Addition to Chapter 29
(Added October 12, 2024)
Media: Journalists Go Through the Motions
When members of the Haudenosaunee traveled to a United Nations meeting in Switzerland in 1977, they encountered very strange behavior from journalists.
These Haudenosaunee representatives wanted to discuss extremely important issues, and they were not alone. At this meeting, they joined with people of other healthy cultures, including people of the Lakota in North America, Aymara of South America, and Guaymi of Central America. Together, they discussed the importance of living in ways that respected the Earth and how imperialism and corporate exploitation of the Earth made this very difficult. They discussed apartheid and racism and what could be done about it. They discussed poverty and its impact on people. These were weighty issues that impacted the lives of millions of people and humans’ ability to live on the Earth in a good way.
They held press conferences and spoke with journalists, but they were very disappointed, describing, “Many pretty words of welcome, [and] an equal number of insane questions.” They asked, “Will they ever understand that this is not a game?”
The reporters wanted to pose with them in pictures and take pictures of their passports. They put tremendous energy into getting just the right angle in their pictures. Everything seemed amusing to the reporters, and indeed, headlines of the next day’s news articles showed how seriously journalists had taken the messages of these people of healthy cultures: “INDIANS DO SCALP DANCE AT THE U.N.,” and “INDIANS COME TO UNEARTH WAR HATCHET!”
The journalists were clearly willing to focus on trivialities rather than substance, and the travelers were amazed at the journalists’ shallowness:
This whole process of media — the distillation of information — is evidence of the insanity. Reporters who learn thousands of facts, write thousands of words, and learn nothing.
The question is not: Why do they do it? We know why they do it — for a salary, for professional recognition.
The question is: Why do they do it to themselves? Why do they care to lead such stupid, confused lives?
Today they cover the Indians; tomorrow the sewage system; the next day the high cost of food. Doesn’t anything ever connect for them?
Clearly these journalists had learned to ignore the abuses at the heart of their culture, so they avoided making deep connections. After all, if a person isn’t going to take a stand anyway, why bother making deep connections and getting upset? When people learn not to take a stand for what’s right, they wind up leading confused lives, focusing on trivialities or amusements, or pretending to care about some weighty problem, only to move on to another issue the next day.
When journalists focus on their salary and professional advancement — that is, when they focus on maintaining the safety and comfort of their privilege — they wind up going through the motions of making their readers well-informed.
(All citations are available in the ebook.)
I was surprised again and again by what I gained from this well-written, eye-opening, and inspirational book.

Brilliant… beautiful… great storytelling.

This is a must-read landmark book.
