As much as I see...

[Mythsaje]

people complaining about the corporate media around here, no one seems to want to do ANYTHING to deal with the issue. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than a few thousand people not tuning in, or writing angry letters to their sponsors to catch their attention.

Protests? A hundred thousand people marching on Washington is treated like a "small gathering" while counter-protesters are given attention far exceeding their relevance. What the hell good has ANY protest done us?

They KNOW we're onto their game. But they don't care because nothing we're doing has any significant effect on the agenda or its day-to-day application. They're getting away with feeding us shit because the majority of Americans have been convinced that shit is cake.

What I propose is an active campaign against the shit-mongers, a campaign that might evolve many levels over time. I started out this morning detailing how an on-line poll about romance novels mirrors what they do with the news all the time. They skew polls. They twist the definitions of things to "encourage" a particular result. They lie and mislead, sometimes so subtley that it's hard to see.

I figure step one is going out and being pro-active. Spread the word about the corporate media, on-line and in the flesh. We already know that they're seen as less trustworthy than they were. It wouldn't be hard to capitalize on that.

That's not all. If they won't come to the protests, maybe we should bring the protests to THEM. As DUer Tavalon suggested, maybe we could subborn some technicians, or other "peons" to inform us of where various news crews will be. Then all we'd have to do is show up on scene, wearing the tee-shirts and/or hats, and creep into the background as they shoot.

They'll notice, of course, but it could become very expensive for them very quickly to find that their distracting news "stories" have been infiltrated.

There's a thousand different things we could do to "punk the press," all within our legal rights as citizens.

I'll bet that creative DUers could come up with some great ways to pay back the corporate media for the disservice it's done us.

If we do our job well enough, it's going to make them paranoid. They'll be afraid of covering certain stories because they won't know whether or not it's some sort of trick.

We might also start using tactics similar to those one sees from the anti-tabacco "Truth" organization. Public dramatizations, demonstrations, and whatever else we might think up. We can broadcast our own stories on the web...

I don't know how effective any of this might be, but isn't it high time we tried something new?


Of course, we could simply sit here doing what we've been doing all along...gripe about something we're not willing to even TRY to change. Acknowledge our powerlessness and watch as they pull off yet another massive con job on the American people.

I think it's past time we gave them a little grief.

[Hannah Bell]

1. i agree. getting organized - not under the banner of the party, or

elite-sponsored organizations, is what needs to happen. using the power we have, not putting out power into other people's hands.

on another note, there was a thread showing a picture of a truck with a statue of liberty in the back. every single comment i read was along the lines of "what a moron!"

but that guy, at least, was willing to risk appearing to be stupid. this kind of person is what's needed, & who knows what his beliefs were, beyond patriotism. who knows what kind of common cause might be made with people like him.

it was tiresome reading the thread of mocking comments. plays right into power-mongers' hands, to have people divided over such stupid things.

the tools are available. organize in your neighborhood & peer groups, & reach out to other neighborhoods & the town next door, & further, via the internet.

it's hard work, & it seems most don't want to do it.

[EFerrari]

2. Someone needs to buy punkthepress.com

:applause: