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News :: Miscellaneous |
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The New York Times: Still Living In The Past |
Current rating: 0 |
by Smarter Times
(No verified email address) |
07 Aug 2001
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Some just get stuck in the past, refusing to deal with reality as it presently exists, preferring to view the world as the way the wish it was, instead of how it really is. This is often regarded as a mental illness when it affects a person.
What is it called when a major media outlet does it?
BIAS |
Unrepentant
A headline in the national section of Monday's New York Times reports, "An Unrepentant Nader Unveils a New Grass-Roots Project."
This is reminiscent of the April 23, 2001, headline in the Times national section, which said, "An Unrepentant Nader Sees a Positive Side of Bush Policy."
If you got your news only from the New York Times, you might think that Mr. Nader had changed his first name from "Ralph" to "Unrepentant." Back in April, Smartertimes.com said, "the Times still is harboring hostility toward Mr. Nader for supposedly costing Al Gore the election. The Times would do better to get over it, already, and stop demanding in headlines that Mr. Nader repent."
But it looks like the Times itself is unrepentant. Today's article devotes an inordinate amount of space to "at least two dozen" anti-Nader protesters. Mr. Nader drew a crowd of 7,500, but the Times prefers to dwell on the protesters and the demand that Mr. Nader repent. |
See also:
http://www.smartertimes.com
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IMC Report: Nader at the Rose Garden |
by The Old Gray Wolf
rags_the_digger (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Aug 2001
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Saturday the 5th of August, Ralph Nader and the Green Party's new public relations spectacle, Democracy Rising, decended on the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The event was as much a community fair as it was a political rally, and rightly so. Described by many of the speakers who accompanied Nader to the stage, for the headline event of Saturday's festivities, as the fastest growing political party not only in the United States but also the world, the Green Party represents the ideals, frustrations, and aspirations of a diverse community of people ranging from pseudo-Anarchists to liberal and radical political activists to disenfranchised ex-Democrats and ex-Republicans who are now choosing to stand left of Left.
Booths, tables, and bodies filled the main circum-course of the Rose Garden throughout the day. A wide range of political lobby groups, citizen groups, media collectives, and worker's unions handed out propaganda, sold T-shirts, displayed videos and charts depicting in graphic detail the faces and statistics of particular evils present the Unites States' corporate-military socio-economic landscape. Among those present were the Green Party, Public Citizen, Democracy Rising, The Portland Alliance, Cascadia Forest Alliance, The Utilities Reform Project, Industrial Workers of the World, The Portland Coalition Against Weapons in Space, Redirect, Sierra Club, The Sustainable Forestry Project, the Native Forest Council, Bark, Earth Day 2001, the Women's Union Resource Center, the Bicycle Transit Authority, Car Sharing, OSPIRG, Independent Media Center, Animal Liberation, and others, all adding signatures to their initiatives and mailing lists. Free floating petitioners also circulated among the throng gathering signatures for additional petitions and initiatives for the upcoming elections this Fall.
The general mood of the event was at once serious and celebratory. Activists and lobbyists who have donated countless hours and emotional vigor to their issues and campaigns found themselves surrounded at times by interested and excited citizens eager to learn, participate, and at times even financially contribute. Those who weren't behind the tables were exposed to a wide range of issues, and by and large met the near-overwhelming diversity of groups and projects with interest and enthusiasm. Everyone present seemed sobered by the severity and range of unjustices represented, while at the same time bolstered and inspired by the sheer magnitude of the event and the number of community members who came to participate and learn.
Evening brought the event around which all of this activity centered, the political rally and musical performances both in support of the Green Party and as parts of the Democracy Rising tour. Celebrity Danny Glover acted as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and introduced such names as Jello Biafra, Medea Benjamin, Eddie Vedder, and, of course, Ralph Nader.
