Powerlessness
Very often, we feel as though we are at the mercy of the winds of trends that we strongly object to. Mostly, these are trends in popular culture or memes that are started, furthered and/or supported by popular media. We are not powerless, but we are to this point unorganized in our efforts to influence the outlets that either encourage or tolerate such behavior. Individually, we can air our opinions, as I did earlier today on the CBS website protesting David Letterman’s assault on the Palin family, and particularly his statutory rape joke about Willow Palin, the Governor’s fourteen year old daughter.
This will amount to precisely, and excuse me for using the technical term, jack. It costs them nothing.
Smaller groups make themselves heard by “organizing.” They group their voices, and their money, in order to make themselves disproportionately loud. Conservatives don’t like to do things like that. Conservatives, by and large, want to be left alone. When they actually get off of their butts to vote, they generally outnumber the liberals who wish to extend the mandate of government. One of the reasons that I find the Tea Party movement fascinating is because it is a largely conservative upwelling of relatively organized activity. If there is one thing that people can thank Barack Obama for, it’s finally getting conservatives to get out and make some noise.
I’m just kidding. It’s actually the total loss of any real influence that has inspired conservatives to actually flock together in large groups and actually make noise. Barack Obama is just a symbol.
Many of us have just as much of a problem with the relentless messages that we and our children are bombarded with on a daily basis. David Letterman is a great example, for the moment, of that inability that we have to hold the media and entertainers accountable. Those in the milblogging community have been able to take action on a few things in the past nine months or so. Several of those actions have been successful, likely, not because they have appealed to the better natures of the targeted audience, but because they have cried out to their advertisers. They have even called for boycotts.
The effects have been positive.
What conservatives need is the equivalent of an Angie’s list of companies that advertise, for instance, on Letterman’s show… or failing that, CBS. It should list the contact information for the advertising and public affairs people at those advertisers. Ideally, it should have the ability to click on a link and send a message to that company that you will not be buying from them again until they refrain from advertising on, say, CBS, until the company takes serious disciplinary action against the offender… say, David Letterman.
Letterman is a great example due to his recent prevarications. I stopped watching Letterman quite some time ago because of his nightly segments where he made fun of President Bush for any missteps, sometimes taking snippets out of context to make him seem stupid. It matters not what you may have thought of President Bush. The fact is that Mr. Letterman has not treated Barack Obama in the same fashion. If he were an equal opportunity basher, that would be one thing. Instead, Mr. Letterman makes pedophilic jokes about a 14 year old girl simply because her mother was the Vice Presidential candidate whom he opposed. Then later, upon being called on it, Letterman backpedals and says that it was about the daughter who couldn’t possibly have been “knocked up” by Rodriquez because she was thousands of miles away at the time. It couldn’t possibly have been about the other daughter. She was in Alaska. There was only one daughter who was present at the ball game, and she is 14. The joke is indefensible and inexcusable.
Letterman is just an example. He’s a good example right now, but each of us have others. Frequently. I don’t have the technical ability to create such a website, like a Thomas Jefferson’s List, where people could band together to work the economic angle against those who carry horrendous content. It’s the only way to influence people… you go after their wallets. None of us has that much power over anyone individually. It is by pooling our efforts that we begin to gain influence. When we start to pull the rug out from under such media outlets and entertainers, then that powerlessness will go away. People will start to make a difference as a group. Until then, we are all a bunch of powerless individuals watching nimrods like Letterman abuse conservatives because they are conservative. There is a lot of hate speech being directed at people in an effort to demonize them and make them ashamed to believe what they believe is true, or to keep them from speaking their minds. They seek to make pariahs out of those who disagree with them, and it is becoming unacceptable. Those who sponsor such hateful speech should be subjected to economic pressure from those who find it unacceptable. In order to do that, we need to have a clearinghouse for information where people can post data on the advertisers and the contact information of those who would care about losing sales due to boycotts based on their advertisements on particular media.
There is a wave of “victimhood” that has swept this nation over the course of several decades. It’s part of what drives us to want new laws constantly to protect us (or those we are brought to feel sorry for) from the supposed predations of the rest of society. Most of us do not want to take that easy road to victimhood. Victimhood is the affirmation of powerlessness. Victimhood is the abdication of responsibility.
Let’s stop being victims. There is a need to here for someone with greater skills than I have to create a database that ordinary people can help populate and access so that we can take direct personal action to influence our social environment. It’s the type of activity that will have an impact. Or, we can each individually take the time to figure out this information to try to influence our environment.
Or, we can just sit back and continue to take it… which is just accepting powerlessness.
Just an idea. Any takers?
Posted on June 16th, 2009 by Andy Wahl
Filed under: Uncategorized
DAVID LETTERMAN’S HATE, ETC. !
David Letterman’s hate is as old as some ancient Hebrew prophets.
Speaking of anti-Semitism, it’s Jerry Falwell and other fundy leaders who’ve gleefully predicted that in the future EVERY nation will be against Israel (an international first?) and that TWO-THIRDS of all Jews will be killed, right?
Wrong! It’s the ancient Hebrew prophet Zechariah who predicted all this in the 13th and 14th chapters of his book! The last prophet, Malachi, explains the reason for this future Holocaust that’ll outdo even Hitler’s by stating that “Judah hath dealt treacherously” and “the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this” and asks “Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?”
Haven’t evangelicals generally been the best friends of Israel and Jewish persons? Then please explain the recent filthy, hate-filled, back-stabbing tirades by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard and Kathy Griffin) against a leading evangelical named Sarah Palin, and explain why most Jewish leaders have seemingly condoned Palin’s continuing “crucifixion”!
While David, Sandra, and Kathy are tragically turning comedy into tragedy, they are also helping to speed up and fulfill the Final Holocaust a la Zechariah and Malachi, thus helping to make the Bible even more believable!
(For even more stunning information, visit MSN and type in “Separation of Raunch and State” and “Bible Verses Obama Avoids.”)
Remember your OPSEC: the security of your Op Plans is directly in reverse proportion to how many sets of eyes have seen them. Every Marxist revolutionary knows that the cell system of organizing was invented to counter this security issue.
All that being said, the minute you or anyone else erects a database to facilitate “direct action”, that person will be declared a domestic terrorist.
In your cell, only two other people know your entire op plan. Keep it that way.
I told my grnadmteohr how you helped. She said, bake them a cake!