can't let that happen. In 2012, however, Obama can forget about me voting for him, will just vote for House and Senate.
Some interesting things going on here.
First: the statement attributed to WaPO - "Liberals Take Their Turn at Rallying," said the Washington Post (10/3/10), describing the event as "the left wing's first large gathering designed to counter the conservative Tea Party phenomenon."
This of course is complete BULLSHIT! NO ONE truely 'Left Wing' would be caught dead at such a contrived event to support Democrats. The real 'Left Wing' understands quite well that there is a real 'Class War' going down in America and that the Democratic Party is on the side of the Elite Ruling Class Oligarchy and definately NOT the workers or middle class.
This One Nation rally was largely for the benifit of wrangling strays of the Democrat Party...i.e., "please just give us one more chance to sell you some 'Hopium' (thanks Cindy Sheehan) and keep the same Corporate stooges in power"... since they have paid back their benifactors in spades).
It's no surprize that the event got virtually zero M$M coverage. If you haven't been in a coma for the past decade it should be obvious that nothing of significance gets reported which does not reflect well on the Corporate Elite and Owners of USA Inc. Even asking for jobs and not to be shit upon is beyond the acceptable narrative.
The sad thing is events like this perpetuate the myth that reform is possible by working within the system. This, of course, is BULLSHIT and has been so since Truman. The USA is a National Security State and has been for more than half a century. The result is perpetual war, outright corporate theft, the creation of a financial aristocracy and economic predation upon the working and middle class.
These people care no more about your welfare than they do about the anonymous faces of Muslims they keep locked away in outsourced gulags around the world. Its is only a matter of time before they consolidate enough power that they are comfortable doing the same to masses of Americans. For now they are content to assasinate the outlier or two as needed.
Certainly not voting for either corporate imperial party is a start, but ultimately mass civil disobedience and outright rejection of corporate rule is the only thing which will carry the day.
It should be obvious to most by now that matters will get progressively worse on all fronts (economic, warfare, domestic, privacy, police state, disinformation etc) in an increasing feedback loop. This country is going down in a hurry and you can be certain the media will perform the perscribed role of inflaming tensions among and between the common folk to keep them at each others throats and the pitch-forks away from the gated communities.
There is a way out, third party or no. Stop playing their game. Rant all you want as you drive down the freeway on the way to... stop buy the store to buy some....
Face it, Americans can not even wipe their butts with out support from the same corporate goons they rail against. A majority isn't even needed. If all those who wanted single payer health option stopped paying their policies it would put the greedy bastards out of buisiness. Buy only the necessities, grow food, drive less or not at all. Move to the country and be a part of the natural environment. Violence is not revolutionary and only begets more violence. And, i almost forgot, Blow up your TV!
Totally unrealistic and doomed to failure your plan is. As long as we have first past the post this disengagement mentality or this mentality of voting for impossible green party candidates will lead to the election of more Republican fascists into office. Instead progressive organisations really need to get louder, ITs going to take a lot more protests and a lot more people getting off their behind and protesting in the street, in the blogs and so on against the low taxes for the rich adn attack the middle class and poor mentality of the Republicans and their sociopathic agenda geared at rigging the system for the rich adn killing the poor. Progressive organisations do need to organise more, including creating a laundry list of progressive goals and working to get Democrats elected who support them, and importantly, ones who are strong, skillful communicators who know how to run an intensive campaign using traditional and non traditional mediums from the internet to rallies and campaign sings and bumper stickers. Obviously we cant have candidates who sit at home and think that they dont need to get out and get attention at every chance they can to get elected.
Among the progressive agenda must be a proportional representation system so that we can have a greater choice of parties.
We obviously need to do a lot better job communicating as progressives. Really it does come back to the media, as to why we have so much difficulty in gettin g the message about about why progressive ideas are best for the country and favor the middle class rather than the Greedy Obese Plutocrats and their wealthy elite owners. The corporate media is naturally aligned with the Republicans anti-worker agenda as they are corporate advertiser driven and/or owned. So, the built in right wing bias in the media is pretty easy to understand. The last thing we need to do is become disengaged and inactive.
How is living in nature "disengaged"? I would think it is about the highest level of "engagement" one can realistically hope to achieve.
Why fight against a game that is created and set up for the purpose of causing you to lose?
