Information that does not transform is just gossip.
You are the government.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
I'd like to meet:
It's our responsibility what happens around the world. It's our responsibility for Vietnam, and all the other wars that we don't quite hear about. It's all our responsibility,
and when we all want peace we'll get it.
People have said we're naive for trying to
sell peace like a car, or bar of soap.
But I ask ya, is the Ford company naive...
or the soap powder company?
They're selling the same old soap that's been around for two thousand years, but now it's 'New Blue Soap.' Well, we're selling 'New Blue Peace!' ...and we hope some of you buy it!"
- John Lennon, 1969
.
"War of any kind, international, civil, or holy or for 'whatever cause' is unjustifiable because with modern weapons and strategies, more than 80% of its victims are civilians and more than half of them are children.
-- Varindra Tarzie Vittachi -- Former Deputy Director of UNICEF, 1993
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In The Know: Candidates Compete For Vital Idgit Vote
Music:
A Hindu Parable
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk
Cried, "Ho! what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up he spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope.
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
Moral:
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen.
Movies:
Documentaries are the last bastion of real information. That and books. Some books are SO good. Don't not read books.
Most big Hollywood action films make use of military equipment. Any loan of military equipment to a production requires Pentagon approval of the script and the underlying message of the story. There's no such thing as "just entertainment."
"If I hold you any closer, I'll be in back of you." -- G. Marx
Here are some I recommend:
The Corporation
Sicko
Manufacturing Consent
An Unreasonable Man
Brazil
Leolo
the Party
Pink Panther (the original)
un homme et une femme
the Cook the Thief his Wife and her Lover
akira
On the Waterfront
Raising Arizona
Casablanca
the Big Sleep
black orpheus
2001
dr. strangelove
Fletch
Super Troopers
killing Fields
cinema Paradiso
the Dark Crystal
Rocco & His Brothers
Lawrence of Arabia
Being There
Monsters Inc
Coming Home
To Catch A Thief
39 Steps
Underworld
the Maltese Falcon
time Bandits
the Graduate
donnie darko
Usual Suspects
Blade Runner
Stepmom
delicatssn
A Night at the Opera
igby goes down
you Can Count On Me
Zoolander
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Kung Fu Hustle
The Life of Brian
Television:
The hurricane of media messaging out there dominating our primary senses exist at the whim of 6 corporations who control over 90% of American's media. Six. Consider this for a moment:
These 6 corporations have one purpose. To make money. To further consolodate their power. How do they do this? Through advertising. Their primary agenda. As we well know, advertising breeds the modern American superficial narcissism we all know so well. The "me" generation. A society apathetic, mostly unrepresented, and cynical, and desperately trying to solve some feeling of inadequacy to which the answer is as elusive as it is unreal.
If 6 men control and commercialize the major past-time, the language of communication and the primary cultural references of a nation's 300 million citizens, all for the purpose of growing their wealth, what do you call that kind of society?
The good news is 75% of Americans have internet access. You can use your power for peace and revolution.
Books:
Mediated
by Thomas de Zengotita
The Assault on Reason
by Al Gore
People's History of America
by Howard Zinn
Books are one of the few media left to us that aren't completely infused with advertising. They also require an active participatory imagination which inspires critical thinking. These are all good things.
Final thought here on advertising and marketing:
to recognize the media representations we bear witness to on a constant basis as attempting to flatter our narcissism, we may find ourselves suddenly and disconcertingly, immune.
Heroes:
Anyone with the courage to speak out.
Anyone who's kind and brave.
Dennis Kucinich
Al Gore
John Lennon
Gautama Buddha
and all the other Buddhas...
Jesus
Muhammad
Moses
Ghandi
MLK
Joseph Cambell
Howard Zinn
Chris Rock
comedians
artists
wordsmiths
pacifists
You risked your life, but what else have you ever risked? Have you ever risked disapproval? Have you ever risked economic security? Have you ever risked a belief? I see nothing particularly courageous in risking one's life. So you lose it, you go to your hero's heaven till the end of time. Right? You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences. That's not courage. Real courage is risking something you have to keep on living with, real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one's clichés.
Tom Robbins from Another Roadside Attraction