Each of the speakers displayed insight, enthusiasm, and humor as they told stories, explained their issues, and engaged and excited the audience of thousands. Glover brought a gentle demeanor and emotional accessibilty to his introductions, his reading of "Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes, discussing his personal attatchment to the issues, and explaining his life-long battle with dyslexia to explain the few mistakes he made with the names of Jello Kennedy (Biafra) and Eddie Velder (Vedder). |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=57685&group=webcast
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IMC Report Part II: Nader at the Rose Garden |
by The Old Gray Wolf
rags_the_digger (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Aug 2001
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Biafra, the outspoken renegade and musician of Dead Kennedy's fame and multiple political office candidate from California, was his typically articulate and charming self. Among his admonitions to the audience to be kind and gentle in discussing the issues of the Green Party with non-Greens was, as more than a sidenote, at once his encouragement and warning that Europe is now looking to US activism as a vanguard of protest "against the excess of corporate feudalism." Energy activist and political powerhouse Benjamin, who seemed an entire arena of political activists packed into one petite frame, filled the auditorium with her frustration over the misinformation and poor policies of the energy industries in California, but also the successes and promising expectation of several programs and referendi to place control of California utitlies into the hands of the public.
Attorney Mark Kafourey and son Jason, the co-ordinators of the event, provided the interim entertainment of an auction and collection. Several audience members stepped up to Kafourey's evanvelist-styled bekoning for independent donations in the amount of five hundred dollars. Several autographed volumes of works by Nader were auctioned for one hundred dollars apeice, and collection boxes were passed throughout the audience for lesser contributions from any and all who felt their donations appropriate. Jason, who father Mark described as the inspiration and perpsipration behind the evening, was articulate and gratious with the crowd and obviously pleased with the success of his efforts.
Vedder, of Pearl Jam fame, took the stage for only a few short songs. The first played on a Ukelele while bending down to sing into the same microphone that was used for the instrument. He jokingly shrugged off the inconvenience with the quip, "It's okay, man. It's just a rally." He used the same joke again after losing his place in one song and searching awkwardly for a moment to find the chord he needed. Vedder was accessible, witty, played good songs that addressed poor personal socio-economic choices (trading love for wealth) and political hipocracy, and at one point used the public address system to invite Paul Allen down from his apartment above the arena to join the festivities. It is unclear whether Allen was in the apartment or not, but Vedder's allusion to seperatism and class-division was not lost.
Nader, presidential hopeful and co-founder/instigator of student lobby groups and consumer rights organizations, spoke last, if not also best. Without delving into the involved process of describing the ends and depths of Nader's political convictions (several online organizations and books have already approached that subject) it is important to expose a facet of his oration that has been heretofore neglected by the media. The man is hilarious. During his speech, which ranged over a host of issues, Nader approached the emptiness of local bubblegum news programming in the style of a stand-up comedian. In particular, he singled out local news coverage of the weather for the subject of his wit. "And their fascination with the weather. Have you seen this stuff? ... With their 'Super Doppler Radar' and their 'Storm Teams' ... showing the radar reports for one suburban neighborhood at a time ... and when they finally do get to the temperature they pick these places that are like two miles apart and 'here's the temperature here and here's the temperature there.' It's ridiculous! 'And here's what the temperature was thirty years ago.' ... I just wanna know what the temperature is, ... and if it's gonna rain." The man has timing and delivery on a par with the greats of stand-up. The audience was roaring with laughter. People were nearly falling out of their seats and at least a few eyes were wet with mirth.
When he finished putting the crowd in stitches, Nader continued his discussion of the issues and plans of the Green Party. Absent from his speech, though, was any discussion of, or even nod to, criticisms raised during the last elections of his lack of experience with foreign policy and international relations at the political level. Also absent was a discussion of specific strategies for implementing the agendas of the Green Party once in office. However, the event was a rally and not a debate, so the void created by the non-inclusion of these issues was barely noticable.
All in all the evening was a resounding success. Thousands left the auditorium with political activism on their minds and in their hearts. The Green Party presented itself as an international organization and movement that ranges in adherents from disobedient direct actionists to political reformists to lawyers to celebrities and everything in between. The Democracy Rising tour was kicked off with a bang and with any luck will find as much support and success in what Nader described as, "other progressive cities across the country."
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See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=57685&group=webcast
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