The National Conference for Media Reform
Last weekend I went to the National Conference for Media Reform organized by Free Press and supported by MoveOn. It was inspiring. There were 3200 people attending, most of whom had dedicated a large part of their lives trying to make the world a better place.
And it was SO diverse. Normally diversity only means that in a group of white people there might be a black person or in a group of black people there might be a white or hispanic person. The conference showed how racist, sexist, ageist, and lookist our normal diversity is. There were all kinds of people there. Not just black and white and hispanic and asian but young to very old, skinny to very fat, beautiful to ugly. No one was excluded or even sidelined based on superficial criteria. Everyone was included in. For every college kid or young professional there was a grey-haired or white-haired oldster. For every beautiful person there was someone.. beautiful in a different way. For every trim, short-haired, carefully-groomed individual there was an aging hippie with a pony tail or braids. And all these people, or almost all, were working to make things better. Even the rich people were giving their time and money to help make the world better. It all started to seem Utopian. Then it started to seem how the world would be if the peace, love, harmony and understanding of the 60s had been not been lost. It was like Woodstock, realized. Woodstock with brains.
I am a pessimist and this gathering made me feel optimistic, made me feel we had a chance to stop the evil ones from sweeping over the world like a tidal wave of garbage. These were the good people. So good people exit in greater numbers than I knew. Maybe 3200 people out of 300 million isn’t much but for everyone at the conference surely there are another 100 or 1000 good people who weren’t there. Good people working to save the nation and the world.
There were booths for many of the websites I visit every day putting faces to some of the best sites on the web.
The busiest seemed to be the Alliance for 911 Truth booth.
People brought their laptops to the sessions and wrote blogs or browsed as they listened.
There was a protest against a bill to force handicapped people into nursing homes instead of funding home care (which would be cheaper but not as profitable for the Frists.)
Jane Fonda closed the conference but that was just a little icing.
The whole thing was great. I wish you had all been there.
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© Alllie 2006
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