Ask Auntie Pinko
March 28, 2002

These two questions are so closely related that I thought I'd take a crack at answering them in one go-round. Never let it be said that "Democratic" is synonymous with "inefficient!"

 
Dear Auntie Pinko

How do we get liberals, progressives and democrats back into the national dialogue?

Glenda,
Killeen, TX

 
Dear Auntie Pinko,

Most of the people I know are too busy to do more than glance at the newspaper and get their news from the big cable networks like Fox and MSNBC. Obviously this is not the way to get the real story; my question is how can I get through to people who are forming their opinions on the biased view they are getting from the media? They are so misinformed that I spend most of my efforts on trying to correct the falsehoods being spread.

Jane,
Fort Myers, FL

 
Dear Glenda and Jane,

Auntie Pinko has a suggestion for you both:

Become the media!

Start an e-mail "newsletter" in which you pick out and carefully research one issue every other week or so, and send it to everyone on your e-mail list. Write some articles for the nice folks here at Democratic Underground, or Bartcop or Buzzflash. When they get published, send links to all your friends.

Sit down once a week or so and write a short, provocative, fact-based letter to the editor in a newspaper near you. Check your local cable access channel or Public TV channel for non-zoo-type call-in shows in which local and regional issues are discussed, and phone up a well-worded question or two. Write a letter to the editor of Time or Newsweek. Start your own website with a page for your analysis and commentary of various media articles, with links to sources like the BBC and Fox on the same topic. Point out some of the differences.

Design a tabloid front page-style sheet of "headlines" from your perspective and post it on the bulletin board at the local coffee shop. Start an informal media reading/discussion group at your public library or the local bookstore; print up provocative lists of resources for the discussion topics.

Get together with a couple of techie friends, get a webcam and start broadcasting a parody version of Mr. Limbaugh, telling things the way they really are, and send links to all the online discussion sites you can think of. Put together a list with selected excerpts of the letters or articles you get published, and include it with all the holiday cards you send out this year.

"The real story" will never get out unless we put it out. And the best way to get liberal and progressive voices back into the national dialogue is to start with yours! Why do you think Auntie Pinko takes valuable time away from my sadly-neglected garden and my dear little kittycat to sit down and answer these questions? It won't happen overnight. But sooner or later we will reach a critical mass.

Now this is purely a matter of my personal preferences, not an objective critique, but I would have to say that, ideology aside, I find that many liberal writers are generally (not always) more interesting, witty, provocative, sophisticated and literate than most conservative writers. (And yes, of course that's a biased opinion, but it's my column so I get to express it here. If you want to take issue, write your own column, that's my whole point, here!) So I will be looking for, and looking forward to, seeing you in print, Glenda and Jane! And thanks for writing to Auntie Pinko!

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