Slacktivist

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Slacktivist.
Noun
1. One who, when faced with fact that we are waging illegal, immoral and expensive wars, seeks middle ground between a progressive agenda that seeks peace and justice, and a regressive tea bagging right wing agenda based on fear and Archie Bunkeresque ignorance, racism, and stupidity.

I have taken some heat, perhaps justifiably so, for the snarky treatment I hoisted upon my fellow left wingers, many of whom attended their first ever political rally of any kind this past weekend at the Stewart / Colbert rally to restore sanity and or fear.

People have said I was condescending. That I am not a journalist. That I deserved to be beaten.

All of this, of course, is 100% correct.

I am not a journalist. Investigative entertainer, perhaps. Journalist, no. I was, in fact, condescending. True- I think we all need to do more, myself included to stop the human race from literally killing itself. Holding a mirror up to other people is a job that will make you some enemies. My aim was to provoke discussion.

And coin a new word.

Slacktivist
Noun
1. One who, when faced with fact that we are waging illegal, immoral and expensive wars, seeks middle ground between a progressive agenda that seeks peace and justice, and a regressive tea bagging right wing agenda based on fear and Archie Bunkeresque ignorance, racism, and stupidity.

First of all, a point of clarity. I have been accused of bandying about my own opinions with a reckless disregard for facts. And quite often, that accusation would be correct. But every single war the United States has waged post WW2 has been illegal. Congress is the branch of government endowed by the constitution to declare war, not the executive branch, but is now power hungry presidents enabled by a feeble ad neutered Legislative branch that take us to war.

If you don’t vest much in the constitution than perhaps we can refer you to the UN Charter, which states that no country shall engage in wars of aggression. The UN secretary at the time of our second Iraq invasion said publicly that the war was illegal.

Expensive is not a fact we need debate here, since you all know that 50% of the federal budget goes towards defense and we spend more on the military than China, Iran, Russia, and every other country with a military combined. Stack that next to the fact that we are the only country in the industrialized world not to have some form of national health care that cuts out profit greedy corporations from the healthcare equation and you have only begun to create you undefeatable argument that our wars are immoral.

So, slacktivists seeking middle ground in the face of all of this, how does this manifest?

In post-modern signs and funny costumes?

In impotent facebook groups.

In making videos, hundreds of them, amounting to millions of views even, like me- yes- I need to do more. I am a fucking slacktivist too.

Jon Stewart does fantastic job opening eyes. But when your eyes are open, do you want to be saying, as Jon Stewart seems to suggest, something variation of  “don’t worry, be happy”?

This work by Davis Fleetwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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A freelance writer, Davis Fleetwood has worked as a writer/ media consultant for Dennis Kucinich’s 2008 presidential campaign and served as a contributing editorial commentator for The Uptake. His videos have been seen by over 18 million viewers. He has been called (among many other things) “one of the most prominent voices in YouTube politics.” (-You Tube News & Politics chief, Steve Grove) He was a “Best of YouTube, 2007” nomination. His book DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE LIKE A CLUMSY LIBRARIAN, is now available from No Cure For That Press, and his first full length feature documentary, MANIFEST DESTINY’S CHILD, is due out on DVD this January.

THE HERMIT WITH DAVIS FLEETWOOD is a sometimes serious, sometimes satiric look at the top headlines, current events, and political trends. The show is Independently produced by a staff of one & runs on the fuel of your individual donations. Click here to Donate.

 

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