Surviving Capitalism (Not) : What’s wrong with media’s picture of us?

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, August 22, 2010

What’s wrong with media’s picture of us?

by Djelloul Marbrook from his blog.

The blogger makes some very important points about how "self-seeking politicians and ratings-seeking media...are obsessed with driving wedges between us."

The picture of America fed to us by the media and our politicians—those hand-in-glove bandits—is not of an America that produces great art, that cures diseases, educates its children, gives everyone a hand, minds its own business, likes to sing and dance and laugh. No, the picture of America we are handed is grim, mean and disruptive, not unlike a prison yard.

However, he misses the underlying reality of a ruling class and its power structure that rules the US, and their interests in keeping their subjects, working people, divided, isolated, misinformed, and competing against each other. The politicians and media managers he refers to are merely agents of the ruling class. If we are going to create a sustainable society, it is absolutely essential that we understand what we are up against.

Every oppressor in history has always used the principle of divide and conquer to control people. The challenge is for us to understand how this currently works and to promote cooperative efforts in every way we can. Probably the most essential means of bringing people together is for working people to create their own means of communication or media.