Glen's Parallax Perspectives

Republicans are persistently WRONG + INCOMPETENT about COVID

March 21, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

It’s surprising that anyone trusts the Republican Party after they have screwed up so badly regarding the COVID pandemic. When the pandemic struck, Trump denied that it was happening. Then he said it would completely go away within 2 months. He said it was nothing more than the flu. He blamed China in a very racist, xenophobic way. He put incompetent and corrupt people in charge of it. When he conducted nationwide TV programs about it, instead of providing honest scientific information he promoted “snake oil” cures manufactured by companies his cronies owned, and he used those TV programs […]

3-minute video: Tom Lehrer’s funny song about nuclear holocaust

March 21, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

In the early 1960s a university professor of mathematics wrote funny songs about topical issues. At the link below you can watch/hear him perform one about nuclear weapons killing all of us. It’s titled, “We Will All Go Together When We Go.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAEmhqdLFs

Gun manufacturers promote violence in U.S. and worldwide! STOP THEM!

March 21, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Look beyond gun ownership to the gun manufacturing companies. This could transcend political parties. We Need to Broaden Our Conversation About Guns: Looking at gun manufacturing — rather than just gun ownership — can help bridge America’s red-blue divide. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/we-need-to-broaden-our-conversation-about-guns/ We Need to Talk About Gun Manufacturers to REDUCE VIOLENCE BOTH domesticallyl and globally! Americans cannot end gun violence without confronting the fact that the U.S. is the world’s primary supplier of weapons. Gun violence within the U.S. exists within the context of worldwide military violence promoted by U.S. gun manufacturers. https://truthout.org/articles/we-need-to-talk-about-gun-manufacturers/ […]

These savvy, practical insights can reach and convince the public about our issues

March 21, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

I’ve been working with some people who want to “nationalize” an industry that has been owned by capitalists for many decades. Several members of that group pointed out that calling for “nationalizing” it can leave us open to accusations of being “socialists” or “communists.” They said that INSTEAD we should call for “public ownership,” which sounds more democratic and practical. I agree that it is crucially important to frame this issue with the appealing term “public ownership.” I wrote an article about the overall concept of how to choose our terminology to reach out effectively to the public and bring […]

De-regulated banks crash!!! Here are some insights into recent crashes of big banks.

March 17, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

In recent decades Republicans (and a few “corporate Democrats”) have “de-regulated” banks. This means they abolished the protections that have protected us since the 1930s from reckless, stupid and corrupt behavior by banks. This led to the gigantic crash of 2008, which hurt many millions of Americans (and caused many to lose their homes). More recently, the Republicans (and a few “corporate Democrats”) DE-REGULATED BANKS even worse. This led to several gigantic banks crashing in March 2023. In 2009, the very experienced U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said this about the U.S. Senate: “Frankly, the banks own this place.” In March […]

Insights into ECONOMICS and mainstream news media biases

March 15, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

I titled my July 2022 TV program episode “Recognize and Counter Mainstream Media Bias.” You can watch it and/or read a thorough summary of what we said (and see links to additional information) at this link: https://parallaxperspectives.org/recognize-and-counter-mainstream-media-bias I interviewed Janine Jackson from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR = https://fair.org). Here is more information about what we said — AND INFORMATION ABOUT ECONOMICS: We briefly discussed media biases in covering economics. What aspects are covered/ignored? How are issues framed? Why don’t newspapers print a “Labor page” to counter the “Business page”? Why obsess about the stock market instead of ordinary […]

What to do about right-wing extremists who deny election results and oppose honest democracy?

March 4, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Decent Americans who want democracy to survive and thrive are deeply concerned about right-wing extremists who deny election results and oppose honest democracy. These include Donald Trump, Kari Lake, and a great number of Republicans and people more extreme than they are. Actually, people who disagree with us differ in some ways from each other, so let’s not lump them all together and become so frightened that we feel overwhelmed and powerless. We can devise smart strategies to deal with them. The article here provides some fresh information and insights. The article is titled, “Forget the Deplorables and Focus on […]

War hawks promote war with China. We must PREVENT that!

March 4, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Much smart research — and many smart articles — have exposed the hard reality that much of the U.S.’s foreign policy is driven by military weapons manufacturers that profit by promoting our militaristic foreign policy. Also, many politicians promote nationalism and militarism as a way to rally voters to cheer for them. Now powerful forces are rallying the U.S. to support a war with China — or if not an actual war, at least the steps leading up to war. They don’t seem to recognize that wars fail to solve problems. Also, they don’t seem to realize that the […]

Now the news media are IGNORING the climate crisis, so WE MUST ORGANIZE a big, strategically savvy GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT!

