Media Overload

I go for weeks on end feeling it is important to keep up wit the news. Then I notice I am being fed the same news stories over and over and over again. I am sure we must be on our one hundredth outbreak of the avian flu pandemic.

No one seems motivated to come up with an original lead story, the corporate media spoon feeds us with entertainment news. The Asper family keeps our information highway busy with the same old lines of inquiry and there is little or no real whistle blower or hardy investigative reports to raise questions other than the tired old routine of backing up a fiscally and pro-United States conservative line.

Even if our political leaders decided to act and speak from a place of unequivocal authenticity it would be shrouded in the dominant perspective and interpretation of the corporate agenda. I grieve for the lack of the independant news sources of yesteryear. I remember reading about William Lyon Mackenzie in the 1800s in Upper Canada and the stir his publication would make in political circles.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/ma/MackenzWL.html

The Tyee and Rabble.ca are the nearest to the tradition of the populist press in the present day; these news sources present a balance to the "Family Compact" Papers and the Corporate hegemony of Canadian business circles.

http://www.thetyee.ca/

http://www.rabble.ca/

It is important to choose to question and seek out the information behind any news item and to be conscious of the fact that news is constantly being thrown at us whether it is welcome or not. Finally it is important to find your own voice and write to your political represntatives and to thr editor of the newspapers.

There is no voice as worthy as your own.....

the faerieshaman

Back to the City!

I have returned from a few days on Salt Spring Island. The Island made an impression on me. I want to move there. The quiet of the night was so refreshing and comforting and I did not miss the car alarms, the dirt and anxiety of living in the Bonaventure, the panhandlers, the screaming of meth addicts on the street and the sound of carts rattling down the alley way in the middle of the night.

I discovered an evening with friends at their home and I had the opportunity of hosting them at our place. If I suddenly disappear from the city scene, please look me up if you are ever on Salt Spring Island.

Be well......