January 29, 2007 at 21:57:40

JASON MILLER INTERVIEWED BY CAROLYN BAKER

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By Carolyn Baker (about the author) Page 4 of 5 page(s)

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As I have progressed through my spiritual awakening, a number of people, both contemporary and historical, have influenced me. I already mentioned Lynn Barnett and my teacher from high school, Andy Anderson. Through their books, John Bradshaw, Scott Peck, and Sam Keene have left indelible impressions on my soul. I derive powerful inspiration from MLK, Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, Henry David Thoreau, and Thomas Paine. Recently, despite my resistance to organized religion, I have been very animated by the teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly the Beatitudes. My grandfather, who spent much of his life in poverty until he went to work on the GM assembly line, is populist and pro-labor in his outlook, and who is a paragon of integrity, has been my most important role model.

10)In your complete profile on your blogspot, you list some of your favorite movies, music, and books. Please choose one of each category and tell us how that movie, musical group, and book have influenced you or continues to influence you.

It's a Wonderful Life wins hands down in the movie category. The first time I saw it I was a freshman in college. While its deeper implications escaped me at the time, it provided a life-line to a very depressed young man. Since then I have watched it nearly every Christmas. Its portrayal of the epic struggle between the working class and the moneyed class in the United States is timeless. Yet in our current Gilded Age revival, it is particularly timely. I recently ran across a site called Pottersville which portrayed Dick Cheney as Old Man Potter. Needless to say, I enjoyed that immensely.

My favorite music depends upon my mood. If I am feeling angry, I prefer to listen to Godsmack, for obvious reasons if you are familiar with their music. Queensryche is probably the group that I like the most, regardless of how I feel emotionally. I am particularly fond of their song, Speak (on the Operation Mindcrime CD) and their Promised Land CD.

Choosing just one book would be difficult, but I do have a particular affinity for Golding's Lord of the Flies. As with Capra's film, I suspect it is ultimately the might versus right aspect of the book that captivates me. I also love virtually anything by Dostoevsky and Sinclair Lewis.

11) I don't know if you have children, but you obviously do not write what you write or post the articles you post without an awareness of youth and future generations. What words of wisdom or inspiration do you have for youth and for parents raising them? Feel free to draw on your personal experiences as a parent if you are one, as a loan counselor, as a writer, as a person in recovery, or any other experiences you find relevant.

I strongly believe that we need to make choices with future generations in mind. If we don't significantly change our ways, the extinction of many more species, including homo sapiens, is a realistic possibility. We know little about our vast universe, but it would appear that few planets are as hospitable to life as Earth. We are abusing a precious gift.

The American Philosopher, Don Richardson, has posited:

The moral imperative of life is to live a life that detracts not at all from the lives available to those who will follow us into this world.

As I stated in an answer to a previous question, my values and beliefs are eclectic and wide-ranging. I would not embrace one singular moral imperative, but I have certainly assimilated Richardson's assertion into my spiritual map (which I update frequently). With respect to children, I think we have a responsibility to act in ways that benefit all children, not just our own.

12) Please share anything else you would like to include in letting readers know about you and your work.

I simply want to state that despite my deep commitment to working with those who are striving for a more just, humane, and peaceful world, I realize that my humble efforts are but tiny ripples in a vast ocean. As I do with most situations, I look at the situation as a spectrum, with utter disregard for humanity and the Earth at one end and total devotion to humankind and our planet at the other. My life objective is to spend most of my time closer to the "total devotion" end of the spectrum than the "utter disregard".

While I could certainly do more, and still share a degree of complicity in the systematic rape and exploitation of "Third Worlders" and the Earth, I work hard within my limitations to be more a part of the solution than of the problem. By detailing my efforts below, I am by no means patting myself on the back. I simply want to give people an idea of some of the things they could do help facilitate grass-roots, "bottom-up" changes to a deeply entrenched, profoundly corrupt socioeconomic/political system.

Toward that end, I write my essays to awaken, inform, inspire, and persuade readers to join the growing movement to defy the push toward corporatization, globalization, perpetual war, and the like. I have been blessed to find a number of alternative sites which have published substantial numbers of my articles. My thanks to Rense.com, One Thousand Reasons, OpEd News, Dissident Voice, Trumpet America, Axis of Logic, Alternative Press Review, News from Bangladesh, Information Clearing House, Aljazeerah.info, World Prout Assembly, The Smirking Chimp, Worldwide Renaissance, Margot B World News, RINF, Project for the Old American Century, Signs of the Times, Political Affairs, The Free Press, Online Journal, Counter Currents, Counter Bias, A Word Fitly Spoken, Margot's Web, The Peoples Voice, Peace Earth and Justice News, Saudi Elections, True Blue Liberal, World 5.0, Federal Observer, World News Trust, Populist America, Uruknet, 7th Fire, Four Winds, The American Muslim, Alien Love, Atlantic Free Press, American Chronicle, Daily Scare, Mendacity Review, World News Trust, Poetic Injustice, Today's Alternative News, Cyrano's Journal Online, Palestine Chronicle, Ziopedia, Tlaxcala, Bellaciao, Political Cortex, Selves and Others, Sensibly Eclectic, Bush Watch, Uncommon Thought, and Speaking Truth to Power. My apologies to anyone I might have forgotten. I feel truly appreciative to each of these editors and hope that readers will find the time to visit these fine sites.

I publish my little site to help other people of conscience disseminate their thoughts and analyses, highlight news relevant to human rights and social justice, and to expose the lies of our government and the corporate media.

I boycott or shun Wal-Mart, most television programs, the commercialized aspects of Christmas, credit card debt, fast food, the NFL, pornography, and soft drinks. I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores, recycle eight different types of trash, drive an inexpensive relatively fuel efficient car, buy almost nothing beyond necessities, and live in a modest apartment.

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Carolyn Baker, Ph.D. is author of U.S. HISTORY UNCENSORED: What Your High School Textbook Didn't Tell You. Her forthcoming book is SACRED DEMISE: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse. She also (more...)

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