March 4, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Does the climate crisis still exist? Has it gone away? It is NOT in the news now. In order to solve the climate crisis, WE MUST MAKE IT A HOT ISSUE AGAIN!!! WE MUST ORGANIZE A SAVVY GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT to expose the problems and propose solutions!!! Page 62 of the February-March 2023 issue of The Progressive Magazine (www.progressive.org) reported this: “Only one independent news source, Truthout, reported on a Media Matters for America study that found that morning TV shows gave almost as much air-time to Bezos’s 2021 space launch as they did to all climate crisis news in […]

Extreme weather keeps pointing to climate disruption as the cause

March 1, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

The old term “global warming” falls short of what is really happening to the climate. The term “global warming” is misleading because — although on the AVERAGE, temperatures are rising — actually the climate is DISRUPTED in a variety of ways that cause EXTREME WEATHER in every part of the world. Some areas get heat waves. Some areas get extremely cold weather. We have droughts along with record-high rainfalls. The jet stream is disrupted, so high-level atmospheric conditions that traditionally have gone through some areas go through other areas instead. Likewise, ocean chemistry and ocean currents are shifting, which causes […]

Slash the Military-Industrial Complex. Cutting the Pentagon Budget in Half Would Finally Force the Generals to Think

February 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Here’s an interesting article about this: https://www.juancole.com/2023/02/military-industrial-generals.html A new book says Eisenhower was right: The US military budget is ‘a theft from those who hunger.’ The book also provides information about protesting for peace. See this: https://wagingnonviolence.org/cnv/2023/02/eisenhower-was-right-us-military-budget-book-review-trillion-dollar-silencer-joan-roelofs/ A new effort in the U.S. House would reduce wasteful Pentagon spending and redirect funds to critical basic needs. The first few short paragraphs of the article I linked below say this: Today Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) reintroduced the People Over Pentagon Act, which would cut $100 billion in defense spending and reallocate the funds to human […]

To solve political-social-economic problems, we must organize PEOPLE-POWER grassroots movements

February 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

Several years ago, a guest on one of my TV programs said that only 5% of democracy is about voting, while 95% of democracy is about organizing grassroots movements. I agree. People who have official power (politicians, big businesses, etc.) want ordinary people to feel powerless and get out of the way, so they themselves can make all of the important decisions. Alice Walker said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” If ordinary people actually did recognize our power — and our huge potential to organize strategically from the grassroots […]

FREE, ONLINE: Watch a powerful 1966 British film about nuclear war

February 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

In 1966 the BBC produced a powerful film, “The War Game,” about what would happen if a nuclear war hit Britain. It was so powerful that the BBC was afraid to show it on TV until several decades later. “The War Game” simulates a documentary about people experiencing a nuclear war and the realities that occurred afterward. The film was so strong in 1966 that BBC did not air it when it was scheduled. Later it was shown at film festivals – and ultimately on British TV on July 31, 1985, a week before the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima […]

Peace instead of nuclear war! Urge Congress to pass H. Res. 77.

February 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has been supporting the “Back from the Brink” campaign (www.preventnuclearwar.org), which urges 5 smart changes in U.S. policy to reduce the likelihood of nuclear war. “Back from the Brink” recently sent an ACTION ALERT urging us to urge Congress to support H.Res.77, which supports the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Please sign this message: https://preventnuclearwar.org/hres77/ HERE IS MOE INFORMATION from “Back from the Brink,” including “talking points” so you can write a letter to your newspaper’s editor – and including more opportunities: Last Friday marked the one year […]

Click to tell Congress to ABOLISH Junior ROTC

February 28, 2023 GlenAnderson 0

For many years the military has been PERVERTING PUBLIC SCHOOLS by SUBSTITUTING MILITARY PROPAGANDA instead of honest history courses — and TRAINING STUDENTS TO MARCH AND SHOOT GUNS. The instructors are military people, NOT certified teachers. This happens in many, many schools nationwide (especially in low-income and minority neighborhoods) through the Junior ROTC program. Also, many military instructors in the Junior ROTC program have been caught sexually abusing female students in the JROTC program. The program also VIOLATES the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. I encourage you to click this link and substitute your name and contact […]