FREEDOM
It’s why we’re here today! It’s why we’re celebrating the BIRTH OF OUR NATION, our INDEPENDENCE- FREEDOM FROM A GOVERNMENT that didn’t care about our rights, and only cared about what it could GET from us.
We celebrate FREEDOM from TYRANNY
NO TAXATION without REPRESENTATION – ah, they were fighting words back then, back in the day!
Our Founding Fathers declared their independence from this tyranny – they took up arms, they went to war. They fought and won, and we became an INDEPENDENT NATION, one where the PEOPLE – that’s US – were sovereign! One where WE THE PEOPLE elect, select, our government- one where those who governed do so at the CONSENT of the governed-at the consent of US.
So we got this wonderful thing, this republic, this remarkable nation founded on an idea: that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
What we got was a republic –that’s Latin for A THING OF THE PEOPLE
And the PEOPLE – that’s US!
And all this is well and good. WE get to pick, WE get to vote, WE are what drives government WE are the ones who CHOOSE who we want to REPRESENT US
The CHOICE IS OURS!
But choice ONLY works when we have FACTUAL, OBJECTIVE information on which to base our DECISIONS
And where do we get this information? From our families, our own experience and education, our community and more broadly: OUR NEWS MEDIA
The framers of the Constitution KNEW how important the media was in disseminating the truth, in letting WE THE PEOPLE know what our government is doing. This is why they ensured that our press remain FREE from government interference. It was so important that they included it in the bill of rights as part of the first amendment – not in the 2ndamendment, or the 8th, or the 10th, but it’s RIGHT THERE, in the first one alongside free speech and freedom of religion:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press “
Let me repeat that
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press.”
The OBVIOUS IMPLICATION is that the PRESS IS FREE; free from interference, free from restrictions, and especially, free to report on the goings on of the government. Free to report on current events, free to report, without fear, on what our GOVERNMENT is doing. The first amendment allowed the press to publish, without fear, matters of public concern, as well as to permit criticism of the government . As George Orwell said: “Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.”
The first amendment told the government:
You don’t get to Dictate what is or isn’t reported . You don’t get to get in the way of information. YOU don’t get to interfere in the informing of WE THE PEOPLE.
And why is this so important?
Ben Franklin wrote in 1736:
“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.”
And indeed,Ben was right.
Look at what tyrannies do:
In order to control the people in Germany, The Nazis seized control of the press, film and radio. The Soviet Union and all Eastern Bloc countries – same thing–their government took control over the press
All totalitarian regimes control the press –WHY?
Because when you control information, you control the people
Where you don’t control information, tyranny is made far more difficult to impose. That why seizing the press is always, always a first step towards totalitarianism, towards TYRANNY.
I often hear people refer to our media as Pravda –the propaganda arm of the Soviet Union – ironically, the word Pravda means TRUTH
To, that, I say that actually what we have here is SO MUCH WORSE!
Our PRESS CHOOSES to be a propaganda arm of one political party, one agenda, ONE IDEOLOGY. They have the RIGHT – the PROTECTED RIGHT – to report freely on the government – this right is PROTECTED by the Constitution of the United States. And they IGNORE IT!
This is-pardon me for saying so, but this is – insane!
We laughed at Chris Matthews when he said he’d do whatever he could to help this president succeed. Not only was he being completely sincere, but the only thing that made him unique among our mainstream media reporters and commentators was his candor-he spoke for nearly all the reporters and networks who feed us what they call “news.”
Here’s the thing:
WE NEED THE TRUTH –the facts – to make those decisions that contribute to our being responsible citizens.
When we are told LIES, or half-truths, or when entire stories are withheld from us, we can’t make good decisions
Imagine if street signs only told us the truth half the time – if the direction were incorrect, the highway name or number somehow something else or even omitted, or if the distance were totally wrong.
We simply wouldn’t be able to function, to make the right decisions.
Here in California, not only do we have nutrition facts on food in the supermarket, but the calorie counts have to be displayed in restaurants – and they’re supposed to be accurate. We make decisions based on this information – either because we’re watching calories or because we choose to not care! It’s OUR CHOICE, one we can only make when we’re given accurate information.
We demand truth in advertising – there are even LAWS that enforce it-
So why is it that a DISHONEST MEDIA is OK?
IT’S NOT OK
The other day, a few of us went to a local mall, handing out flyers about media corruption to passersby, asking them “Are you tired of being lied to by the media?”
One man looked at me and said “TIRED? I EXPECT IT”
YES, we expect it. BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT
Is it that news agencies have so little respect for us that they feel they are best able to decide FOR US? Or is it that they KNOW that if we HAVE THE TRUTH, we will decide DIFFERENTLY from what they WANT us to decide?
Either way – IT’S NOT UP TO THEM!
Their job is to inform, not to advocate!
The Society of Professional Journalists has this code of ethics:
“Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.”
EXACTLY RIGHT.
Why then, do they LIE?
WHY Then, do they continue to insist that the TEA PARTY is full of racists and evil people?
Did you know that more Obama supporters think that the Tea Party is a bigger threat than Islamist Terrorists?
