Check out this clip from The David Pakman Show.
David Pakman Interview
Ted Rall
http://rall.comTed Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
Comments are closed.
8 Comments.
Ya know, I agree with you on the general premise, the Idea that what the left does and has done in the past to resist essentially evil has been no resistance at all. But what so many people seem to be picking up on, this sanctioning of violence, it just doesn’t come out of thin air. political non-violence is institutionalized in american culture, it starts with school and continues with mass media. I think one of the reasons so many americans are reluctant to take that necessary step, to not even necessarily commit violence but accept violence upon themselves (Tianamen square tank man, civil rights protests etc….) is the fundamental separation between politics and ones personal life. Politics in America is to many people a game, sport, hobby…..and interest like soap operas or poker. To become too involved, too passionate, passionate enough to accept violence upon oneself or be ready to commit it….well “normal” “cool” people just arent into that stuff. Voting is cool…protests can be cool….getting hit with a baton or throwing rocks at police isnt. And nothing is worse to most americans than not being cool. So unfortunately Ted, I feel that those of us aware and passionate about the world will have to wait until systemic collapse occurs and safety, security, and sanity take precedence over dispassionate coolness in the face of the oncoming global “readjustment”.
PS: south park animation has improved alot
“Tank man” stood in front of those tanks after they LEFT Tiananmen square. Western media presented the event as something it was not because it was useful to their narrative that way.
drooling zombies; Really? I had no idea. So he was pro-government guy willing to get run over? is that what you are saying? Either way there are few americans that would stand in front of a retreating riot control truck in order to express their dismay at the protest event itself.
Wags. Agree that collapse is the only way out. Doesn’t that mean we need to become republican?
All I’m saying: Western media presented an event that conveniently played out right in front of them as something it was not, because it was useful to them to do so. Historical details like where and when it actually happened were not relevant to the story they wanted to tell.
The PBS website still says, for example, “About midday, as a column of tanks slowly moves along Chang’an Boulevard toward Tiananmen Square, an unarmed young man carrying shopping bags suddenly steps out in front of the tanks.”
Tank man blocked the tanks on Chang’an Avenue, and all the photos and video footage of the event were shot from various balconies of the Beijing Hotel (where the Western journalists lived) which is several blocks east of Tiananmen Square on Chang’an, on the north side of the street. The only way you get photos of tanks rolling toward the hotel, from the upper right to the lower left of the frame, is if the tanks are moving away from Tiananmen Square.
http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/tian_06_05/t15_19247371.jpg
I don’t know who tank man was, or what he thought he was accomplishing.
South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons, are all good shows whether or not they are good quality. If anything, the way they are drawn gives the creators more flexibility for plot.
*I meant good quality as in the way it’s drawn.
One aspect to the lack of “violence” and the rise of pacifism that has not been mentioned is the rise of the taser. The taser has done to protesting what AIDS has done to sex. Just the fear of the taser alone has IMHO stopped real resistance. Tasers are passed off as “non lethal” and because of this, tasers are overused, but they are lethal sometimes. It’s ironic, they are trumpeted as saving lives because police don’t have to use guns, but they are used when the police wouldn’t have used guns in the first place, so actually more people die accidentally because of it.