For the past three years I have been involved with a wonderful organization in Los Angeles called ICUJP: Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. This community of activists that meet every Friday morning at 7:00 has spurred me to action way past any cerebral blurriness I would normally have at that hour. We have become a place for people to come when their faith traditions are not giving them the answers that feel right – answers to questions like:
• Why should I hate gay people, or fear those with AIDS, or be afraid of women who speak their mind and heart?
• Why is the Prayer of Jabez becoming more important than Jesus call not to neglect "the least of these"?
• How can you characterize the Koran, or the Torah, or the Dhammapada as evil if you have never read them?
• I don’t lump all Christians with unreasoning, polarizing, elitist, warmongering Fundamentalists, why do you define all Muslims as terrorists?
And most importantly:
• Why are we at war with someone who did not attack us?
There is a reason we came together – after the horrible events of September 11th, Rev. George Regas, Rev. Ed Bacon, Father Chris Ponett, Rev. Louis Chase, Rabbi Leonard Beerman, Dr. Maher Hatout, Rev. James Lawson and many other peace and justice leaders in Los Angeles, lay people and clergy alike, answered the call that Progressives, Liberals, and many others hear – even though I may not be the oppressed, I will stand with them against deception, killing and tyranny.
I personally wear the mantle of Liberal and Progressive proudly, and do my best to try to live up to the lofty expectations and accomplishments of those who have walked the talk. It informs my spiritual beliefs - as writer Austin O’Malley said. "Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers". It is a heartfelt call to do what is right – calling oneself Progressive or Liberal is not a marketing term to be bandied about like "New and Improved".
It is becoming more and more apparent that the marketing of brand "Progressive" is in full swing – in fact, just this month in the City of Angels we had a great example of the shift in rhetoric. AM 1150, KTLK in Los Angeles, has been one of the true Progressive stations on commercial radio, mostly because of the work of Cary Harrison, also known as "Harrison on the Edge". Harrison wears the mantle of Liberal proudly – in fact, he was one of the movers and shakers behind the "Parade for Peace" last October that was led by himself and Arun Gandhi through the streets of Hollywood, a great event that drew thousands of people to hear speakers talk about how they, in the words of Arun Gandi’s grandfather Mohandas K. Gandhi, can be the change they want to see in the world.
Harrison on the Edge was an oasis in the barren desert of Los Angeles commercial talk radio – where else could you hear respectful conversations with people like Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Scott Ritter, Noam Chomsky and Jello Biafra, who said to Harrison, "You have hijacked the AM band!"?
In early March, Harrison’s show was taken off the air, and KTLK has gone with new hosts in a few of its timeslots. What passes for Progressive programming on Los Angeles commercial radio will now include such Populist firebrands as Sean Hannity’s favorite punching bag Alan Colmes, and the former "Mr. KABC", Marc Germain – a person better known for giving advice on how to program your VCR than inspiring listeners to become activists, like Harrison did with his "Activism a Go-Go" segment.
The former Mr. KABC is very interesting – I think he understands that he has to convince his new listenership that he really walks the talk, but he's having a pretty hard time. It’s hard to be a Leftist Liberal rabblerouser when you actually supported the Iraq War and think that the biggest problem with our immigration policies is that they’re just not being enforced enough. In fact, on the same day that President Bush made a statement that he would not allow White House advisors to testify in front of Congress under oath, most of the content of Mr. Germain’s show was taken up by speculation on the Phil Spector trial and a discussion on some of the issues around Megan’s Law.
I think that the gains that were made in November of 2006 are very scary for the Corporate Industrial Complex and corporate media in particular. It’s hard to give voice to on-air talent that may talk about the threat of escalating media consolidation and saving the net neutrality of the internet when you are actually lobbying Congress for doing away with any restraints on your commerce. When you have a liberal talk station in the same building and under the same corporate ownership as a right-leaning trash talk radio station famous for publicizing anti-immigration rallies and celebrating the implementation of the death penalty on execution nights, how much of a commitment to Progressive or Liberal values can there be?
In this kind of environment, "Harrison on the Edge" was unique in commercial radio – Harrison and his producer Linda know that the most important part of the equation is the listener, and that you can have your audience become active in the community and stay tuned until the next commercial. It goes to a belief that the technology we have created can actually be a force for change and effective citizenship, and not just a profit line for an investment group.
This shift towards a kindler, gentler brand of pseudo-liberalism is being done under KTLK’s brand-spanking new catchphrase, "Progressive: The New Mainstream!" Taking the word "Progressive" in vain is unacceptable – it is not "the new mainstream", no matter how much you and your investors want it to be. Progressives are people who will go to jail or possibly suffer the strike of a nightstick in order to make sure someone will be able to vote who never had the chance to before. Progressives will sit in a ditch in Crawford in order to get an inarticulate man to attempt to explain what the "noble cause" was that her son died for. And Progressives are people who didn’t need to take four years to figure out we had no reason to bomb a country that could not attack us and never did.
I’m reminded of the breath mint that boldly touted the fact that it had Retsyn® – this wonderful new substance must be great – maybe it will help stop overpopulation and the housing crisis!
It turns out that Retsyn® is mostly cottonseed oil – kind of like "Progressive: The New Mainstream!" doesn’t mean any programming changes of any real substance. Retsyn for the mind, if you like – why do you think they call it "programming"?
Speaking truth to power is the definition of Progressivism, and we must let the marketing world know that our values are not for sale. We can do that by letting them know that they are sitting in front of our microphone, and we the people allow them to use that soapbox, but in the interest of the public, not their Board of Directors. And the more we speak up for the honest, worthwhile work of media activists like Harrison and Linda, the more pressure we can put on those media corporations to be accountable to its listenership.