Picture Notes

I just saw the film “This film is not yet rated” and I’m more appreciative of the internet and what it has given us than I was before. The message of the documentary; that the film ratings board shouldn’t operate in a closed off, secret environment unaccountable to independent producers, was well made. The large entertainment companies control film distribution, like they do the news, it’s their system and it’s a closed system. If you can’t get your independent film into theaters, for what ever reason, you can’t tell your story. The documentary was made a few years ago and now broadband internet is reaching more people in this country, like it is in Europe, and film distribution should become less of a problem.

Everyone should get up to speed on Net Neutrality, that is how the large entertainment companies want to control and restrict public access to the internet. They want the internet to favor their products. This is going to be a bad fight for them because as soon as the internet providers try to restrict access or steer people to “favored” sites, we’ll all find new providers who won’t, it’s just that simple.

It’s ironic that the world wide web, which was a place designed for commerce, has become this forum for opinions and ideas that is operating unrestricted by anyone, unless you are in China where ideas seem to get people in trouble. Without bloggers asking questions we would become compliant sheep, not even able to ask the right questions, sort of like like this guy in the parking lot. “But men who think like sheep are even better” in a song by Brian McNeill, There Are No Gods and Precious Few Heroes.

So here’s a hero: Ralph Nader. OK, so the documentary was a little too self serving - I’m not sure he can really walk on water. But before I saw the film I didn’t realize how many programs he started and how much he has helped all Americans. I think that talking about Automobile safety was radical at the time and I remember how he was trivialized by the media. (You know, it was probably about advertising revenue.) Do we really want to turn our government over to the private sector, to these people, so they can make a profit from everyone? It seems bad enough already when you count the number of lobbyists in Washington, DC.

From Wikipedia: “In 1980, Nader resigned as director of Public Citizen to work on other projects, forcefully campaigning against what he believed to be the dangers of large multinational corporations. He went on to start a variety of non-profit organizations:

• Capitol Hill News Service
• Citizen Advocacy Center
• Citizens Utility Boards
• Congress Accountability Project
• Consumer Task Force For Automotive Issues
• Corporate Accountability Research Project
• Disability Rights Center
• Equal Justice Foundation
• Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights
• Georgia Legal Watch
• National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
• National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest
• Pension Rights Center
• PROD (truck safety)
• Retired Professionals Action Group
• The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest
• 1969: Center for the Study of Responsive Law
• 1970s: Public Interest Research Groups
• 1970: Center for Auto Safety
• 1970: Connecticut Citizen Action Group
• 1971: Aviation Consumer Action Project
• 1972: Clean Water Action Project
• 1972: Center for Women’s Policy Studies
• 1980: Multinational Monitor (magazine covering multinational corporations)
• 1982: Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
• 1982: Essential Information (encourage citizen activism and do investigative journalism)
• 1983: Telecommunications Research and Action Center
• 1983: National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest
• 1989: Princeton Project 55 (alumni public service)
• 1993: Appleseed Foundation (local change)
• 1994: Resource Consumption Alliance (conserve trees)
• 1995: Center for Insurance Research
• 1995: Consumer Project on Technology
• 1997?: Government Purchasing Project (encourage purchase of safe products)
• 1998: Center for Justice and Democracy
• 1998: Organization for Competitive Markets
• 1998: American Antitrust Institute (ensure fair competition)
• 1999?: Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
• 1999?: Commercial Alert (protect family, community, and democracy from corporations)
• 2000: Congressional Accountability Project (fight corruption in Congress)
• 2001: Citizen Works (promote NGO cooperation, build grassroots support, and start new groups)
• 2001: Democracy Rising (hold rallies to educate and empower citizens)

I wish he worked for the government and had the ability to fix some of what is now broken.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Hollywood, Nader, social issues, American, photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.