Why not create a new game to play that you have a chance of winning instead. If you make it a hell of a lot more fun, with a better reward system, where more people can win, you will probably not find anyone playing the old game before long.
Thank you philiphoko, I've been saying this for years. Here's one more iteration. Buy your clothes and everything else you must have at second-hand stores, especially those run by charities. Grow your own food or if you can't then find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) near you (CSA has a map on their web-site). Buy your Christmas presents from charity thrifts too. Tell Grandma and Grandpa that you can't come to spend Christmas or Thanksgiving with them this year because you're boycotting big oil and airlines. Forget the liquor and fancy foods for the "Holiday Season" (how can you have a holiday when you don't have a job?) stick with what your CSA provides and skip the liquor stores. Don't buy Christmas cards, and give the kids apples or other fruit for Halloween.
You get the picture. Marching and protesting are fine but the corporate goons won't really care until it hits them in the wallet. We need a national boycott of everything we can possibly boycott. Movies, music, books, all are available second-hand. I'm a nurse and I haven't bought a store bought uniform in over twenty years. Goodwill always has some available.
As for toilet paper, people used to use the Sears catalogue, remember?
Not all movies, music, and books are put out by evil corporations, and many of those movies, music, and books are a source of income for people doing good work. Many of those filmmakers, musicians, and authors that are working independently doing good work also have better ideas. People who support these filmmakers, musicians, and authors by buying their products tend to either hold on to them or to give them away to people or libraries that they suspect will gain ideas from them, thus they do not tend to often be in secondhand shops.
Yes, I agree with you to an extent but it depends on who is doing the donating. The last time I moved I lived in an area that was extremely right wing and Republican. The local Hospice raised money by running a second-hand bookstore. Needless to say their supply of both political and religious books were right-wing and fundamentalist. Since I couldn't afford to transport my library I donated hundreds of books to Hospice. They included progressive political books and Quaker religious books and I did it specifically to provide some balance to what was available to people shopping at Hospice.
The wealthy are dependent upon us, not the other way around.
More and more people cannot afford even the necessities.
Moving to the country and being a part of the natural environment changes nothing. The same problems exist here as in the city. If you grow food, how are you going to get it to the hungry people? Or are you suggesting merely growing for yourself?
"Moving to the Country" is why I brought up CSAs. You can live in a city and support local family farmers. Check it out. Because we really don't have a choice. In a very short time when the oil runs out everyone, in and out of cities, is going to have to start banding together to take care of each other. When there's no more accessible oil there will be no more huge agribusinesses running huge tractors and other machinery, there will be no more petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides, (and most of our soil is dead already, that's why they use all those fertilizers) and there will be no more overseas or even across country food supply chains. The multinationals will be in dire straits then anyway but some of us would like to bring them down a little sooner, before they've destroyed what little is left of the planet.
I agree oompletely with your first line, "The wealthy are dependent on us". That is the entire defense system of non-violence. If an invading army (or a home grown one) points a gun at you and says "Make bread for my platoon" you say "No". And then you get shot, of course, but a willingness to die is the first requirement of non-violence. That's what Jesus was telling us. Even Hitler only managed to kill 20 to 50 million. Now we're 6 billion. They can't run their armies if no one cooperates; some of us will still be around.
I am well familiar with CSAs. They do not "support local family farmers," nor does that concept make any sense. We have thousands of ral family farmers whose mission is to support communities, not go looking for support from the community.
"Local" is not more energy efficient, nor does it mean fresher or better produce in any way. It is all a bunch of hype.
Farming is not dependent upon oil. That is a myth. Suburbia is dependent upon oil, and the use of oil allowed 80% of the people to leave the farm and do whatever it is they do in the suburbs. No oil, no suburbia, Farming won't change.
The soil isn't "dead" and that has nothing to do with so-called "artificial fertilizers." Most small farmers here are using manure, They just aren't making a big deal about that or claiming any high moral ground over it. Most of our soil now lies under development tracts, or has been abandoned.
The multinationals don't control farming, they control the entire economy - all components of it.
The attacks on farmers are for the purpose of distracting people from the problems of suburbia, and to assist the corporations in eliminating small farming.
