I have been calling for this sort of action for several years.
NEWSTRIKE!!!
Why not?
Let us find out how many of us there are, and what kind of economic power we truly wield.
The real left is being treated by the media in just the same way as minority races were treated in the old south. I recently heard Molly Ivins on a radio interview saying that when she first became a reporter in Texas there was an ironclad rule that black people were simply not to be mentioned unless they had murdered at least three people.
EVERYTHING else that had to do with black life in Texas...silence.
Seems pretty similar to the state of affairs in the mass media regarding those in opposition to this criminal government. (This does not apply to gaming politicians, most of whom are opposition in name only, but DOES apply to the real thing. Universally.)
They have ghettoized us. Enclosed us behind an electronic fence called Blogworld where we can seethe and simmer all we want but have almost no effect on "the real world".
And what did Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and any number of other black leaders recommend about the root of the solution to this problem for THEIR people?
Economic independence and the concomitant withdrawal of their economic support for the oppressing system.
OK...shift to today.
Think about it.
Think about all the left-leaning people you know, and all the right-leaning ones.
Of the two groups...which one spends the most time and money on newsmedia?
Correct.
US!!!
I would venture to say that the left SUPPORTS the newsmedia. The very same newsmedia that are giving us a royal fucking.
Now SOME of those major media claim to be left-wing.
Bullshit.
The Uncle Tom Press.
Sound familiar?
It does to me.
If all of the people that voted for Kerry...and that's not saying a whole lot about THEIR left-wing credentials, but it's a start...if all those people were to stop patronizing mass media outlets like newspapers, talk radio, TV news, and newsmagazines (I mean, Newsweak may be temporarily on the admin shitlist...provided of course that the whole Quran-flushing fiasco wasn't some kind of setup from the getgo, which considering the 60 years of intelligence ties conclusively attributed to Newsweak's parent company the Washingtoon Post is a distinct possibility...but really, folks. Do you not remember the runup to the Iraq War or the stonewall on the Ohio/Florida vote fraud? Newsweak was right there, eyes wide closed along with the REST of the newsmedia.)...if that largely middle and upper-middle class demographic known as "the left" were to withdraw its financial support from the mass media, the panic that would ensue in boardrooms across the country (from the NY Times to the networks and right on up to the Oval Office) would be SERIOUS.
Advertising revenues would be threatened...and America LIVES on advertising (the most profitable drug in the world, bet on it)...plus the mass hypnosis upon which this administration depends for its real power would be cut by...by what, about 48%? (48% IF we were to be so foolish as to believe the polls and vote counts. But 48% would be PLENTY.)
Ooooooooo....SCAAARY!!!
So let's put our money where our minds are.
Whaddaya say?
Who's with me here?
Of course...this is easy for me. I stopped paying any serious attention whatsoever to what the mass media has had to say at just about the same time that they almost unanimously offed Howard Dean for his "YEEEARGH" statement...perhaps the most reasoned political expression to come out of the mouth of ANY politician in the last hundred years if you look at what has happened to America since these criminals came to power.
Shoulda been a BUMPER sticker, not the kiss of political death.
I understand how difficult getting off the media drug would be for many of us, but...clean and sober is the way to live.
Believe it.
It is a nasty jones...worse than cigarettes, because the vending machines are EVERYWHERE (including your own living room) and most of `em are free...but IT CAN BE DONE.
Trust me on this.
NEWSTRIKE!!!
Not only would everyone who did this feel better...if enough people were to do it the result would be nothing short of revolutionary. It would literally change this country in a matter of weeks. I cannot expect a boycott of many of the other services run by the corporate structure that is behind this war and this administration...I mean, ya gotta eat, ya gotta get to work, right??...and I do not expect to see hordes of Americans hit the streets and man the barricades anytime soon, but this IS the Information Age, right?
So...wage an information WAR.
Cut their supply lines.
Deny them any cooperation whatsoever.
And watch them fall.
A Stalingrad of the mind.
This is the only REAL power we have left.
We cannot wage a violent revolution.
We cannot VOTE them out. ("He who controls the vote count controls the election." Stalin...roughly quoted.)
But we CAN starve them out.
What power would Rove and his boys have if the newsmedia lost almost 50% of their revenues overnight?
Really.
Think about it.
Anybody with me?
NEWSTRIKE!!!
Let's start today!!!
TO THE BARRICADES!!!
AG