Media (News and Other)

Giant business corporations buy and destroy newspapers

January 21, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Thomas Jefferson once said that he would rather live in a society with newspapers but no government, rather than a society with government but no newspapers. A robust Democracy ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES a DIVERSE MIX OF VOICES.  But for a number of years an escalating crisis has been interfering with Americans’ need to be well informed.  The U.S. has been experiencing a crisis that destroys our society’s ability to inform itself through honest, diverse journalism. A few giant business corporations have been buying up newspapers, just like they’ve been buying up other businesses — and consolidating economic (and hence political) power […]

Media bias continues to support Republicans and hurt Democrats

January 20, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Decades ago, Republicans and other conservatives created the myth of the “liberal news media.”  They kept harping on alleged “liberal” bias by newspapers and broadcasters.  This was their strategy to bully journalists and news media companies and push them farther toward the conservative and Republican orientation.  And it worked!  News coverage has significantly shifted in that direction. But actually, mainstream news media are OWNED BY GIANT CAPITALISTIC BUSINESS CORPORATIONS, and even NPR and public TV get significant funding from capitalist businesses, so they reflect that bias too.  They reflect the same kinds of biases that capitalist-owned media promote. Major newspapers […]

Our systems are not “broken.” They’re working as intended. They are DELIBERATELY UNFAIR.

January 3, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

People keep saying that our nation’s systems are “broken.”  That is misleading.  They are NOT “broken.”  They are WORKING AS INTENDED!  They are DELIBERATELY UNFAIR! On issue after issue, politicians, mainstream media, and the general public keep saying that our systems are “broken.”  But if you look at how they are actually functioning — WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO — and WHAT THEY ARE PREVENTING — and WHO HAS THE POWER and WHO BENEFITS from the status quo — you’ll see that these systems are NOT really “broken.”  They are serving the rich and the powerful and preventing the changes that […]

Trump escalates his war on science and on scientists

December 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Ever since taking office in January 2017, Trump has been making war against truth, including scientific truth and scientists themselves.  He has been following Orwell’s 1984 novel in eliminating truthful information he does not want.  In the book it was destroyed in ways that Orwell could imagine, and now Trump is eliminating truth (including scientific truth) by deleting it from websites and prohibiting Executive Branch professionals from using certain words that Trump does not like. Climate denialism and other phony-baloney nonsense have become orthodox.  Honest professional scientists are censored and demoted and hushed up in other ways. This article from […]

TV Programs: PART 2 of “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

November 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Our nation and world are in a horrible mess.  The December 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series examines how to solve the problems. A person or an entire society has a “worldview” — a way of seeing reality — that strongly directs their behavior and public policy.  The worldview that currently dominates the U.S. government and society has caused escalating greed, corruption, cruelty, oppression, war, and other bad things.  Instead, we need to replace that worldview with its opposite — a worldview that is humane, compassionate, peaceful, fair to everyone, and environmentally sustainable. An unjust society seeks to […]

TV Program: A blistering critique of U.S. politics! PART 1: “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

October 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

You can watch the November 2018 episode of the TV program for my series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” through a link on this blog post — or on TCTV cable channel 22 in Thurston County. (See info below.) This is PART 1 of a 2-part topic, “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World.” It focuses mostly on the problems. PART 2, the December 2018 program, will focus more on solutions. SEE THE LINK BELOW for a VERY THOROUGH, BLISTERING CRITIQUE of the worldview that has increasingly dominated U.S. politics. Parts 1 and 2 of this program explains that the […]

Larry Mosqueda’s insightful article explains the immigration crisis

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On July 27, 2018, Larry Mosqueda published at CounterPunch his new article about the current immigration “crisis.”  His article corrects the misunderstandings that are widespread throughout the U.S. government, mainstream media, and the general public.  He invites us to share it with other people, so I’m sharing it with you through my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org. You will be able to read it in the August 2018 issue of Works in Progress, Olympia’s progressive monthly newspaper.  See a paper copy or www.olywip.org Here is the link to read it at CounterPunch:  https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/on-the-origins-of-the-current-immigration-crisis-at-the-border/  

Democracy’s threats are deeper than Russia.

