Nowhere in the main headline section was there anything from anybody about anything directly related to the Iraq War and how after six years we the people are still fighting to bring this illegal war and occupation to an end.
Several cities organized as part of a plan that was agreed upon at the National Antiwar Assembly in Cleveland in June. The plan originated in Boston and other cities agreed to participate.
Plans gained extra teeth because of the Wall Street bailout and the financial turmoil we are in. In Chicago and all over, Americans were connecting the Iraq War to the mother of all bailouts being carried out here at home.
But, alas, all we in the progressive news community could see fit to talk about were topics ranging from Palin to McCain while ignoring our record of being their to cover the activist community in America regularly.
Remember, we were the news site that covered Veterans for Peace’s action on the National Archives building. And we were the news site that covered IVAW’s Winter Soldier Investigation in March.
But, OpEdNews isn’t solely to blame. Except for Indymedia sites, the entire progressive news community is to blame for not making the sixth anniversary of the authorization a news story.
There’s no mention of it on Common Dreams, Truthdig, Truthout, Information Clearing House, or Daily Kos.
Even worse, type “sixth anniversary” in a Google News search and you will get nothing. Add “Iraq” to it and you get one Boston Globe article worth reading and nothing else.
Like Pavlov’s dog, Americans have been trained. We’ve been trained to salivate at the mouth when elections come around.
But, now, elections are rigged contests and give us the delusion of choice. Nothing the matter with that though; we’ve been trained to drool and if we remember Pavlov’s dog, the dog was drooling even without being fed.
All there had to be was a bell, a signal that the dog was going to be fed, and the dog was drooling. Perhaps, the media takes the place of the bell since they constantly make us salivate during elections and constantly attempt to convince us that we will be satisfied.
I’m not sure how we could be satisfied, and as Naomi Wolf warns of fascism and as the bailout and financial turmoil continues to be front and center in the news, it’s unconscionable to not cover those out in the streets challenging the dangerous trajectory of this nation especially since the people in the streets are the very people who support progressive and independent media on a regular basis.
The dog-and-pony show will be over soon. When it is, please return to your roots.
Progressive and independent media exists because media ignores the real news we need to preserve our democracy. When we become a version of corporate media that is not showing Americans what they must see or know, we fail.
Now we’ve got a little more than three weeks for hope and change. Go hope for change (if you must).
I hope to see you on the other end in November reporting on activism and community actions to ensure the next four years are nothing like the criminal recidivist regime of Bush/Cheney.
