Niggers, kikes and dagos, spics and micks –
We knew about the differences –
But everybody was a motherfucker
Who sucked cock
At least we were honest about it
In the neighbourhood
Anyway, one of the older guys,
Who listened to opera and had a lisp,
Went to Vietnam and lost an eye
He stayed at home a lot when he got back,
Playing records in his basement
We were curious about the war,
And almost old enough to fight,
So one night we went over for a beer
We all got drunk and then
He pulled a gun and there were
Dinks and gooks and slopes and slants
And Cyclops beat the shit out of
The three of us
One by one he begged our lips
To tell him he was queer,
Just one more time, he said,
The hammer clicking into place,
Because he needed target practice
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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