[GPSCC-chat] Media antitrust (was "Political Passion")

[Spencer Graves]

a minor quibble <in line>


On 3/6/2012 8:14 AM, Wes Rolley wrote:
<snip>

>
> However, the most interesting fact was that there were only 12 total 
> votes.  In the same issue, the News Poll had 190 responses.  Perhaps, 
> the real point to be gained is that most people just don't care about 
> politics and might consider politicians as a lower life form.   A more 
> positive view is that there is a place for political activism that can 
> offer a view of how much better we can be and show us all how to get 
> there.  Republicans like to reference the "shining city on the hill" 
> but never give a road map.


       I would say that both Republicans and Democrats offer roadmaps, 
but they carefully avoid following them, because if they did, they would 
not get the money to run another political campaign -- and they could be 
assured of NOT getting a reasonable job with any major company after 
leaving office.  Both of these points are covered in detail in Lessig 
(2010) Republic, Lost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic,_Lost), 
which served as the primary source of inspiration for my latest essays 
on "The Crisis in US Politics & Economics" and "Media antitrust" (both 
available from "occupy.pbworks.com" -> "Pages & Files" -> Issues 
(http://occupy.pbworks.com/w/page/51535688/Systemic%20Corruption and 
http://occupy.pbworks.com/w/page/51550749/Media%20antitrust).


       Lessig says, "So damn much money" is THE GATEWAY problem in the 
sense that we will not be able to make any substantive progress against 
any of the other problems facing the nation without first fixing that 
one.  He offers several possible ways this problem might be fixed, 
including public funding of political campaigns.


       I think he's wrong:  I believe the problem is the tendency of the 
major media conglomerates to largely avoid reporting on how this works.  
To fix that, I believe we need to make politics the national pastime, 
fueled by a massive increase in serious investigative journalism and 
honest trust busting of the major media conglomerates.


       This web site, "occupy.pbworks.com" is a WYSIWYG wiki.  "Wiki" 
means that anyone can make edits.  For this wiki, you need to be a 
registered "User" to add anything, but I'm an "Administrator", so I can 
add you if you want.  Unlike Wikipedia, this wiki is WYSIWYG (what you 
see is what you get), and for most things, it's virtually as easy as 
editing in an email or an MS Word document.

>
> However, concentrating on the negatives will only strengthen negative 
> perceptions.


       A friend said he and others got great response wearing stickers 
or buttons saying, "Ask me about Occupy San José":  People would ask 
them.  We could make stickers or buttons saying, "Ask me about" our 
favorite issue of the day and wear them everywhere, e.g., while 
shopping, etc.


       Spencer
>
>
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-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com