WHY do you think that is?
Remember how Ronald Reagan once said that “It’s not so much that our liberal friends don’t know anything – it’s that they know so much that isn’t so!” Well, that’s in large part because of the media!
But the corruption of the media doesn’t hurt one party more than another: when the economy tanks, WE ALL SUFFER
When our entire health care system is being destroyed, WE ALL SUFFER
When unemployment continues to be just a nightmare WE ALL SUFFER
And the media says nothing
Obama’s plan to address global warming? We will ALL suffer and guess what?
THE PLANET has not been warming for 16eyears
And the MEDIA SAYS NOTHING
When our national security is compromised, when we are weakened as a nation and are made vulnerable, WE ALL SUFFER – and the media says nothing.
Look at how the media trashed George Zimmerman right off the bat, and only showed cute kiddie pictures of Trayvon. Remember how NBC Edited the 911 call to make Zimmerman look guilty? And even now, how’s the coverage?
What about the Kermit Gosnell trial – remember that? Why didn’t the media cover that? We know why. Because it would show a ghastly side of abortion – a side which HAS to be kept hidden for people to not revolt against it.
And on that subject, how about how they treated Wendy, the “hero” who filibustered in Texas to stop a vote on a bill that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks, and that would ensure that clinics meet higher standards than they do now – and she’s a HERO?
How about the immigration bill? I’m not even saying if it’s good or bad –but how about some actual reporting on it? On the details, the consequences, the costs?
How about reporting on Obamacare back when it was a bill? The costs, the implementation-through the IRS? Really? Are they reporting that unions want out? About the waivers? That one of the biggest supporters Dem Max Baucus thinks now that it’s a train wreck? And now, it’s being postponed until after the 2014 election? HA!! If it were such a great thing, why aren’t they moving the date UP instead of back?
How about the outrageous coverage during the presidential elections? Let’s not forget Candy Crowley’s LYING as a debate MODERATOR to COVER OBAMA’s LIE!
And look: we all talk about getting great candidates and improving our messaging, but as long as we have a media set on DESTROYING everything we do and say, and set on ELEVATING the other ideology, candidates and agendas, nothing else we do will matter.
And of course, let’s not forget Benghazi!
What the media is doing is deliberately – DELIBERATELY – deciding for us what we should or shouldn’t know, and how we should feel about it.
I AM PRO CHOICE
I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO CHOOSE what’s news, what’s important, how I feel – I don’t want the media deciding FOR ME
I want to read the FACTS, then make up my own mind
I want to read the REAL unemployment numbers and decide if current policies are working, instead of reading the party line right out of the White House
How is it possible that our media –our PROTECTED MEDIA – chooses to be a propaganda machine NO BETTER THAN PRAVDA, and they DO THIS ON PURPOSE!
Here’s the thing:
Howard Zinn, a pseud-historian and author of one of the most widely used high school history texts (and one mentioned by Evan Sayet in his book KinderGarden of Eden) had this to say:
“I knew that a historian (or a journalist, or anyone telling a story) was forced to choose, out of an infinite number of facts, what to present, what to omit. And that decision inevitably would reflect, whether consciously or not, the interests of the historian.” – or of the journalist.
He’s totally right. When a reporter, or the news chief, looks at what’s going on out there, he or she makes a decision and chooses, out of all of those stories, what to present, what to omit.
And the choices, right now, are being made to further one party’s agenda, one party’s ideology- to protect those in power, and to destroy those with an alternative view.
They have forgotten what the purpose of a free press is: to inform us on the goings-on in government, and to enable us to make informed choices about self-government that we the people, as good citizens, are responsible for making.
When THEY make these choices for us, what are they telling us? That we aren’t worth telling the truth to, and that they know best.
Is that OK?
NO
WE need NEWS we can rely on- otherwise, this whole FREE COUNTRY thing will fall into tyranny –and that is exactly what’s happening. And our media is helping this along voluntarily. They’re not even being coerced! They’re doing this because they THINK THEY’RE RIGHT, and that we’re EITHER WRONG OR STUPID –or both.
IT’s time to take a stand and tell them WE DESERVE THE TRUTH and we EXPECT THEM TO PROVIDE it to us
Journalists should be watchdogs, not lapdogs.
Too bad our journalists, with very few exceptions, prefer to be lapdogs, and we all suffer for it.
Just the other day, President Obama chided “his media” and told them “to behave.” THAT is how you treat a lapdog.
Chris Matthews was exactly right: the media is doing all it can to help this man succeed. But because of their doing so, we all suffer.
When journalists become advocates for the powerful, WE THE PEOPLE suffer.
There is no freedom without an independent press.
As you were told in my Introduction, we started an organization called RAGE AGAINST THE MEDIA that fights against the corruption and depravity of our media.
JOIN US and hear about the ways we’re fighting – on facebook, with actual protests, by spreading the word that we’re all being lied to.
Sam Adams said “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
I know that most of you here are part of that tireless minority.
Please join our fight for honest media- remember, there is no freedom without an independent press.
THANK YOU