so i'm on the ferry and i get drawn into a conversation. i'll write about it tomorrow, the topic is social security.
but i want to try to stay on top of what we can do and how we define ourselves at least once a week.
after i caught democracy now today, i went online and was catching up on what i'd missed the last few days. sunday i didn't get online until i was getting ready to post.
i have a lot of fun with the gang from the third estate sunday review but after an all nighter i do need sleep. and since that starts on saturday, i'm out of commission web wise in terms of surfing for most of saturday too. so i'm going around and i found a few things. including this at the common ills:
Lastly, we'll note this from Extra! (the magazine put out by FAIR), "Fear & Favor 2004 — FAIR's Fifth Annual Report: How power shapes the news" by Peter Hart and Julie Hollar.It's informative and worth reading. Here's an overview paragraph from the article:
The Fear & Favor report is an attempt to illustrate this growing encroachment on journalism with real examples that have been made public--not an exhaustive list by any means, but a reminder that such pressures exist, and that reporters serve the best interests of citizens and the journalistic profession by coming forward with their own accounts.
so i ended up making a trip to the bookstore and picking up a copy of extra and i want to pass this on because maybe, like me, you aren't that up on fair. fair stands for 'fairness & accuracy in reporting.' c.i.'s highlighted them from time to time over at the common ills and i've enjoyed the highlights but the title of this article (which is available online, use the link) made me want to go out and buy the magazine.
if you've got the money to spare, by all means, go out and buy this issue which costs $3.95. if you can't visit fair's site for extra and you'll find somethings are made available.
but here's something else you can do, you can sign up for e-mailed action alerts at the main page for fair.
since i don't recommend that any 1 do anything i'm not willing to do, i'll note that i signed up today. what's the point of this?
now maybe that's for you and maybe it isn't. but think about it. do it if it's something you're interested in. maybe you think, 'rebecca, do you know how many e-mails i get a day already?'
fine. we'll note them from time to time here.
but i know from c.i. that fair is 1 of the groups that gives you action tips. danny schechter's news dissector over at media channel is another. and after this posts, i'll go sign up there. tomorrow, i'll be writing about social security so hopefully by the day after i'll have an action alert from danny's site and can let you know the sort of things you can find there.
in the third estate sunday review roundtable, c.i. brought up the issue that just because a link's on a page some 1 visits doesn't mean that they'll click on the link. c.i. offered that they may not have the time or they may have privacy concerns.
i understand that. and i'm not asking you to join me in the fight against extending the patriot act to protect your own privacy on the one hand, while on the other hand i'm pouring over various data on you. i don't track. the common ills doesn't track visitors. those of us who were community members of the common ills and then decided to blog had to deal with that issue.
and we've all decided to say 'no' to tracking. that means folding star over at a winding road isn't tracking you, or the third estate sunday review, or blog betty at thomas friedman is a great man.
or me at the site you're reading right now.
last night on the laura flanders show (yes, c.i. has got me interested in that show too) there was a woman on explaining that when you're doing a simple search on amazon.com, you are being tracked by that company - which supported the bully boy in the elections, by the way. she recommended that you use powell's books instead. so i'll recommend that and i'll make a note to make it a permanent link the next time i am in the template.
but my belief is that no 1 has a right to ask you to come visit and then to track you. i feel that way about tracking devices on items i buy as well. if i've just bought some slip at a store in the mall, i don't think a device should be on it that 'readers' throughout the mall can pick up.
did you see minority report? when tom cruise walks through that mall (i think it was a mall) and as he passes there all these hellos to his character using his character's name? i don't believe that.
if you want my business you better tell me that you are tracking if you are tracking. that's an issue that's been raised over at the common ills many times.
people may seem it as harmless, but tell me the justice department doesn't see it as 'harmless' as well. bully boy wants us to trust the government with information they compile. web sites want us to trust them with our information they're compiling.
you have a right to expect privacy online.
it's what we can do. it's about becoming a wiser news consumer. what's that saying, 'won't get fooled again.' it's about increasing your knowledge and saying that you won't just be a passive consumer fed the news but some 1 who wants to be informed.
if you don't check out links, that's fine. i'll be highlighting resources here.
but to those of you who e-mailed me about the roundtable, you were mainly talking about c.i.'s remarks regarding how things played out in the media after september 11, 2001. sherry probably summed it up best when she said, 'c.i. is so right. look how long it took for us to go from that day to even mild criticism of the bully boy. we need to know that other voices are out there. it's arming ourselves to defend democracy.'
sherry is quite right. if something awful happens, we can't count on our tv sets to provide us voices from the spectrum. instead we'll get the far right, the right and the centerists who cave every time. so instead of putting off educating ourselves, the time is now to start.
