**DISCLAIMER** Ok, it’s time to put on the big girl/boy political panties to read this one! If you don’t care for politics/media/current events, you may want to skip this one.

Is it possible that the people are finally stepping out of their complacency and taking a stand for their vision of a just and sustainable society? Will the people win or will the corporation crush them with its morality devouring agenda in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan?

And do I want to live in a country if the people lose this battle. Do I want to live in a country that places the welfare of the corporation above the well-being of the people? Do I even want to live in a society that values and protects the bonuses of Wall Street magicians who make money out of thin air- to the detriment of the rest of us mere mortals who exchange time and tangible products for money? Do I even want to stay in a country who will denigrate the work of a teacher and fight to privatize the job of a fireman? Do I want to live in a culture that celebrates the misbehavior of the entitled and ignores the sacrifice of its civil servants?

Can I sit by and watch the destruction of the infrastructure of a nation- before the very eyes of its people- and not take some sort of action? Can I stand by and watch as the largest transfer of wealth occurs in a country so abundant in wealth and capability that it was, at one time, the beacon to all other nations?

How do the politicians forcing this anti-democratic agenda sleep at night?

Do they not have children and grandchildren? Were they never inspired by a teacher? Have they never been saved by the sacrifice of a firefighter, police officer or soldier? Have they never been in a country when the government collapsed and the basic services that keep a country functioning, like trash collection, cease to exist? Have they ever stepped outside of their glass castles and walked among the very people that placed them in the castle to begin with? Do they have no understanding of what democracy truly is and how it works?

Or do they merely answer directly to the Corporation at this point in time? Are they too busy consuming everything in sight to really give a fuck about what’s best for the nation? Are they too busy sticking their head up some CEO’s ass to care that these actions will have dangerous consequences for future generations–and current ones?

As I sit and watch the citizens of several states fight to maintain their livelihood- people who, for all intensive purposes, should be doing their important work rather than fighting daily for rights from a Governor implementing a corporate agenda; I’m wondering what exactly I can do to participate. I don’t have the resources to fly to one of these states right now and I’m not versed on domestic issues and policies. I have a platform here, which I am using now, and giving a moment’s reflection for the issue. What more can be done? I’m asking- let me know your answer- @cstreet10.

Here are two of the video clips (see below) I spent time with last night and was completely appalled at the actual legislation that’s being pushed through many states right now under the guise of an economic crisis. Yes, our economy is in crisis- there’s no doubt about that. But does Michigan need to create legislation that allows a governor to dismiss an entire municipality’s ELECTED officials and turn the city over to the hands of a corporation? Yea, that’s real. It passed the state House and is about to pass the Senate.

Our media is not giving us the true story-the whole story, so maybe my role in this- my means of participation- is to curate the information for others. Maybe raising the collective awareness of what’s happening in our world is my means of participating in this revolution. Maybe that’s my role. For now.

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that my job is to bear witness. To simply witness the world, with all its struggles, pain, suffering, wonder and beauty, and interpret the experience for others. I seem to do this fairly well, with words and images, so I believe that this is what my purpose truly is, to be a witness- and tell others. But I cannot be everywhere, nor do I want to be.

Honestly, when I watch the news and see what’s happening in these states being run by governor’s hell bent on removing democracy and then hear the mass media talking points in the everyday conversations of the people around me, I want to jump on a sail boat and drift off into the sunset. Seriously. That’s my first thought.

But I can’t do that. I must watch. I must participate. I must continue to try and tell people, one conversation at a time, to seek the truth. I must tell people to look beneath the shiny info-graphics, blood-pressure increasing music and bloviating talking heads and see the real truth.

These are your teachers, your firefighters, your police officers. These are the people who shape our future and maintain our present. Should they truly be the ones to “repair” the economy, with their pensions and pay rates, while our tax dollars flow unregulated into the pockets of Wall Street?

Regardless of your stance on unions, should we not take pause and say, “yes, your job is more important than some insane political agenda.” Hollywood can’t even write this shit- it’s so far from any tangible reality.

So in light of this revelation and rant- I’ve launched a tumblr site where I merely post the media I’m consuming and give some commentary of my interpretation of the news. During my time at UNC, I had the good fortune to study media agenda setting theories with the creator of the theory and took several classes devoted to culture and information consumption for my Peace War and Defense course work. While I may not be an expert media analyst, I’ve devoted the better portion of over 7 years to closely studying media production, agenda setting theories and the means by which the Corporation and the government control the information the everyday person consumes, and in turn, the public discourse. So, I’m putting my expertise to use here.

More to come on this topic! Stay tuned!

and one more to watch…