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

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Video: I.F. Stone’s One Weird Trick to Do Great Journalism

Click here to access article by Jon Schwarz from The Intercept

I relied, along with more obscure sources in foreign media, chiefly on I. F. Stone's Weekly report to find out what was really going on in the Vietnam War. This was because, like today, corporate media is the property of the ruling class which instigates the wars that our country gets into and they will report endless lies to justify the wars. This piece reports on the valiant efforts by I. F. Stone to report the realities of the war. Stone was an independent journalist who was widely respected by other mostly independent journalists of his time, and is today revered by those who appreciate him as a role model for independent, honest journalism.