Disillusionment can be an essential part of shedding our illusions. And for me, this has been a profound, humbling, courageous, and passionate journey. Setting the strong and unwavering commitment to truth and to following facts wherever they may lead can be devastating for those like myself. At least initially. Because what I began to uncover were layer after layer after layer of ignorance, illusion, and indoctrination. There was so much I was largely or completely unaware of.
It's not easy to be open to how far and how frequently I have missed the mark in what I believed to be true. Or to look at my apathy and lack of motivation to know what I did not know. Or the choices I was making to not be engaged in what I recognize today as being absolutely critical issues to the well-being of us all.
Because we are all connected.
That said, following the horrors of 9-11 and my utter commitment to uncover the truth of why we were attacked ― which I knew in my bones was not because "they hate our freedoms" ― what gradually came to be revealed in greater and greater depth was shocking, horrifying, and heartbreaking. The world as I knew it, once again, was changing.
And as I shifted to listening to and watching and reading independent media rather than corporate owned mainstream media, as I went out in the dark of rainy winter nights and traveled to hear speakers at Powell's and other venues, as I attended Winter Soldier and other Veteran events, as my shelves became lined with books and I listened to those who have been on this journey far longer than I had, my perspectives were radically shifting.
Because in America it is a radical experience to question everything we are taught, to discern who we can trust for our information and who we can't, and to actually and truly be informed. It is radical and too frequently rare to know the deeper truths and larger pictures. And to act on what we are learning.
Being a profoundly propagandized people = being a profoundly disempowered people = the toxic and horrifying status quo prevails where the powerful few dictate our lives, our norms, and the information we are allowed to know or are deprived of.
How else could we be in this place where the Climate Emergency ― which is the greatest crisis humankind has ever faced and which puts all life on Earth at risk ― not only isn't at the top of the list of what matters to voters, but doesn't even make the list at all?! How else is the genocide of Palestinians continuing day after day with the full participation and funding by the American government?! Why is it tolerated that millions of Americans go without their basic needs met for housing, healthcare, education, clean water to drink and air to breathe all while trillions are spent on weapons of war and to line the pockets of the already extremely wealthy?! Why do we continue to hear how the economy is a top priority for voters ― with nearly half of American living at or below the poverty line ― and yet all while the voices of demanding an end to predatory late state capitalism are silenced over and over and over again?! Why do we not hear about the great threats of Christian Nationalism and Fascism and Neoliberalism which are imperiling the thread of democracy that America hangs on?! Why are we electing corrupt politicians from both major political parties who continue to fund pipelines and gas and oil knowing that this is heading us towards extinction?! Why isn't the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate catastrophes ― which are occurring daily across the planet ― being illuminated in mainstream American media?!
Why are we not exposed to the truth of the profound harm embedded in capitalism and how a transition to a caring economics is possible?! Why does NPR have programs like "Planet Money" rather than Planet Earth, "Market Place" rather than Community Place, "I Built This" rather than We Built This?! Why isn't the climate crisis and the genocide of Palestinians receiving wall to wall coverage rather than Trump??!!
Today I understand a lot of those answers. Plain and simple ― Americans are a profoundly propagandized, disempowered, unaware populace. I don't say this with blame or shame, but rather with the humility of certainly having been among those who've grown up absorbing the disinformation and propaganda which have permeated our culture for generations and centuries. The truth has been sucked out of the bloodstream of America from the earliest days of colonialism and slavery and genocide of Indigenous Peoples, depriving us of the oxygen we need to act with conscience, awareness, integrity, and wisdom of a highest good for us all.
Think about it. Why aren't we marching in the streets by the millions utterly demanding the radical changes needed NOW to act on the climate crisis? Why aren't we marching in the streets by the millions demanding an end to the American funded genocide of the Palestinian people? Why are we sitting in our corners pointing fingers at the other political party when both the Republican Party and the Democrat Party have brought us to the sheer crisis point we are at today?! And why are we too often abdicating the vast and vital need for collective and radical accountability to our youth?!? Why??
I am aware of how profoundly impacted and changed I have been through acting to completely transform my resources of information, absorb what I've been learning, and act upon it. I've been cutting the umbilical cord which connects me to the voices and needs of the most powerful. It's not that I have completely stopped listening to or watching corporate funded resources like NPR/PBS, which at times provide quality information and programs. And that's the problem ― they have us on a schedule of partial reinforcement.
Remember here the wisdom of Noam Chomsky: "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum ― even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."
This needs to be illuminated again and again. The examples that I could give on this are endless and across all media in America that is dependent upon corporate funding. To be informed is to be changed. And to be compelled to act in any way that we can, individually and collectively, to end the madness.
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Today I am grateful to have years behind me now of witnessing and absorbing the difference between corporate funded media and independent resources of information. Stark examples include how the climate crisis is covered and how the Israeli assault on Palestinians is covered by NPR and by Democracy Now! It cannot be overstated how vastly different the news is between just these two resources, with only Amy Goodman ― and her guests ― acting to hold the powerful accountable rather than being voice pieces for the powerful.
This is why I stopped donating to NPR/PBS years ago. And this is why I do support Democracy Now!, Common Dreams, Truthout, and other independent media.
Our nation and our world would be radically different if we Americans were exposed again and again and again to voices of truth, integrity, courage, wisdom, and passionate caring for life ― not just the lives of Americans, but the welfare and well-being of all of life everywhere. Because we are all connected.
Instead we are a nation, unlike others across the planet, whose mainstream media does not bring us the voice of Noam Chomsky ― who is revered worldwide. And I do mean NEVER do we hear Professor Chomksy on mainstream media. So many of us also do not know who Amy Goodman is ― or Chris Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Norman Solomon, David Barsamian, Arundhati Roy, Isabel Wilkerson, Howard Zinn, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Alice Walker, Vandana Shiva, and on and on.
Emma Goldman once said, "The most violent element in society is ignorance." In his Beyond Vietnam speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to our nation as the most violent on Earth. That has not but must change. There is an imperative that we act together in every way humanly possible to radically alter the suicidal and violent trajectory that we have long been on.
It is my belief that it is time for ongoing and increasing radical accountability from each of us who are blessed with not living with illness, poverty, war, or other conditions which make our capacity for action greatly diminished. For the rest of us, however, it is time. It is time.
Bless us all, no exceptions,
Molly
"Activism is the antidote to despair."
― Bill McKibben
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