We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, July 25, 2014

'Witch Hunt': Fired MSNBC Contributor Speaks Out on Suppression of Israel-Palestine Debate

Click here to access article by Max Blumenthal from AlterNet. 

What liberals like Blumenthal and the disciplined NBC journalists fail to understand is that mainstream media is an organ of a ruling class in a class structured society. This media belongs to the ruling One Percent (owners of the economy and directors of their Empire) whose interests are often in opposition to the 99 Percent class of workers. 

Chris Hayes and others in mainstream media know this and quietly submit their on-air behavior to the dictates of their bosses. Perhaps Blumenthal knows this, but he, too, avoids mentioning the basic reality of this country in order to keep his job or avoid repercussions. Instead, it is much safer to wring one's hands at the awful behavior of NBC.  

These two journalists were not the first to go up against the One Percent's media and feel their wrath. Others include Ray Bonner, Gary Webb, Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett, Phil Donahue, Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Ward Churchill, and Van Jones. How many fired, disciplined, and ruined careers of journalists does it take to understand this reality?

The solution, of course, is that we in the 99 Percent must take responsibility for establishing our own media as they appear to be doing in Spain, and to recruit and support truth-tellers such as the above journalists who are currently working for peanuts in current alternative media such as Boiling Frogs Post or The Greanville Post.