News Flash

Look, I’m going to make this perfectly clear: I don’t believe in terrorists. Your game is up. The distraction is over. I don’t believe in the threats of nuclear proliferation. I don’t believe in the danger of tyrants with weapons of mass destruction. I don’t believe in terrorism.

But I do believe in tyranny, especially that tyranny which is supposedly sanctioned by a democratic process. I do believe in terror: but the terror of hunger, the terror of unemployment, the terror of ignorance, and the terror of a too-small world. News flash: last year hunger and malnutrition killed more people war and natural disaster combined; war killed more people than terrorism; and while terrorism was broadcast internationally and headlined in every newspaper, journalists were somehow prohibited from photographing the bodies of dead American soldiers, returning in body-bags, to answer the question: how many lives per gallon?

But I don’t believe in Saudi Arabian funding. I don’t believe in networks that go deeper than most rabbit holes. I don’t believe in cunning purpose and imminent danger.

And so, when your headlines pronounce the latest act of terrorism, I’m going to put your newspaper down. When your headlines announce a higher terror warning, I’ll unsubscribe. I won’t be afraid. I refuse to be afraid. I refuse to be distracted. I refuse to be entertained. When the headlines announce a new lead on a terrorist attack, a terrorist organization, I’m going to do just the opposite of expectations: check up on my politicians, check up on the democratic process. When the headlines shout the news of the latest attack, the latest tragedy, I’m going to see what’s in front of the legislature, and what golf-course my president is on, and which corporate executives he’s with.

And I’m going to demand a new media. I’m going to take Jello Biafra at his word, and become the media. I’m sick of the lies. I’m sick of the distractions. I’m sick of the interested dinner-time conversation about red-herrings and the smoke and mirrors of terrorism, of otherness, of far off places that amount to a direct threat on my life and property. I’m tired of stale news. Of dry news. Of broken politics, of politicians who are above corruption because they operate with impunity. They sanction all their activities, and convince us that we’ve sanctioned them, too. And the media wraps and packages it all in layers and layers of print. But its time to tear the print away. Time to turn off the evening news. See what’s inside. What’s under all the pretty print and scary pictures?

Enough of the lies. Enough of the middle-path, makes-everyone-happy bullshit. Enough of the middle-ground. Enough soggy newsprint. There’s more than enough people in the world to support an alternative media. More than enough people to allow for a publication that reports on things that matter.

Every time a terrorist sneezes, a newspaper owner smiles.

Every time a terrorist sneezes, a corporation gets a contract.

Every time a terrorist sneezes, a politician gets his wings.