COVER -> RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT
TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS - Certain friends of mine have contended, based on the fact that I punch out so many new words week-after-week, that I now produced only one major essay a year. They could be right. The one for 2000 was probably "The Other Evil Empire." Looking back on all my articles here at G21, I think so.
Recall that I was also writing for four other Web sites this year. I have a couple of favorites within my other output, but the customer is always right.
So let's take it back to The Streets, Gentle Reader. Let's accept that the mirror-image of a Banana Republic election that we are experiencing here in the United States as I click this out on my keyboard vindicates the premises raised in that essay last May.
Where should we go from here?
| I believed until a few hours ago that I would be able to begin this latest RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT on "Cruise Control," as we used to say. No such luck. Part of the process of keeping you informed is that --- like many other Web sites --- G21 eventually found that we not only needed to change design, but personnel and, then, servers.
We've been on a server in Los Angeles for three years now. But we had outtages. So we decided to move to a (seemingly) more reliable array in New York City. Guess again! All day Rod has been receiving telephone calls from people asking: "Why don't you respond to your e-mail anymore?" "What e-mail?" I ask. "The one I sent you last week." Oh-oh! ON SATURDAY I was only worried about the fact that Network Solutions, the domain-name registrar, had not gotten back to me about the site transition. Today, I'm dealing with more serious problems of Internet communications. We have gotten this medium's technology *down* by now haven't we? Guess again. |
Why do I say this? Because we have become valued more as *consumers* than as citizens. It now takes letting those Powers-That-Be know that not only are we mad as Hell, but that we won't buy anymore if they refuse to recognize our anger. It's all about purchasing power, it seems, so let's address the battle on that turf. Let's say that if you ignore our social and political concerns, PTB, we'll vote with our money.
Because that's a game that both politicians and multinational corporations have no problem understanding.
This is because the prevailing assumption among the PTB is that you are content to passively sit back, enthralled by your PlayStation 2, your computer terminal with easy Internet access, your television set blasting false needs at you every ten minutes, false body-images, false promises of success, status, sex-appeal based on driving a certain vehicle, eating a certain hamburger, using a certain breath-mint or mouthwash instead of actively thinking about your own REAL personal concerns. The prevailing assumption is that you actually prefer consumerism over social and political involvement. And the only thing which undermines that prevailing assumption is when you take your concerns back to The Street.
The British Raj knew that there was discontent in India about foreign domination, but as long as that discontent was only expressed in (fringe) political rallies and polite discussion groups NOTHING CHANGED. What changed India was when the dissident movement, under Gandhi's leadership, took to the street and condemned the injustice, faced the cudgels of authority, faced-down the riot squads again and again without wavering from their purpose. Nothing has changed about how tyrants get the message.
The Mouthhpiece Media, despite all the historical evidence and continuing truth of the importance of common people taking their need for redress to The Street, will continue to trivialize, marginalize and ridicule such action. Why? Look who's paying them to trivialize, marginalize and ridicule the average person. This is what they get paid to do: make you feel powerless and insignificant. It's what Malcolm X called "tricknology."
IF you listen, they have already won.
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The strongest power on Earth is the power of an idea.
The strongest power on Earth is the power of an idea.
The idea we are presenting to you here is that every person matters, that you are NOT powerless, and that you can change the world.
As we move into this season of Holy Days for many of the world's religions, as we gather with family and friends, G21 wishes you joy. But we also wish to remind you of the principle of good will towards all people.... not just to the rich, the powerful, the upper-class, the propertied --- but ALL PEOPLE.
It starts with you.
And I, personally, will feel happy for more evidences that you are actively involved in creating the world as it can be and rejecting the world as it is....
This week's Poll: I think of myself as ...?
RDR RECOMMENDED SITE OF THE DAY: Wannah just play around with images of the Presidents-to-Be on the 'Net? The place to go is FEARTHIS.COM
