People power can still win. Even in media.

[Nevilledog]

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Mother Jones
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Big Tobacco executives famously declared that “doubt is our product.” So long as they could convince people that the truth about tobacco was just one side of a debate, they were winning. So, too, for Trump.

motherjones.com
People power can still win. Even in media.
I know it's hard to believe right now, but the evidence is clear.
10:30 AM · Oct 10, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2022/10/people-power-can-win/



“Ralph who?” my teen asked the other day as I waited on hold to be connected with Ralph Nader. I wasn’t too surprised—it’s been a long time since Nader helped launch the modern consumer advocacy movement, starting with the revelation that the auto industry was cold-bloodedly prioritizing profits ahead of drivers’ lives. Nader was perhaps at his change-making peak about the time a small and scrappy magazine named Mother Jones was getting started, also aiming to expose corporate wrongs that were not getting scrutiny from the corporate media of the time.

By the 90s, when I was cutting my teeth in journalism, Nader had become the avatar for a whole movement fighting the influence of big money, and he was a hero to baby muckraker me. He’s become a more complicated figure since then, especially because of the 2000 presidential run that some blame for the tight result that produced Bush v. Gore. But at 88, he’s also someone who has a long, deep perspective on what it means to fight for change against powerful interests—and win.

“Let’s talk about empowerment,” he said when we finally got on. “I’ve noticed that the better you get at investigating corporate evil, the more you turn people off after a while. Not people like me”—he chuckled—“who have an endless appetite for corporate evil. But a lot of people want to know, is there any hope?”

This is a hard question for investigative journalists. We pride ourselves on finding out how the powerful manipulate the system and how self-proclaimed authorities lie. We expose corruption, dig into duplicity, and uncover inequities. We do it to make things better. But are we ultimately leaving people feeling that the system is so corrupt there’s no hope of changing it?

*snip*

[TheRealNorth]

1. I am not reassured....

I think it was only after so many heavy smokers got lung cancer and died that people figured it out. I remember well into thdenials. Smoking-lung cancer denialism, much like the climate deniers of today. But one difference back then was that there was no Faux News or OAN completely selling out to push the denialism.

[Javaman]

2. Rancid - The 11th Hour

&ab_channel=LaloSlipknot

Hey, little sister, do you know what time it was
When you finally seen all your broken dreams
Come crashing down your door?

I said, they demand an answer and they demand it quick
Or the questions fade and the wasted days
Come crawling back for more

And I said
Do you know where the power lies and who pulls the strings?
Do you know where the power lies? I said, it starts and ends with you
The face of isolation
Well, that's one you recognize
When you can't get straight
It's a lonely place and
It's one you do despise

I said boredom is for sale now
And helplessness you feel
It's a wounded dove and the hawks are above
Blood splattered on a reel-to-reel

And I said
Do you know where the power lies and who pulls the strings?
Do you know where the power lies? I said, it starts and ends with you
Hey, hey
Hey, hey

I was almost over, my world was almost gone
And in a sudden rush, I could almost touch
The things that I'd done wrong
My jungle's made of concrete
And through silence, I could feel
My aim is true, I will walk on through
These mountains made of steel

And I said
Do you know where the power lies and who pulls the strings?
Do you know where the power lies? I said, it starts and ends with you
I said, it starts and ends with you
I said, it starts and ends with you
With you