Wes and I have interviewed each other over the last year. I played a piece that he did for his show in Southern Oregon.
We talked about our programs' attempts to bring a leftist perspective to the national media. At present, there is the Neoliberal and the Neoconservative agendas, but not much else. Quotes from Bernie Sanders are about the first time the US corporate media has even referred to the ascendency of the very rich over the rest of us. Even Paul Krugman, that "liberal" commentator for the NYT, urges Americans to go slowly and support Wall Street's candidate, the war hawk and Goldman Sachs' Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton.
I did get some feedback recently from a listener who said that Eli and I were too caustic about our country and its leaders. She said that she "just turns us off" when we go on our little tirades about greedy politicians and sycophantic newspapers. The rest of the show, she likes.
The feedback raises some interesting questions. Do we moderate what we really think to make the program more palatable? Or is that just doing what most of the US media does already, deny the obvious class war with its impoverished millions and and massive war machine because it isn't a very nice subject.
Or will speaking truth generate more of a resistance to the US Empire? The spirit of truth is a dangerous thing to the imperial powers that be. As everyone should know, truth is the first step to real change.
