Journalism Archives - The Allegator

Down With Evil Corporations, Dare to be Stupid

Those of you with facebook accounts have no doubt seen one or the other, possibly even both, of the above and below images (the one below had the caption Dare to be Stupid, Click LIKE & SHARE if people calling for “zero taxes” shouldn’t be using public streets and sidewalksÂ .

The former is an Occupy Wall Street protest. I think there is a bit of validity in the picture in the sense that while government has a monopoly on force, you are allowed to avoid using the products of corporations you don’t approve of in order to vote with your wallet to change their policy. Even so, the Occupy Wall Street message, while vague, seems to be one directed at general wealth disparity of management, rather than opposition to any given company or product.

The latter is a Tea Party protest, with the implication that people shouldn’t be allowed to protest their government in public. These people paid for the things around them, regardless of whether they wanted to. While signs like “CUT TAXES NOT DEFENSE” are hard to defend in our current budget, the post is centered more on the validity of protesting, rather than the flawed message. The first Amendment clearly gives them the right to assemble and redress their grievances, and unlike OWS, they are on public property rather than private.

Both of these posts have tens of thousands of likes and shares. They are unhelpful. They lack substance. They serve only to increase partisan divides through snarky peer pressure.

These two political movements should be embracing each other. They both find their main opposition not in each other, but in the status quo. Ron Paul recently made the point that compromise is when you give up half of your beliefs. He said we need to be finding common ground with others issue by issue, rather than picking one of the two parties and sticking with it blindly. What do they agree on? That those in power are abusing it, that there is too much money in politics, and that the system is broken beyond the point where working within the established system will fix it.

They are bothÂ decentralizedÂ movements, which is both a strength and a weakness. Those in power (the combination of the two parties and their joint corporate masters) are ridiculing both sides on the airwaves. Photos like those above are shown as if they represent the views of the entire movement. On the other hand, without centralized structure, they are able to pull together a group of people who don’t agree on everything, without forcing any of them to compromise their beliefs. They are a hydra, much like many of theÂ decentralizedÂ militant groups around the world. It’s hard to kill something that has no vital organs. And for each, the existence of the other alleviates that which has plagued every third party that has tried to spring up: the kingmaker excuses. If only one of these movements were to exist, the main party on the other side of the spectrum would get an easy win due to the split vote. If they are both strong, the two party system is out of excuses.

Some Ron Paul Videos

Just an update on some recent Ron Paul videos. First up we have a couple from Jon Stewart, who has given a boost of cred to both Ron Paul and himself by highlighting the coporate media’s fear of everything Ron Paul. Stewart shows once again that he earned his place as the most trusted journalist in America. Sometimes all you need is an observant nature and an unwillingness to be bought.

Stewart had him on again more recently. Below is the third part of the interview. The first two parts are there too, but were of less substance. Ron Paul needs to get better at explaining his positions to liberals. It isn’t that he wants to destroy all social programs and safety nets, he is just trying to get them back to a more local level.

There was also this interview on FOX, where he talks about working with the Democrats, and how compromise in the modern political sense is where you give up half of your beliefs. He instead is willing wo choose his allies issue by issue, and find common ground rather than concessions.

Ron Paul Beliefs

Ron Paul makes quite a campaign commercial. Â It’s interesting to see a candidate for president run on a platform of consistency, honesty, peace, liberty, and sincerity, and not have a single one of his opponents question his credentials on any of it. He faces only two obstacles: A corporate financed media who censors his victories, and a fear that a reduction in federal power would bring back the dark ages.

I urge my readers to help with these two hurdles.

On the issue ofÂ electability: If he wins the primary, Republicans will vote for him rather than Obama. Those supporters of Obama who are primarily anti-war will come around as well, since Ron Paul has far more credibility on the issue.

On federal power: Much of the power of the federal government is recent. For example, I see people recoil when they hear he wants to do away with the Department of Education, as if doing so would put us into a situation where all the schools closed and children never learned to read. The Department of Education was created in 1979. If you went to school after that, do you think you got a better education than your parents? Taking the power over education from the teachers and communities and putting into the hands of federal policy makers has taken the substance out of learning and left it cold. Ron Paul seeks to put the power back in the hands of states, communities, and teachers, not to end education.

Be heard. We can’t have the media convincing people that we don’t exist. We need to turn headlines likeÂ Poll: Romney leads New Hampshire, Huntsman in third, Perry in fourthÂ into a rallying cry against a system trying to fix the vote for those in power.

For Everyone Else, There’s WikiLeaks

I haven’t spoken much about WikiLeaks, but I’m glad that such organizations exist to shine some sunlight on the back-room dealing of those in power. It’s a sad day when the truth is a crime.

Our secrets are a weakness, not our power. Who can be blackmailed, if they have no secrets? WhoÂ embezzlesÂ money in the light of day? If torture is humane and effective, then why don’t we do it publicly? What investor invests in a market they know is overvalued?

If the state of our Union is strong, don’t tell us it is strong, show us it is strong. Open the books. Knowing that the data they see is the truth will brink confidence in our Dollar and our nation, not chase it away. Besides, if you don’t open the books, Assange will do it for you.

I also think it’s key, when the media and politicians talk about the damage done by a Wikileak, that we assess for ourselves whether that damage is at the feet of Wikileaks or those who perpetrated what they have exposed.

Wikipedia keeps a current list of all of the major stories they’ve broken here.

Veena Malik: Don’t Tread on Me

The above video of Veena Malik gives me hope for the future of Islamic nations. The uprisings sparked in Tunisia have spread like wildfire through nations repressed by religion, censorship, and income inequality. Some have been successful, while others haven’t, and the deciding factor seems to be one of courage in numbers.

In places like Tunisia and Egypt, the people came out in such numbers that there was no way for the government to win. At best, they could slaughter their own workforce in order to maintain control of their compound. In China, the internet surveillance was on high alert, and the police response was swift, dragging people out of their homes in the dead of night. Had four protesters come up for every one they took away, China would be the only thing in our news right now.

People like Veena Malik are very important. By coming out on national television and saying several things that would likely get her swiftly killed if she said them in the streets, she has given the church and the government an impossible dilemma. If they kill her, she becomes a martyr for her cause. If they don’t, she gives courage to all of those who were previously afraid to speak out to follow her example.