"Moving to the country," CSA, organic, farm markets and "local" is all part of the ongoing suburbanization of rural land and the gentrification of the food supply system. That is significantly aiding the corporations in their drive to gain control over the land and the food supply.
I agree with the comments about suburbia, I'm an admirer of James Howard Kunstler's work. But I don't agree that suppporting small farmers has anything to do with gentrification. I know people on welfare who get the majority of their food through CSAs. Monsanto is the one who wants to control the world's food supply; people like Vendana Shiva (spelling?) are the ones who want to keep it safe, working with small farmers all over the world, saving indigenous plants and seeds, using the ideals of permaculture, etc. The "green revolution" has been proved to be a total flop; small farms, edible forests and such can produce more food per acre and by heaven we're going to need it.
As for the "local" movement, when the oil that's still in the ground requires more energy to get it out than it produces (see the Toronto protests against the tar sands) we are all going to be local again. London, England has always been referred to as a city of villages (which is how it grew) and that's what's going to happen to all cities in the future. It's up to us to start the process so that when the trucks stop arriving people have already started using whatever open land there is towards feeding themselves.
There is a way out, third party or no. Stop playing their game. Rant all you want as you drive down the freeway on the way to... stop buy the store to buy some....
Face it, Americans can not even wipe their butts with out support from the same corporate goons they rail against. A majority isn't even needed. If all those who wanted single payer health option stopped paying their policies it would put the greedy bastards out of buisiness. Buy only the necessities, grow food, drive less or not at all. Move to the country and be a part of the natural environment. Violence is not revolutionary and only begets more violence. And, i almost forgot, Blow up your TV!
Workers produce all of the goods we consume, not corporations.
I reject the thesis that the working class is to blame for the social and political problems.
I reject the assumption that the social problems are caused by some sort of individual personal moral failings, and can be solved by improving individuals in some vague or spiritual way.
I reject the premise that those calling for the working class to resist and defend itself are calling for "violence."
I reject suggestions that withdrawing from society as some sort of rugged individualist is advisable or constructive for anyone.
In short, you have just expressed the self-centered and myopic aristocratic liberal world view, the very set of ideas that have directly led to the destruction we are no witnessing. You are expressing bootstrap individualism, right wing "personal responsibility" propaganda, and American exceptionalism, all from the point of view of those enjoying status and options that most people cannot attain, and that come as a direct result of others being exploited and oppressed. What you are recommending is irresponsible, immoral and destructive.
"Workers produce all of the goods we consume, not corporations."
Yes.
We, the workers produce the goods and thereby have the power to find solutions to our problems. We don't have to wait for our masters to present them to us. Withdrawing from the global economy might not always amount to retreating to our own private Idaho. There are many ways to resist globalization. Some of them involve positive social alternatives, not mere retreat and isolation.
It's possible to be a free thinking individualist with understanding and compassion for others.
Everybody can blow up their TV. You don't really need "status and options that most people cannot attain" just to be in the countryside.
The way to stop globalization is to block the unloading of goods. Merely making different consumer choices as an individual accomplishes nothing, except for the individual.
Not sure why blowing up TVs has such fascination for people. Why not talk about seizing the media? Should we blow up bookstores that sell pro-corporate books? What is the difference?
How do you propose moving several hundred thousand struggling people in the Midwestern cities to the country?
You are talking about individual solutions, and as such they are fine., However, you are presenting them as though they were solutions to social and political problems.
I will celebrate when the Washington Post reporters get to take THEIR turn at the unemployment line.
And their lament about the left not having a "strong leader" seems like another backdoor psyps attempt to condition us into believing we need some kind of Hitler to follow.
I like Jensen's idea about leaderless cooperatives for work AND politics. This whole top down, authoritarian mindset is dictatorial and undemocratic. But before we can even approach real reforms of any kind in this country, we need to delegitimize ALL the main stream media. THEY are the enemy of the people.
Actually, there is no left wing in America, not in any meaningful sense. Sure, there are people who post on websites like CD, but there is no left in this country that is capable of organizing a viable third party, or even a rally that attracts more than a few dozen people. Let's see how many people show up to the upcoming IMF-Word Bank protests in DC, that should be revealing.
