(no subject)
Today, after reading a good dose of Chris Hedges, I watched two documentaries. One was about Ralph Nader, and the other was about Howard Zinn. I learned a lot about these two men.
Although I was of college age when Ralph Nader was in his prime, I was extremely unconscious about political matters at that time. As a college student, I knew that he had something to do with consumer protection, and I had heard the term "Nader's Raiders" a couple of times, but as far as any details were concerned, I was a complete blank. More recently, all I knew about him was that he had been a candidate for president, and I believed the media myths that it was he who had caused Al Gore to loose the 2000 election, and also effected the loss of the 2004 election by John Kerry. I thought of him as a wingnut, after seeing Bill Mahr and Michael Moore get on their knees and beg him not to run for president.
This movie changed my mind considerably. It appears that Ralph Nader was quite a hero in his time. He took on the corporations in the 1960's and 1970's, and forced them to come clean about some of the harms they had been inflicting on the public with their products. He actually got the Congress and the President to act on this, and it turns out that many of the life and injury saving regulations on various products are the result of Ralph Nader's efforts. In the film he is displayed as a person who is enraged by injustice, and refused to stand around while people were being cheated. He was also an inspiration to many other people who followed him at that time, and who still attempt to apply his concepts of democracy and justice at the present time. He has become someone I admire greatly, and I now understand his reasons for running for President.
With regard to Howard Zinn, I came across his work by accident. I was looking for a good book to read, a couple of years ago, and was attracted by the title of his People's History of the United States. It was only after I read that book that I became aware of how many books he had written, and got some knowledge of what he stood for. What I didn't suspect of him was his level of activism. I thought of him as a nice philosophical old man who wrote books. What the film I saw today showed me was how involved he was in the anti-war movement during the Viet-Nam war, and how much attention was paid to him at that time by both those who supported his anti-war efforts, and by the FBI, who watched him constantly during that time.
I must say that Mr. Hedges has been introducing me to a great many things I have not been aware of before; or to the extent I was aware of them, he has articulated many of the things that I have observed in the world. I wish I was a little younger and in better health so that I could follow the lead of the people I mentioned above, and now I must contrive methods by which I can be an activist, despite my physical limitations. I think that writing is one way I can do that, especially with the exposure of some of my ideas and enthusiasm that the Internet offers.
Although I was of college age when Ralph Nader was in his prime, I was extremely unconscious about political matters at that time. As a college student, I knew that he had something to do with consumer protection, and I had heard the term "Nader's Raiders" a couple of times, but as far as any details were concerned, I was a complete blank. More recently, all I knew about him was that he had been a candidate for president, and I believed the media myths that it was he who had caused Al Gore to loose the 2000 election, and also effected the loss of the 2004 election by John Kerry. I thought of him as a wingnut, after seeing Bill Mahr and Michael Moore get on their knees and beg him not to run for president.
This movie changed my mind considerably. It appears that Ralph Nader was quite a hero in his time. He took on the corporations in the 1960's and 1970's, and forced them to come clean about some of the harms they had been inflicting on the public with their products. He actually got the Congress and the President to act on this, and it turns out that many of the life and injury saving regulations on various products are the result of Ralph Nader's efforts. In the film he is displayed as a person who is enraged by injustice, and refused to stand around while people were being cheated. He was also an inspiration to many other people who followed him at that time, and who still attempt to apply his concepts of democracy and justice at the present time. He has become someone I admire greatly, and I now understand his reasons for running for President.
With regard to Howard Zinn, I came across his work by accident. I was looking for a good book to read, a couple of years ago, and was attracted by the title of his People's History of the United States. It was only after I read that book that I became aware of how many books he had written, and got some knowledge of what he stood for. What I didn't suspect of him was his level of activism. I thought of him as a nice philosophical old man who wrote books. What the film I saw today showed me was how involved he was in the anti-war movement during the Viet-Nam war, and how much attention was paid to him at that time by both those who supported his anti-war efforts, and by the FBI, who watched him constantly during that time.
I must say that Mr. Hedges has been introducing me to a great many things I have not been aware of before; or to the extent I was aware of them, he has articulated many of the things that I have observed in the world. I wish I was a little younger and in better health so that I could follow the lead of the people I mentioned above, and now I must contrive methods by which I can be an activist, despite my physical limitations. I think that writing is one way I can do that, especially with the exposure of some of my ideas and enthusiasm that the Internet offers.