...Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street protesters ought to count themselves lucky that they are allowed to publicly protest at all. If the right to freedom of speech is a sign of a healthy democracy, though, then why hasn't the media proclaimed with effervescence that here, at least, is proof of the strength of our North American democracies? Many commentators speak of our waning democracies, yet there is almost complete silence on a very important aspect of a healthy democracy, namely, non-violent social movements attempting to be heard.
What will come of mass movements such as the occupation of Wall Street, or the many that have and continue to take place around the globe this year, remains to be seen.
For now, however, we can content ourselves in knowing that there are those among us who still believe in the power of democracy, who feel that the current financial instability needs more voices heard than simply our elected political representatives, bank CEOs, and media pundits. They continue to protest in spite of the mainstream media's failure to alert the rest of us.above quote from article :
" Big Media Afraid to Take Wall Street Protest Seriously That's how it appears, given the thin, dismissive coverage of Occupy Wall Street so far." By Katrina Orlowski,TheTyee.ca, Sept. 26, 2011
Police Brutality at Occupywallstreet Protest with a few words from Charlie Chaplin (The Great Dictator)
It should strike most Americans as odd that every protest held by the Tea Party Gang were covered extensively by the Mainstream Media while the Mainstream Media has ignored the Occupywallstreet.org protests.
If these were Tea Party members being beaten up by police even though the protesters are protesting peacefully this would be the leading story in the Media . The difference is that the Tea Party Express gang are supported by billionaires such as the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch
Mainstream Media in the US are the mouthpieces of the Wall Street gang .
After the NYPD went rogue over the weekend brutally beating peaceful activists in New York where o where is President Obama. Shouldn't a black American president be more sympathetic of peaceful protesters and activists being beaten up in New York as Black and white protesters in were beaten up , hosed and tear gassed and set upon by dogs for daring to oppose the Jim Crow laws and lack of equal rights and justice for black Americans in the South in the 1950s to the 1960s.
Occupy Wall Street -- Police Brutality, Arrests, MSM blackout
Uploaded by RTAmerica on Sep 26, 2011
As Occupy Wall Street demonstrations enter their second week, over 80 people get arrested over the weekend, and police brutality kicks off. Many protesters say the mainstream media is in a black-out, since many corporate networks sleep in the same bed with Wall Street. RT's Anastasia Churkina reports.
Mainstream ignores Occupy Wall Street
This abuse of power by the police is not just limited to political activist but also to members of the public at large though especially visible minorities and the poor, the homeless, the unemployed and even the mentally ill.
Why the public needs to take pictures and videos of police or other authorities.
These are pictures and videos which portray the reality of incidences police brutality.
These pictures and videos the police do not want the public in general to see.
These pictures and videos of police abuse are not what those in power want the public to see.
A large segment of the public in fact would prefer not to see or know about such incidences of police abuse.
There are those who prefer to live their lives protected from seeing such images. Out of sight out of mind or as their philosophy is "They don't think about things they don't want to think about.
So they live in their make believe Peter Panesque dream world in which the police or others in authority never do anything wrong.
This sort of see no evil hear no evil delusional state is encouraged by those in power along with most of the Mainstream News/Entertainment Media/advertising industry .
Cops Vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media ReasonTV
NOTE: Because of violent images, viewer discretion is advised.
The autopsy results from the death of Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic drifter who was allegedly beaten to death by Fullerton, California police will be announced today by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
Rackauckas will also announce whether he will file charges against the officers involved in Thomas' death, following the office's investigation. The confrontation with police took place at a municipal bus station on July 5, with Thomas dying in the hospital five days later. This press conference comes weeks after the Fullerton police refused to answer questions about the case.
Regardless of today's announcements, Thomas' death is a case study of how ubiquitous phones with cameras and the Internet are transferring power from the government, police, and the media to the masses. Images and word of the beating spread not because of official communications but by viral cell phone video of the incident and a horrific hospital photo taken by his father of Thomas in a coma.
After the photo and video were released, the Fullerton community reacted in outrage at city council meetings and at protests outside the Fullerton police department. Whatever charges are filed (or not) today, the death of Kelly Thomas will remain an example of how new media is changing the old guard.
Written and produced by Paul Detrick, who also narrates. Camera by Detrick, Alex Manning, and Zach Weissmueller. Special thanks to Ron Thomas.
" Big Media Afraid to Take Wall Street Protest Seriously That's how it appears, given the thin, dismissive coverage of Occupy Wall Street so far." By Katrina Orlowski,TheTyee.ca, Sept. 26, 2011
It's been over a week now of protests, meetings, and confrontations with police on Wall Street, and yet mainstream North American media outlets, who have provided us with daily updates on uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Spain, to name a few, have given either thin or dismissive notice to what is happening on Manhattan. Known as the Occupy Wall Street campaign, it started on September 17 with thousands marching into New York's financial district, waving slogans such as "Wall Street is Our Street" and "We are the 99%." Cops were waiting for the crowds on Wall Street, so they set up camp a block away and have been there ever since, day and night.
Fueling these protests is the widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else, which continues to grow because of rising unemployment and mortgage foreclosures. In other words, this is a much different kind of movement from the tax-cut loving Tea Party protests that the media eagerly covers. This might make more sense when one considers that the Tea Party protests are funded by the ultra-right billionaire Koch Brothers, and treated as a grassroots mega-story by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.
...Indeed, this tone of patronizing distancing from the supposedly naïve and therefore irrelevant protesters saturates much coverage of the protest. The Associated Press account that the Wall Street Journal and others published four days ago led this way: "In a small granite plaza a block from the New York Stock Exchange, a group of 20-somethings in flannel pajama pants and tie-dyed T-shirts are plotting the demise of Wall Street as we know it." Aren't news reporters taught to adopt a fair and objective voice? Would that not include simply relaying the actions and ideas of the protesters without first making fun of them?
...Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street protesters ought to count themselves lucky that they are allowed to publicly protest at all. If the right to freedom of speech is a sign of a healthy democracy, though, then why hasn't the media proclaimed with effervescence that here, at least, is proof of the strength of our North American democracies? Many commentators speak of our waning democracies, yet there is almost complete silence on a very important aspect of a healthy democracy, namely, non-violent social movements attempting to be heard.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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