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Tim Hjersted is the director of Films For Action, a non-profit group that uses the power of film to raise awareness of important social, environmental, and media related issues not covered by the mainstream news. Through our website, public film screenings and Lending Library, we're working to provide citizens with the information they need to take an active role in creating a more just, sustainable, and democratic society.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 25, 2008 Why Do We Do Drugs?
I suppose if you don't do any drugs at all you can stop reading this. But for many of us, perhaps most of us, we all do something. When our drug of choice isn't pot it's certainly alcohol. And when it's not either of those the national standard for our consumer society is, of course, shopping. More than likely it's probably both or a combination of many.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 16, 2008 9/11 in 33 Minutes: Determining the Official Story Cannot Be True
Seven years after 9/11, debate about who was involved in the attacks remains as contentious as ever. Despite Osama Bin Laden being popularly named as the prime suspect, the FBI to this day does not have him listed on their Most Wanted list for 9/11. By the FBI's own admission, there is "no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11". So who was responsible? We still don't know, but one thing can be sure...
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 11, 2012 The Truth about 9/11 Isn't Black or White - It's Time our Media Reflected This
With the 11th anniversary of September 11th, 2001 just around the corner, we can expect America and our media to look back once again on this turning point in our nation's history.
But like every year before it, we will look back with our eyes half open, not wanting to look at the full complexity of this enormously influential event, preferring to remember and reflect on a simplified caricature of our history instead.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 8, 2011 Raising Awareness: Why We Shouldn't Take It For Granted
A dangerous thing can occur when you start learning about what's really going on in the world. The problems start to seem so complex, and you're just one person, doubts begin to creep in. You sincerely want to help change the world, but from all this knowledge you start to believe that the world is too out of control and too big to change, so you end up not doing anything.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 27, 2012 The Top 6 Critiques of Obama from a Progressive (Reality-Based) Perspective
Barack Obama has been called everything from a closet-Muslim to a foreign-born socialist. For partisan Democrats, the Right's deluge of attacks on Obama over the years might be seen as a great gift, as it has painted conservatives who echo these sentiments as laughably crazy. But ultimately this has served to shut out and marginalize legitimate, deeply meaningful and and truly damning critiques of the Obama administration.
SHARE Thursday, March 25, 2010 A Life Exercise for When We've Been Hurt by Someone
Visualize the face of the person who's hurt you. What do you see?
You may first see their expression in the moment of the event that they hurt you. It may be a face of anger or frustration, but keep looking at them longer and their facial expression will begin to change.
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 22, 2010 What's It Going to Take to Heal the Apathy in Our Society?
With a growing awareness of mounting ecological, economic, political, and social problems, there exist many growing currents of response. On one hand, more people are waking up. They're getting involved. They're saying, "Not another day! This is where I mark the line." But you have to learn how to process all the depressing news without getting burned out.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 25, 2012 The Top 10 Documentaries that Explain Why the Occupy Movement Exists
These are the top 10 films that capture the spirit and motivation of Occupy Wall St. They are the heavy-weight truth bombs which provide the intellectual backing and substance to the slogans and chants. Watch these films. Share them with friends. By breaking the bottleneck the mass media holds on the flow of information, we'll be able to build the collective understanding necessary to realize the ambitious goals of OWS.
SHARE Saturday, October 25, 2008 Films For Action tops 300 Activist-Issue Videos You Can Watch Online
We just hit our three hundredth video added to the Films For Action website. It's an amazing collection of the best activist-issue films you can find scattered across the internet, all cataloged in one place. Documentaries, short films, and other kinds of videos covering: activism, big media, climate change, consumerism, corporations, education, election fraud, impeachment, money, peak oil, politics, sustainability, and more.
(6 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 14, 2010 The Root Problem is the Root Solution
Climate change, deforestation, bought-and-paid-for elections, and the corporate exploitation of millions of people working in sweat-shop factories around the world - what's the root solution that could solve them all?
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 31, 2011 Social Change Strategic Focus: Young People!
Reaching out to young people is especially critical at this time. With mounting psycho-social stress attributed to an increasingly uncertain future, young people are going to need support grappling with the social effects of the coming collapse. The world is rife with uncertainty about our fate on the planet.
SHARE Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Films For Action - A Compliment to Op-Ed News, Providing a Go-To Resource for Progressive Video
With excellent independent media sites like OpEdNews, Truth Out and Common Dreams providing progressive news in written form, Films For Action.org has dedicated itself to filling in the progressive video niche.
"It's probably the most comprehensive collection of videos dedicated to social change online," says Tim Hjersted, co-founder and director for the project.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 8, 2008 It's Time Anti-War Activists Go Back to School
Activists protesting the war at last month's Democratic National Convention have come and gone. Banners were unfurled. Protesters marched and chanted. Puppets of Bush and company provided comic relief. But looking back at the conference, there is no clear sign that any of these efforts have gotten us any closer to ending the war.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 20, 2010 An Experiment: Loving More, Judging Less
The next time you think about rejecting someone, try loving them instead.
You'll find it is more difficult than you might imagine. If you usually pride yourself on loving many people, you may be caught by the sudden contradiction of your behavior, when you find it hard to love someone when it does not come naturally.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, December 26, 2008 Dreaming of a Buy-Nothing Christmas
It's kind of ironic that for several years being an atheist I still celebrated Christmas reflexively because that's what I'd always done. The last several years I've been gradually winding down my participation. I still gather with family and friends, but each year I buy less.