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Independent media and the deceivable majority 

by Tod Zankert (admin [at] inter-nation.org)
What is independent media? I have learned that it is precisely as the phrase indicates, independent. But must this mean that in contrast to the mainstream media, independent media should remain on the fringes, perpetually struggling, and never reaching the majority of people?
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  I began my independent media, InterNation, with big ambitions. Not only would this magazine function as a portal to the best journals in the world, but it would expand such that it would cover the news in the hot spots of the world, live via satellite, through the Internet.
  The common theme? Using raw commentary before slick journalism. We would move beyond the BS- filtered mainstream media for public consumption. InterNation would ultimately represent more than smart news, but would help to instigate an intelligent revolution; a tool to effect news that is untainted by larger media interests. WHEREAS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS INTEGRATED INTO THE LARGER SYSTEM, INTERNATION WOULD EXIST AS AN IMPORTANT TOOL FOR LIMITING THE CONCENTRATION OF POLITICAL POWER.  
  I hired on help. Many more people visited InterNation than anticipated. Emails came from throughout the world, encouraging our cause. In the meantime, the 'local' political realities became quite real beyond the virtual theorizing on InterNation.    
  This was instructive. I learned that my workplace at the Taylor Arcade (as anyplace where people gather) is a microcosm of the larger politik among nations. My immediate political conflict began with the owner of the restaurant, below my balcony. He had other uses for my space (see article), but I was confident: I would pay my rent, and ignore the unilateral power play of the Super Power, i.e. the bully.
  In terms of geopolitics, the restaurant is the center of this building. The restaurant enables the other merchants within its orbit, more business. People accept whatever comes of this alliance, good or bad.
  Recently, I asked the landlord why my attempts to make peace with the people of the Taylor Arcade hadn't been reciprocated. "You must understand," he said, "You want to get along with everyone? Then, you've got to become just like they are." He added that doubtless I am responsible for what has taken place here, not the many.  
  I agreed with him - this is the way of majorities - and I added, "Simply because everyone gangs up on someone who is different, does not necessarily mean that the majority is right."  When the majority becomes a bunch of pathetic, bleating sheep, what then?
  The majority of the merchants continue to enlist support from Nick, the bully in the restaurant, to continue their campaign against me. They are attracted to him as moths to a light bulb. The phosphorescent light is artificial, hardly sunlight. But from their meager perspective, artificial personalities are secure.   
  But even Nick, probably himself wary of this conflict, humored Jason, a friend of mine as he motioned to my office on the balcony, saying, "I don't know about him up there, that eye in the sky." I took this for a compliment. 
  Later, Jason said: "It's nothing you've done wrong in the Arcade. You are different, but in a good way. You respect people. You know why I keep to myself, and no longer play the game? How I do it?"
  "No, how?"
  He smiled. "Because I can afford to. Otherwise, you've always got to bend over for those with the big egos, those who think that all that matters is to be all-powerful, y' know, those that have a God complex."
  Hans Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, wrote that those (like myself) who "personalize social problems," often demonize their enemies when solutions to conflicts are far more complex. Yet, later he disparages those megalomaniac personalities, as Napoleon, or Hitler. Napoleon rose to power on the tides of democracy, as Hitler - who was democratically elected into office. Bottom line, often the majority is uninformed, or worse, looking for an authoritarian leader whom they feel will protect their affluence, and security.  
  As things stand, I do not have the means to change the geopolitical realities of this block, not in muscle, not in diplomacy, not even in soft money! Just kidding. What did I look for? I believed that even though I am a minority of one at the Taylor Arcade, perhaps various others throughout the world, seeing our common thread, would join me. One strand of a rope cannot hold, but when you add more strands, it is strengthened and can endure.
  I look for someone to invest in the Taylor Arcade and help me to continue InterNation.
  And from here, take this cause worldwide! Are you that person?

  ps What do I need to raise? Dennis Kappas, the landlord, is asking $750.000 for this building, the Taylor Arcade. This is what I need to raise. This way, I'll have enough to support InterNation, and add a staff through the leases people pay for their shops. Think about it! Large media companies spend untold millions to put out their mainstream garbage, so tell me, why should Independent Media be left on the sidelines? Help me to build up a staff and present an alternative to the filtered news we receive in the papers. Please...support InterNation - and if not InterNation, INDYMEDIA!
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