On Saturday, 12th May they ran the show, ‘Forced Perspective‘.

This week Lando and I are discussing the disturbing increase in people who are losing their perspective on the things that matter. Nitpicking on party affiliation instead of working to fix the problems in Iraq, sitting and back and relaxing without holding governments accountable, choosing sensationalism rather than truly hard news…there are times where we seem to want someone else to just take care of the big issues, ignore them in favor of assigning blame, or we simply can’t seem to focus on what they are. And what’s with that silly Electoral College anyway

After reading the following comments, I felt compelled to offer my own thoughts.

Most of my mates in Australia see the American Army as a bunch of ‘Trailer park trash’ that have no alternative other than join the army due to your lack of welfare system. Australia also sees America as a bunch of uncaring individuals were money takes precedent over the community. They treat their poor with contempt and as a burden especially with the recent and ongoing treatment of the blacks in the Mississippi floods etc. America should be ashamed at its minimum wage, lack of health care, imperialism war state like aggression and corporate greed. Unfortunately Australia is following your lead…I know this is a very broad overview but like you feel like the little people like us mean nothing anymore. I agree that political parties are no longer run by the working man but just puppets manipulated by bigger fish… If the Environment survives their is hope

posted by: Carl on Tue, 5/15 06:49 PM EDT

You mean I could have stayed with mama in her trailer and drank Fosters all day instead of keep those Godless East German Communists Bastards of the Warsaw Pact at arms length from the Free World? If only I’d been born in Oz.

“Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin

posted by: darwingodwin on Thu, 5/17 09:46 AM EDT

Hahaha, classic. I think the above effectively pinpoints the ignorance of Carl’s remark. It should be obvious that anyone who would so readily generalize stereotypes to a whole nation is NOT, speaking for ‘all his mates.’

I think most people would be genuinely surprised how much in common they had with their counterparts in countries all around the world that are selectively vilified, manipulated and ‘filtered’ by the media and the elites with whom we share the least common ground except geographic location.

This is why it is so refreshing to hear some ordinary Americans speak passionately against the administration that (purportedly) represents your country. You only have to look at the polls to see that you’re not in the minority. If only this was the case before the war. Of course there was public opposition before the war here in Australia but not enough of it, and like John Kerry due to ineffectual political opposition we voted back in our Prime Minister in 2004.

So the elites takes our countries to war and misrepresent their people with the power of a manipulated media. Why wasn’t there enough opposition in the US or Australia or the UK? Because people got sucked into believing this was the same fight as Afghanistan. That this war was a continuation of helping defend our allies after the unprovoked attacks of September 11. People still don’t really appreciate the difference, because as support for Iraq drops, so does support for Afghanistan. Hell can anyone point to a mainstream source that published the offers that Saddam Hussein was willing to negotiate, including the “unconditional return of UN weapons inspectors”?

Perhaps a point of difference in Australia is the word ‘patriotism’. It has nothing like the kind of resonance it has in the US, we don’t adorn ourselves or our buildings in the Australian flag and our mythologizing of our armed services is limited to the bravery shown by the ANZACs (who were ordered to die by their superiors). Our force is too small to even consider things like ‘military families’ or much of a military culture and no public figure as far as I’m aware has used the ‘support the troops’ line. Our country’s ethos could never be “we’re the greatest nation on Earth”, if anything our national character attempts to be humble and suspicious of those in authority but supportive of our friends/mates no matter what. At least that’s what it says on the coffee mugs in the tourist shop.

Perhaps ordinary opinions by ordinary people can help breach these filters imposed on us, and people will see something more worthwhile than that laughable ‘objectivity’ of the mainstream media in podcasts and blogs such as yours.

In the first part of this interview Michel Bauwens, the creator of The Foundation for P2P Alternatives, explained why he believes the various free and open movements should be viewed as part of a larger P2P movement; and why this larger movement offers the potential for creating an alternative to the current political and economic order.

http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html

I’ve entertained similar thoughts about the truly revolutionary power of decentralized networks combined with freedom of information and people from around the world going ‘online’ in numbers never seen before.
Every new form of media has once been touted as the trigger to spark change and new forms of communication. However, those media have always been co-opted and mediated by governments and corporations with powerful interests of their own, mostly in the status quo.

The most vulnerable and abused people who have the greatest interest in changing the status quo are the ones manipulated by those with power to converge against other countries with vulnerable and impoverished people with whom they share more in common with the elites of their own country.

If unmediated information and authentic personal experience has a way of bypassing the powerful intermediaries and connecting together the people of the world who’s interest is in change then maybe, just maybe, another world is possible.

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

From the Global Voices Manifesto:

We believe in free speech: in protecting the right to speak — and the right to listen. We believe in universal access to the tools of speech.

To that end, we seek to enable everyone who wants to speak to have the means to speak — and everyone who wants to hear that speech, the means to listen to it.

Thanks to new tools, speech need no longer be controlled by those who own the means of publishing and distribution, or by governments that would restrict thought and communication. Now, anyone can wield the power of the press. Everyone can tell their stories to the world.

We seek to build bridges across the gulfs that divide people, so as to understand each other more fully. We seek to work together more effectively, and act more powerfully.

We believe in the power of direct connection. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful. We believe conversation across boundaries is essential to a future that is free, fair, prosperous and sustainable – for all citizens of this planet.

While we continue to work and speak as individuals, we also seek to identify and promote our shared interests and goals. We pledge to respect, assist, teach, learn from, and listen to one other.

We are Global Voices.