More important than any issue, the media will decide the November election.

[TooBigaTent]

Every time I learn about a story that should be out there but isn't or one that is but shouldn't be, the importance and influence of the media is driven home.

We who use the "internets" are better informed than those who rely on the corporate/repuke old media. And we tend to underestimate the power that it exerts.

What we need to realize is that the enemy does totally control the means by which the vast majority of potential voters get their information. They use that power to control the message so well that most of the population still believes that Saddam Hussein flew the god-damn planes on 9/11 himself and magically transported himself back to Baghdad.

It should also be understood that we will never be able to influence the corporations that own the media. They have no reason to respond to letters or boycotts or any other collective action (all those "No war on Iraq" rallies really helped our cause, didn't they?). There is no recourse through Congress or the courts for the simple reason that our influence will never be enough to counter the power of the corporate purse.

Until we start to exert direct influence on the individual persons who spout the WH propaganda, things will not change. If the talking heads and hate-spewing voices in television and radio learn that they will be held PERSONALLY responsible for what they put out, then just maybe, they will be less likely to pollute the airwaves (and cable and print) with their slanted garbage.

The enemy is not stupid, even though their supporters in the voting public are. They have learned well the lesson of the last eight years - there are no consequences for any of their actions, up to and including criminal activities. Just like a child who is never disciplined except for idle, empty threats, they learn that they can do whatever they want.

All of the efforts to raise our voices in the usual methods have accomplished nothing. While we are optimistic about November, the simple fact that the race is still "competitive" clearly illustrates this fact. As many have said, Obama SHOULD BE ahead by 30-40 percentage points. But also, as many have said, the media is promoting the "race" for their ratings AND to keep it close enough for the third consecutive WH theft.

The only conclusion I can come to is that the war must be taken DIRECTLY to them. In battle, you do not attack the strength of your enemy. Just like the Germans in WWII, let us not attack the Maginot Line of the corporate media. Go around their strength and attack the individual people who are aiding and abetting the criminals. Make it very uncomfortable/dangerous for anyone to collaborate with the junta and maybe the truth will start to seep out.

The WWII analogy can also be applied to the Vichy Dems who value their minimal power over the good of the nation they are supposed to be serving. They too have sold out for their own benefit.

We won WWII if I remember correctly. If we want to win this latest and most serious war for our freedom, we have to change our tactics.

[Eric J in MN]

1. "Make it very uncomfortable/dangerous for anyone to collaborate with the junta"

How do you want us to do that?

[TooBigaTent]

3. The way the French resistance dealt with the traitorous Vichy-ists obviously worked.

It is long past time to passively accept the little Joseph Goebbels of the corporate media.

How do you want us to do that? By any means necessary. The exact means will be determined by the degree to which they learn the lesson that they are supposed to be journalists and should act like it.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Don't break any laws. NT

NT

[jtrockville]

2. Are you sure Diebold isn't "the decider"?

[TooBigaTent]

4. Same method should be applied to corporate execs who are fucking over the country for their

narrow, monetary interests.

But the media has to be the main front in the war.