Give Peace a Chance, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise

September 5, 2009 Martha Thomases 8 Comments

Labor Day is considered to be the traditional end of summer. It is certainly the end of the media silly season. For news junkies like me, the month of August – especially the last two weeks – is a veritable news desert. People who work in the media like to go on vacations with their families, which is perfectly understandable. In order to be able to take these vacations, they frequently prepare news stories in advance, to fill pages and air-time while they are gone.

This can be wonderful, if you want to know what to wear on the first day of school, or if you wonder what Woodstock was like 40 years ago. It’s less appealing if you want to know what is happening in the world right now.

Even if you manage to find some real, non-lifestyle feature news, you don’t get a complete picture. It is the custom for our national media to assume that there are two sides to every story, a “liberal” and “conservative” position. Usually, they simplify even further, and present a Democrat (for the liberal) and a Republican (for the conservative).

This practice extends to the broadcast media, which is supposed to be neutral, as well as to cable news, which is accepted as partisan. If you watch CNN, for example, you’ll likely see Paul Begala debate Mary Matalin.

Even on the allegedly liberal MSNBC, you’ll see conservative Republicans such as Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan.

“Isn’t that fair?” you might ask. “Don’t we benefit from more than one point of view?”

Why, yes. Yes, we do. I’d argue that we would benefit even more from three or four points of view. However, if that’s too complicated, I’d like to see the conversation shift. The center within these two extremes is too far to the right.

In the example above, Paul Begala is a Democratic strategist who advised centrist Democrats. He was not one of those in favor of Howard Dean’s 50 State strategy. And May Matalin has been an advisor to Dick Cheney, who thinks torture is essential for national security.

It seems to me that if, on the one hand, we have centrist Democrats, and, on the other hand, we have torture, then we need a third hand. Especially when, according to a recent poll, most Americans would like to find a less violent way to solve our problems.

(You’ll notice, if you click on the link above, you’re told that wanting to wind down the War in Afghanistan is somehow a right-wing Republican opinion. I don’t claim to understand how that could be, although it is my suspicion that they assume anything that disagrees with Obama must be a conservative opinion, because Obama is a radical socialist communist. If you read this you may find a different perspective.)

If you only watch American news, you would be able to hear from Pat Buchanan, who recently defended Hitler, and not in a Godwin’s Law kind of way.

You wouldn’t know that there is a vibrant anti-war movement in this country.

I know, because I’m part of it. I never see anyone on television who represents my point of view.

Within this group, I’m hardly a radical. If anything, I’m the centrist. For example, I’m much more pro-Israel than many of my colleagues. Instead of feeling like an outcast because of our differences, I find it to be an opportunity to learn. Even better, I can find common ground, as when we support those looking for non-violent solutions in the Middle East. Whatever your politics, I think we can agree that fewer suicide bombers is a step in the right direction.

I’m very lucky in my search for other opinions. One of the programs of the A. J. Muste Institute is to provide below-market rent for organizations that share our mission. The building at 339 Lafayette Street (nicknamed “The Peace Pentagon”) is home to the War Resisters League, the Socialist Party, the Libertarian Book Club, the New York Chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Metropolitan Council on Housing, Paper Tiger TV, Deep Dish TV and others. Just going to the bathroom in this building can involve you in a political discussion more intense than you’ll see on your television.

The building, alas, is in bad shape. It needs extensive, expensive repairs. In the near future, we’re going to have to decide whether to fix what’s broken or sell the building and move to a different space. This is not a new problem; we’ve been discussing our situation for more than two years. As an activist and the daughter of a real estate developer, these discussions push my buttons and make me crazy. I’m not going to tell you which side I’m on (it’s discourse so arcane and convoluted that it’s like political satire from the 1970s).

Common ground can be found here, and we’re glad to agree on something.

You might want to communicate with the news media you use, and encourage them to increase the pool of guests they consider booking as contribution opinions to their discussions. Even better, tell them what you think.

Summer’s over. Time to get back to work.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases, in a lifestyle features kind of way, would like to encourage her readers to start their holiday shopping early, and thinks this is a fabulous place to start.