You don't bring a knife when the other side has artillery
Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:20:58 AM PDT
This community is in a mini turmoil about what Keith and Rachel did on MSNBC with Sanford's e-mails, all information which is public knowledge and readily available.
Some folks think that Keith and Rachel should have left parts out of the coverage, specifically parts about personal intimate details. Others think the opposite.
From my title, you can probably guess which side I'm on. I don't have a problem with what Keith and Rachel did. Mark Sanford by his actions as Congressman and as Governor has repeatedly shown a level of disrespect for the privacy of others, and a willingness to destroy people's lives based upon their personal preference, class and ethnicity.
I understand the concept of honoring the privacy of another human being under certain circumstances. But when an individual takes on the calling to serve the public and does so in the twisted and distorted way that Sanford has, there is no level of respect. Same thing for Clarence Thomas.
The actions of these hypocrites that dictate terms of morality to others makes them fair game for anything that be thrown at them. There's not enough ridicule on the planet to dispense upon these jerks who deign to sit in moral judgment over others, when their own personal foibles are revealed.
This fight is not on fair ground. When the other side has an array of M1 Abrams tanks and artillery, one does not bring a knife to the fight.
Liberalism and progressivism does not equate to following the Golden Rule, sorry. Pretending that if we 'treat them nicely, they'll do so in return' just guarantees getting knifed in the back for your trouble.
Corporations have just started to allow liberal and progressive voices on their airwaves in a very limited way. Companies like MSNBC were forced into it, because the value of having these voices attracted such a strong demographic that the profit motive finally trumped whatever political considerations they had.
Keith, Rachel and Ed are going to push for ratings, they are going to survive in their environment, because they have to live in a media environment which consists of titillation and controversy. They didn't make that environment the cesspool it is, corporate media and people like Limbaugh, Wiener-Savage, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter and others did that. The politics of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove did that.
Live with it, or frankly if you don't like what KO and Rachel have to say, just shut the damn TV off.
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We are in battle over more than just some Governor's hypocrisy.
This is a battle for the very survival of People, of human beings against Corporations, and it is an asymmetrical battle, one in which we do not control the megaphone, or the off switch.
People, real human beings are dying needlessly in war, from lack of proper health care, for being poisoned by the corporate machine which destroys mountaintops to mine poison they inject into the atmosphere.
It's more than just Mark Sanford's love letters to his mistress.
A lot more than that.
We are fighting against an inhuman enemy that has no honor, no core values and no sense of human decency. These are not human beings - these are Corporations, whose only stated and legal purpose is to feed their own insatiable greed.
The role of government should be to control these corporations against crushing the People, and We are losing this battle.
We can do more than just be spectators in this battle.
For some ideas, think of groups like the Yes Men, and how they use 'culture jamming' and anti-corporate activism. There are thousands of us potentially able to do our own versions of what they do.
Use your imagination.
We can take an active part in destroying this disease ridden corporate "news" media and the lies they generate - not just by calling advertisers, not just by boycotts, not just by calling the talk shows and being oppositional.
Information sabotage and guerrilla warfare against the corporate media networks is justified, as these organizations are continuing to support policies which are killing people in warfare, denying human rights and destroying the planet though mass societal ecological suicide. These entities and the people that espouse these views do not deserve respect; they are not legitimate.
Rather than fight them, provide them with so much noise, drive them so far to the extreme right that they make themselves so irrelevant the American People reject them. They are already doing that number on themselves, but we can help accelerate the process.
Here's an example:
Call the talk shows, and rather than be oppositional, calmly state the most outrageous right wing, racist and disgusting premise you can. Try to get the host to agree with you. Start gently, and guide them down an ever narrowing path where you can get them to come out and clearly state their racism and hatred, right on the air. It should not be hard to do, they are so stupid, they should fall right into the trap.
As for 'news networks' like FOX, feed them lies. provide them news ledes and stories which may have a tiny bit of fact, and then do what they do - embellish and distort that fact and make them chase it. At the very least, make them waste their time and resources; if totally successful, some of these stories might make air, and make them subject to yet more ridicule.
This 'turn the other cheek' and 'do unto others as they would do unto you' BS might make you feel morally superior. But it is not going to save this planet. Save that crap for your weekly visit to your place of worship. This is war.
Deliberate, planned propaganda must be fed into the corporate network, distorting their already distorted message so badly that they self destruct from gorging on the poison. We have tens of thousands of people who can throw the footwear into the machinery. It's time we started making it happen.
