The Dissidents

dis·si·dent: disagreeing especially with an established religious or political system, organization, or belief

dis·so·nance: lack of agreement; inconsistency between the beliefs one holds or between one's actions and one's beliefs

Who are the dissidents of dissonance?

That might be the first question that comes to mind, but first let me illustrate what brought us to this point in time, why we must form a resistance, and what the hell we are fighting in the first place.

The Elite Few

American culture and thought has long been dominated by the mainstream media. From popular music to mainstream news sources, one must take a long look back to a time when these arenas were not dominated by the few, the elite. GE, Westinghouse, and Viacom are just a few of the corporate conglomerates that own the vast majority of media in the United States and throughout the world. These corporate owned news sources such as the New York Times and CBS, for example, consistently and purposefully seek to seed dissonance. Their insatiable thirst for revenue from advertisers forces them to seek the best selling news. "Photogenic white girl missing!? FRONT PAGE! Bush administration seeking war with middle eastern country? My god, that means years of utterly delicious stories..." These news organizations do not dare become too critical of government officials, or they could easily lose access to their inside sources, and consequently lose the advertisers with it.

But is advertisement money enough for the media to support war, turn a blind eye to important government affairs, and balk at the notion that our liberties are slowly being eroded? To see the reasons why you need not look farther than the network's parent corporations. GE, parent corporation of NBC Universal, happens to be one of the biggest players in the military industrial complex. War is the money maker. Optimistic war coverage is the advertisement. It's all too simple, and yet far too complex to fight. The individuals whom profit most simply hide behind the walls of corporate law. This turns out to have become a nearly impenetrable shield against justice and law.

The American Mindshare

Mindshare is a term often used to show how influential an information source is. Sources such as youtube are highly influential, but uncontrolled. This represents the new media, a medium of information that is quickly killing the old media, newspaper and television. However, how long will the internet remain open and free is debatable, and the multimedia giants hand in hand with telecommunications companies are looking to lock you back in to the old media. While it may not even be possible, given the nature of the internet and Google's fight for an open web, there are certain advantages to the American mindshare being served from a single digital dish. It is become much easier for the benevolent corporations to watch the ebb and flow of thought, monitor the activities of users, and hand this information over to the government so that she may properly take care of her citizens. Sound good?

It may not be. The reason is that as Americans our dissonance has reached a point where our actions no longer represent the beliefs we hold dear. Ask your friends if they believe in liberty, justice, and freedom for all mankind. On the same note, ask what they have done to fight immunity for telecommunications companies for taking part in unconstitutional and illegal wiretapping or perhaps what they think about the latest draconian IP treaty. Most Americans still believe in the ideas that give a people the freedom of speech and thought, the ideas that provided the United States with such economic success, the ideas that our Founding Fathers fought and died for. However, most people are overwhelmed or do not care about enforcing those beliefs with action. Most do not take part in the political process, nor even remain informed about the issues of the day.

Blame the media, blame the government, or you can even blame Abraham Lincoln. It hardly matters, because we are to blame. The American people have let the government and corporations take action for too long. These actions do not represent the beliefs and ideals of the American people, they reflect the perverted ideals of the elite few that control the American mindshare. The ideals of the elite few who only take action to serve their own interests. We will break free from their stranglehold, but it will take more than just words and internet posts. It will take action. And that is why we are here.

We are the dissidents of dissonance.

We are here to take action.