Political Action

Miss Representation, The film presents a reading of how media writes certain values on women's bodies that do not represent healthy images to be ingested and appropriated by children, women or men. It takes a Marxist position: the manipulation of these values and images is a result of economic factors.

This film is similar to other politically motivated documentaries that try to uncover how our culture elides economic factors that create unhealthy ideals and images (think Michael Moore docs, Food Inc., SuperSize Me, Why  We Fight). A similar documentary could be written about the glorification of violence in film and media, starting with a comparison of Godfather films and the Italian neorealist Gomorrah, which depicts the lifelessness of gang-riddled culture in contemporary Italy.

300, An article detailing how the film takes advantage of cultural biases and stereotypes, exacerbating otherness and hate toward certain races and ethnicities.

Occupy Wall Street, The movement is critical of the government and of the financial sector. The group perceives a lack of accountability and subsequent irresponsibility. The group's primary mode of critic is (human) physical presence. They are 'organizing' in parks around the country.

The Colbert Report, Colbert is also critical of the government, as well as the media. He performs a parody of the corporate-media-government complex: as television news host, as music sponsor, as PAC organizer. He shares many of OWS criticisms of the government and the financial sector. The creation of his superPAC is a product of his criticism of campaign financing issues, which is one of OWS stated concerns.

How are the two actions different? What value does each action have not achieved by the other action? What other actions are taking place that combine with these actions (legitimate political commentary, facebook and social networking communication, blogging, studies and reports by established researchers, etc.)

The Southern Poverty Law Center, The SPLC takes action against groups that perpetuate hate. This group brings legal action against groups that speak or act with prejudice toward others regarding race, gender, ethnicity, or other premises for bigotry. The SPLC will taken action against a group for language in materials it publishes, for construction or placement of structures, for policy creation, for education, detention and social services administration, as well as other actions subject to legal scrutiny. The ACLU is a group with work similar to the anti-hate projects of the SPLC.

To what degree do are policies and embargoes toward other nations constitute bigotry? Many groups have arisen to perform political action against what they perceive as a culture of prejudice and harassment in our foreign policy. Amnesty International, pro-engagement with Cuba groups, anti-Iraq War groups, etc.

Commentary...
Occupy Wall Street takes the political action they are currently taking because no other means are open to them. The fact that the current system does not have language to speak about these issues or means to address the criticisms of the protesters is proof the system is deficient. If we had language to speak about these issues, if we could point and say, "That's what's wrong here" the organizers wouldn't have to get together in the first place. We have no language to address these issues because we haven't addressed them up to this point, speaking historically. We don't have case law in the court system. We don't have a political party that fights for these platforms. Until today, we have lived without questioning neo-liberalism, accepting it as a fact of daily life. For decades upon decades, we have learned to live with it. We have normalized it, as well as its injustices. In our shopping, in our media, in our job choices, in our entertainment, in our government policy. We have accepted it as pain we must live with, such as bullet left in the body. And just like a bullet left in the body, we don't see it. Just like a bullet left in the body, we think it would be easier, better, if we just left it there. It would hurt too much to take out when the skin has been healed over for years. But there is lead in that bullet, and mercury, that is slowing leaching into our system and killing us. And though the bullet may be figurative, the lead and mercury are not: they are in the paint on our walls and in the fish eat. They are in chemicals people in the developing nations are exposed to in the production of our cheap shoes and electronic equipment.

No, fighting against the current corporate-government complex is not about someone else paying for you. It's not about a free ride. This is about paying the actual price of our abuses and negligence as a society. We are all responsible for corporate greed: they make the low-priced, easy to access products we ask for. Corporate greed doesn't work if consumers are willing to pay the actual price of products: buying from companies and manufacturers that are socially responsible in their practices. We add our greed to the greed of others when we try to get money fast and without consequence, which is a better use of the definition of the word 'corporate': unified greed, our greed combined into one. Blaming corporate greed on big banks and big companies is a way of separating ourselves from our shared responsibility. It's not that they are not responsible, it's that there is no us-them. There is simply a 'we', and we have all been greedy, our combined greed, our corporate greed--a product of billions of individual decisions to save a buck here and to take advantage of a friend because he won't notice it. We must all take responsibility for the ways our individual actions promote injustice here in the US and around the global community, in what we read, in what we say, in what we buy, in where we employ ourselves and in how we employ ourselves. Taking responsibility is difficult, but I think that is exactly what is happening today, both by those occupying and by government and the business community. We all recognize there is a problem and we are trying to make it better.