EMMYdiocracy
Mediocracy is a situation which can occur in a democracy in which mediocre people prevail. The society is then subordinated to a quasi-egalitarian ideology in which words and ideas are redefined by mediocre people, to be convenient for mediocre people. Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a frequent critic of mediocracy in contemporary Western countries. || This where the tag cloud goes if the tag cloud loads:
This is still a top contender for “My Favorite Protest Sign.”
This is what I get for making a snarky comment about all the comparatively well-paid East Coast reporters writing about San Francisco and Oakland like they live here. Made me laugh, because I still have a sense of humor, but I’m not sure Oakland does. People here just don’t have enough weed!
(via socialuprooting)
From the Oakland Police Department’s operations plan for January 28, the day six professional journalists were detained, and one was jailed and processed. While in cuffs, I asked several times if there was a PIO on hand — there wasn’t.
via Geoff King.
Stowers, who is white, denied assertions by the defense that she had directed racial slurs at Crawford, who is black. But during cross-examination, defense attorney Dan Siegel asked about an exchange in which a protester had approached Stowers and asked, “Did you call her a n-?”
Siegel asked Stowers if she responded by saying something like, “They were acting like that.”
“I may have said that,” Stowers testified.
US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week.
The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists. The New York Times reported that “New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers” covering protests.
Wonkette and Washingtonsblog.com reported that the Mayor of Oakland acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an 18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on “how to suppress” Occupy protests.
To Europeans, the enormity of this breach may not be obvious at first. Our system of government prohibits the creation of a federalised police force, and forbids federal or militarised involvement in municipal peacekeeping.
I noticed that rightwing pundits and politicians on the TV shows on which I was appearing were all on-message against OWS. Journalist Chris Hayes reported on a leaked memo that revealed lobbyists vying for an $850,000 contract to smear Occupy. Message coordination of this kind is impossible without a full-court press at the top. This was clearly not simply a case of a freaked-out mayors’, city-by-city municipal overreaction against mess in the parks and cranky campers. As the puzzle pieces fit together, they began to show coordination against OWS at the highest national levels.
You know, sometimes the media really stands with people, and sometimes it doesn’t. How many media entities are still out there, saying “What is OWS about?” How many are taking the questions and positions of OWS strait to the politicians themselves? How many are taking outright stands against the police brutality, and prominently covering it before their own journalists become targets?
Furthermore, have we all forgotten about the despicable Rupert Murdoch trial already? Nobody even brings up the point that it was revealed nearly all major news agencies were implicated in illegal phone hacking and the illegal acquisition of personal information.
Lol no media company would report on how they were implicated on phone hacking. Nor would one narc on the other. They have standards. Clearly.