The amount of attention the MSM gives the Tea Baggers is getting pretty ridiculous. If a bunch of them got into a big pot of baked beans, MSM would study the noise of their flatulence, looking for little "bits" of wisdom that they could broadcast on the morning news shows. ;-)
Yep. The propaganda punks in the media know how to turn a fart into the big bang.
And as far as the overwhelming anti-war sentiment of the people, the propaganda punks know how to turn a scream of indignation to a polite knock on the door not worthy of much reporting.
Bastards.
The purpose of rallies and marches is to communicate to the general public, to build strength and solidarity within the movement, and to threaten the powerful. If the MSM is not helping with communicating to the general public - does that surprise anyone?? - then why try to get MSM coverage? The purpose of rallies and marches is NOT to impress or to get the approval or agreement of the wealthy and powerful people - "speaking truth to power" as people say. Power doesn't give a shit and isn't listening and never will.
SCHULTZ was reporting that many buses didn't come to pick up those planning to attend --
Evidently where he was 104 buses were schedules, only 2 came in to pick up passengers --
In another location more than 80 buses were scheduled and only 40 came in to pick up passengers.
Evidently, this occurred in a number of states.
Meanwhile, I think the "March on Washington" idea is a bit
old and we need new ideas.
Certainly, MSM is also attempting to depress and demoralize liberals and progressives by a lack of coverage.
.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
SCHULTZ was reporting that many buses didn't come to pick up those planning to attend --
Who is Shultz?
There is no mass "scheduluing" of buses - the buses are individually hired by activist organizatons and labor union locals. For example in Pittsburgh, the steelworkers hired three buses, The Western Pa. Coalition for Single-payer hired several buses, and the PFT (teachgers union) hired a number of buses.
I suspect that he is referring to Ed Schultz who used to be on Air America radio and now, I believe, has his own television program on MSNBC.
"Meanwhile, I think the "March on Washington" idea is a bit old and we need new ideas." I agree. The Bush administration showed us that they could ignore marches and protests and proceed with their planned agenda with little or no consequences. I'm guessing any movement that doesn't take a bite out of the corporate pocketbook is falling on deaf ears and blind eyes. There is power in the purse, but our country has forgotten that this has been effective in the past or does not have the will to band together in this way.
Why not rather than 100,000 people in DC, have 10 people each at 10,000 on/off ramps of various freeways and at various intersections in cities throughout the US?
Logistics would be easier.
People would be able to attend without taking days off work.
Many places would have enough traffic and interested people with various schedules to man it 24/7 for a week.
We've learned we can't rely on TV.
If you're not crazy, they won't cover it.
Yes, and this is why It may backfire.
I have a feeling they will have a hard time ignoring the one at the end of the month, especially with Colbert encouraging people to come in costume.
The answer is in the question.
"Corporate Media" has no interest in any voice other than their own. They have imposed a gag order on anyone/everyone else.
America is not free.
Progressive rally fails to impress ANYONE!!
Unfortunately, CommonDreams has seen fit to ban one of its former best syndicated columns by Chris Hedges. Here's why the "rally" failed to impress anyone:
March to Nowhere
By Chris Hedges
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26523.htm
excerpt:
"The rising proto-fascist movement in America is caused by a hatred and alienation so profound that the crimes of the state, along with the buffoonish antics of those who defend and champion these crimes, do not matter. We will not discredit the right-wing with facts, a demand for a respect of law or rational discussion. Propaganda or counter messages of tolerance are not the issue. The issue is societal collapse. This issue is a corporate state that has carried out a coup d’etat. The issue is the rupture of all mechanisms within the political process to protect citizens from accelerating impoverishment, internal control and corporate abuse. Those who refuse to acknowledge this bleak reality cannot offer solutions."
why is Hedges banned?
banned is probably not the correct word, but his stories haven't appeared here for months. perhaps, "politely ignored" is a better phrase. He is still writing regularly, and he has a new book coming out soon which is essentially a justified attack on the liberal class.
i think Hedges is one of the most important voices in the U.S. today. i bet whoever makes the call at CD doesn't like him anymore...that's the only conclusion i can draw.
I agree, Hedges analyzes too deeply and calls attention to systemic and institutional corruption. Since the mid-terms are approaching his articles like "Do Not Pity the Democrats" are conspicuously absent. Someone does not want to alienate D-party loyalists and donors so close to November.
where can i find the names of the individuals who make such decisions at CD?
