Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot's great, but I think their cause is reenforcing a myth: Russian government = oppressive, America = land of the free. I'd say public opinion is just as controlled, if not more, in the USA than it is in Russia. The only difference is that here it's way more subtle. Instead of government cracking down on protesters and throwing them in jail, America's corporate run media present the public with news that's fit to print -according to corporate elite. It's so subtle in fact that no one, not even members of the media itself recognize their own reporting reflect corporate interests. This makes it even more dangerous.
The myth that we have complete access to all sides of an issue makes our ignorance all the more potent. There's this great Chomsky quote in which he talks about how a word search of all print media from the 1960's and 70's comes up with no results for "invasion + USA + Vietnam". That says it all. In Russia everyone knows that the media is state run. People know they're being fed propaganda. Here we don't. Maybe Russia is in fact more of a free society. Discuss.
The myth that we have complete access to all sides of an issue makes our ignorance all the more potent. There's this great Chomsky quote in which he talks about how a word search of all print media from the 1960's and 70's comes up with no results for "invasion + USA + Vietnam". That says it all. In Russia everyone knows that the media is state run. People know they're being fed propaganda. Here we don't. Maybe Russia is in fact more of a free society. Discuss.