Recharging the Anti-War Movement--Get Local, Stay Positive

Tweet Below is part of a very insightful essay about antiwar organizing by a local professor from Olympia, Zoltan Grossman, on Counterpunch.org. I picked this part of the essay not to offend my many friends who disdain TV, but to give an example of the new perspective Prof. Grossman is trying to give antiwar organizers. Hope you'll read it. [Click on the link in the first line to read the whole article.] Linda

7. Watch TV

I am baffled every time I talk with a peace activist about a TV news interview or a critical program, and the activist stops me to proudly proclaim that "we don't have a TV." This is a sure-fire sign of an activist who has no interest in being an organizer. How in the world can we educate or organize people around an issue if we don't know what bogus "facts" and myths that the people are already receiving? How can we talk with them if we don't have an understanding of mass culture as a common language? Joking about a TV drama or comedy is often a frame of reference that can open a conversation, and shows that we don't see ourselves as superior.

I understand if progressives are protecting their kids, but the kids eventually go to bed. I also understand if they don't want to sacrifice their souls, and turn their brains into mush with overly large doses of TV. But thousands of people have gone to jail (or even died) to fight war and injustice in this country's history. Why can't we make the sacrifice of laughing at an episode of Barbershop on Showtime? Not every program is like Survivor or Deal or No Deal; some programs actually try to critique society, and are probably safe to consume in small doses.

Many progressive activists attack "mainstream" people as nothing but consumers and TV watchers, without recognizing that people are passive because they feel powerless, and feel they have limited choices in their lives. Television is a critical part of shaping collective consciousness in the U.S. Just as the Latin American rebel has to know the rainforest, and the Middle Eastern rebel has to know the deserts or mountains, the North American rebel has to know television. It is our wilderness-our jungle-that we ignore at our peril. It may make us uncomfortable, but we must not become so isolated that we can only talk with others who don't have a TV.