Socialist is correct.
As I noted recently, this site, like most species of bird, changes plumage according to season or bio-rhythm. In campaign season, especially during the home stretch, it molts and discards the strong flight feathers of radical or deep analysis, e.g. Chris Hedges.
This typically darker and somber plumage is too unsettling and scary-- Too Negative-- for most Normals. Besides, room must be made for the bright and fluffy plumage of half-full moderate liberals, e.g the "Nation" crowd, Norm Solomon, etc.
Apparently there's a firm belief or policy that visitors can't get too much incessant implicit and explicit pseudo-pragmatic advice to be sure and support the Good Democrats to effect incremental change for the better.
[edited fractured sentence]
Good analysis of this problem Obedient Servant. Nevertheless, the readers and commentators are able to find articles by Hedges and Hudson and post links for others to read. So it pays to read the comments! The comments are often more interesting than the articles. Hedges' piece was a scathing indictment of the lame rally. It all reminds me of the rise of Nazism and the weak opposition to that movement, a befuddled inability to fight back fiercely against the Nazis when they set that Reichstag fire in 1933.
I agree with the folks that want to take it to the doorstep of the media--good target, but the message better be as direct and potent as that of Hedges.
RE: ...why is Hedges banned?
Because Chris Hedges has come out of the closet as a radical.
From "March to Nowhere":
"The forces assaulting the remnants of American democracy will not be cowed or discredited with rallies, such as the one in Washington on Saturday. We will blunt these rising anti-democratic forces only when we organize outside conventional systems of power. It means dismantling the permanent war economy and the corporate state."
To make what Hedges is talking about a reality would require a revolution, reform just won't cut it. CD is after all, "news for the progressive community" not revolutionaries.
It seems Michael Hudson is also censored here, I have seen a couple Hedges aricles but none from Hudson. He does appear regularly on Counterpunch
I, too, wish that CD would publish Michael Hudson's articles -- and Chris Hedges' articles as well!
"It is the politics of nostalgia."
CH's simple line above tells the tale. The democratic party is an empty shell. It has nothing inside--nothing.
His article should be read by everyone who attended the march, although creatures & hacks of the system are rarely changed.
Thanks for posting Hedges' article, which I saw on truthdig.com. It sums up how I felt about the October 2 rally - namely, these rallies will make no difference, and nothing will change until we "abandon the rotting hull of the Democratic Party and our moribund political system" and "organize outside conventional systems of power."
My only disagreement with Hedges is his apparent belief that the Democratic Party once was a "defender of liberal values and the working class interests." Maybe rhetorically, that was true. But after reading Lance Selfa's book, "The Democrats: A Critical History," I am now persuaded that aside from some limited inroads in the 1930's and 1960's (in response to mass movements rather than feel-good rallies), the Democrats never truly represented the interests of the working class. Their interests, like Republicans', have always been in serving what George Carlin called the "owners" of this country.
But either way, I believe Hedges is right that real change will not come from the Democrats, and the sooner people figure that out, the better. It took me way too long to see this.
The left doesn't get it. We all know that the Corporate media is not going to seek out the rallies and actions of the left. Therefore, we have to bring it to them. Protest and block entrance to their corporate headquaters and studios on a regular basis. Go to the homes of the CEO's and news anchors and protest. It is not about numbers in one or two events, but a strategy of numerous events to weaken their armor. Also, where is there any attempt to organize the local communities. Most of us can't be taking time off to take a bus to DC. What about smaller networks of resistance and education in the local community. How many more times do these large left organizations have to realize it is about local issues that get people off their couch. How does the war money affect people? How does high medical costs affect people? How does unemployment and the fear of it affect us? These are all simple ideas that are not about spending lots of money. People want to be involved. Let them know they are included and that putting a bumper sticker on their car is a valid start to action. Make an artcar. Have a t-shirt making party, sell they at school and send the proceeds to a worthy group (and not the RED CROSS or UNITED WAY.) Let them know that families are welcome and let them know that their communities are vital to the cause of democratic form. Live local, protest local, buy local and then connect to the next community group. Write letters to your pastor as to why abortion is talked about being sinful, but where is the discussion about killing innocent men, women and children in all parts of the globe with US tax dollars. Wake up left. You have to drive the local roads before you get on the highway.