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Mainstream media and the official Democratic Party want us to think that Russia is the main threat to American democracy.  The actual threats are different and much more deep-seated. While Russia clearly did bad things to American democracy during the 2016 election — and before and since — focusing on Russia is a clever distraction promoted by people who want us to ignore the much more serious threats. Trump won in 2016 largely because so many Americans were disgusted with the status quo.  Over the years, public opinion polls kept showing increasing numbers of people saying the U.S. is on […]

Voters do want prosecutors to be PROGRESSIVE, not “tough-on-crime.”

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In almost every state, the voters elect their local prosecuting attorneys.  For many years prosecutors were elected and re-elected by being “tough-on-crime,” and public opinion seemed to support “lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” policies.  Mainstream media kept reinforcing that stereotype, and both of the big political parties bought into it.  We were very stuck. But finally people are paying attention to the RESEARCH that PROVES those “tough-on-crime” laws and policies DO NOT WORK. Also, voters want to replace those with fair and just reforms. Besides being seriously biased by race and economic class, they are grossly unjust and they waste taxpayers’ money.  Now the […]

Avoid the anti-Russia hype that promotes a new Cold War.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Both of the big political parties — Republicans and Democrats – are stuck in their own agendas.  Neither of the big party really supports peace.  Each wants confrontation with Russia for different reasons.  Ordinary people must resist the anti-Russia hype and a new Cold War.The American people must assert that we want peace, not a new Cold War. Norman Solomon’s article at this link shows smart insights: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/climb-down-from-the-summit-of-hostile-propaganda/

Impeachable offense: Trump kidnaps children and imprisons families without due process.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

U.S. law and international law recognize the rights of refugees and persons seeking asylum, but Trump deliberately violates those laws. Trump continues to COMMIT CRIMES that are IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES, but Congress does not seem to care. Separating little children from their families is yet one more kind of child abuse that Trump is committing.  The Trump regime has lost track of many, many of the children that he has kidnapped. Kidnapping anyone is a federal felony.  So is transporting kidnapped victims across state lines.  It is a felony to unlawfully imprison someone. Trump is denying people their constitutional right to […]

TV: “Base Public Policy on Honest Science”

June 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The July 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV program helps us understand how science works. It also helps us push governments to use honest science as a basis for smart and wise public policies.  Governments should make decisions based on what is actually true, not corrupted by financial greed or ideological pressures. To watch the interview, click this link:  WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE. To read the thorough summary of what we said in the interview — and see a list of excellent sources of information, click this link:  2018.07 Program Summary — SCIENCE. People in Thurston County who have […]

The most important article to read this week: 9 ways Trump is imposing authoritarianism upon the U.S.

June 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Today I posted to my blog a collection of links to 6 articles about Trump’s dangerous and dictatorial behavior.  I urge you to read those article.  The article at the link below stands apart as especially powerful and important.  As you know, I read a huge amount of information. Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S. This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses […]

9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump

May 31, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

As you know, I read a huge amount of information.  Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S.  This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses many aspects of American society. The article below connects many of the issues we care about, including peace, social justice, environment/climate, economics, and so forth.  The article ends with a call for nonviolent organizing to rise up against Trump’s […]

Stop the U.S.’s cruel habit of “regime change.” It is WRONG to violently overthrow governments.

May 26, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. has a long, horrible, cruel habit of violently overthrowing governments and abusively meddling in elections to manipulate their outcomes even if the U.S. militarily does not overthrow those governments violently. I am appalled by the hypocrisy of Americans — a majority of ordinary people, along with politicians and the mainstream news media — who express moral outrage that Russia has meddled in the U.S.’s 2016 election.  The U.S. has done this to other countries VERY OFTEN for many decades. This article summarizes the U.S.’s violent overthrows of other nations.  American politicians and news media and ordinary people do not […]