When good books fail to inspire reviews and politics contributes to mass extinction on Earth, what else can motivate a resumption of blogging but an infamous massacre of approximately 300 children, women and men on December 29, 1890 at Wounded Knee in Dakota Territory? Many have written about this tragic event. They cite the blood lust of the 7th Calvary, the strange awarding of medals of honor to men who hunted down women and children for hours, the fake news of a forthcoming “outbreak” of armed Lakota men, and the Ghost Dance. Too bad James Mooney fouled up his efforts to ‘interview’ the Lakota who knew the most about what transpired as his published interviews provide little insight into what occurred at Wounded Knee and the surrounding area–and he knew he’d ‘failed’ because of an effort to communicate that went wrong at the start ( biography). But he did his best with what information he could gather. The Irishman did take his work very seriously. Take note that ONLY at Wounded Knee was there ever any violence regarding the Ghost Dance even though it had spread through several states and reservations. Hence, the question remains: WHY? Did it all come down to racism? Why doesn’t that seem like the beginning and end of it all? Why issue rations for 370 people you “intend” to kill? Where’s logic in that effort?
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Today on FaceBook I had a close encounter with ExxonMobil’s Public Relations Machine via a video advertisement. The following is my comment/feedback/response to said ad:
Okay, I just ‘inquired’ why I’m seeing this ad and got a ‘good’ explanation from Facebook
[thank you, Facebook]–Exxon wants to reach out to people like ‘me’. Well, Exxon you and
your fellow Oil companies ‘reached’ me long ago via the Niger Delta, Ecuador and
Guatemala, and the house down the street where the owners were ‘stuck’ with a gas drill in
their front yard for years, via the oil storage tanks and refinery in the little township two
miles up north where cancer runs rampant, with the oil spill in Alaska, the oil spill in the
Gulf, et al and that’s why I say NO! to Big Oil. #NoDAPL, No to the entire fossil fuel industry,
NO to Exxon’s influence in Politics, NO to an industry with the biggest profits in the world-
-an Industry which destroys the Earth we all live on, attacks people who criticize it, and lies
about Climate Change and truly doesn’t give a damn about people like me. Yeah, I get it,
you’re on a Public Relations Roll. Good luck with that. I guess the upside is that you’re
giving work to some people in advertising, Facebook and everywhere you’re placing these
ads. So you reached out to someone in my demographics. Well, now I’ve reached back.
#WaterIsLife But hey, Exxon, ‘you’ already knew that, didn’t you? Now learn how to
#HonortheEarthbefore it’s too late. I don’t think Mars is ready for Homo sapiens just yet.
Have a nice day. 🙂 .
Ad reference is to ExxonMobil’s #Energy Lives Here ~ “ExxonMobil is a leader in carbon capture and storage” This sponsored video ad appeared on my fb timeline. Perhaps you’ve seen it there or elsewhere.
~~~~
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Just for fun: Jordan’s Ranting Vent on the New York Times’ FAIL reporting on Standing Rock– Heads up, foul language in profusion. Hey, it’s a RANT! It’s to be expected. If you want nice and polite tune into the PBS News Hour.
#WaterIsLife
~~~~~~
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A few news items you may have missed on the evening news. Actually unless you’re following independent alternate news media you would have missed all of this entirely.
When Water Protects try to unblock Hwy 1806 the Dakota Access Pipeline POLICE get nasty.
What can I say? Really what is there left to say at this point? If you’ve been following events at Standing Rock there’s nothing to share because you’ve seen and heard it all via social media and alternative press–with a few blips on mainstream media when it’s convenient or a ‘filler’ report is needed or they’ve been hounded into coverage by celebrities. It’s down to the wire as to what President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers will or will not do regarding the Dakota Access Pipelene that no one wants except Energy Transfer Partners. What can I say? What would Obama do if they wanted to run that pipe down the Mall in DC?
What can I say?
That racism still runs rampant in North Dakota just as it did when the region was part of the Dakota Territory before state-hood?
That Big Oil Companies continue to ravage the land and water without check in the United States of Corporate Owned America?
That the militarized state of the American police is on full view at Standing Rock–and mainstream media doesn’t want to touch it with a hundred yard pole and the President is steadfastly unwilling to address it?
What self-respecting journalist would NOT want to cover what’s going at Standing Rock where unarmed Water Protectors are going up against an Armed Police presence which serves only the interests of Big Oil while getting to give vent to its own home-grown racism? It’s the kind of story journalists have wet dreams about. Or they used to. Or maybe only the likes of Sinclair Lewis and Edward Morrow did. (I write that last with FULL respect for all the independent journalists doing their best on the ground at Standing Rock.)
If there were hundreds of pretty blue-eyed blondes facing off with police anywhere have no doubt the mainstream media would zero in on them like a heat seeking missile and never let go until it drank the story cup to its driest dredges. Journalists would be swarming all over those attacks with pepper spray, batons, strip searches, dog kennels, rubber bullets, grave descerations, arrests of independent journalists, violations of civil and human rights like flies on a slice of cheese on a hot summer day.
Maybe that’s what’s required–thousands of white people going toe to toe with Morton County Police aka ETP/DAPL’s security force–a police force which ironically is now at least $10 Million in debt for playing toady to the oil business (according to one local news report Morton county thinks the feds will ante up for their security efforts. Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out for them.)
Or maybe not. I think the problem runs even deeper than skin color and culture and language to core values.
That’s where the crux of the problem lies: The values of corporate mainstream media, Big Business, the President of the United (sort of) States, the Army Corps of Engineers and the dominant culture are in direct conflict, 180 opposition to the values of the Standing Rock Lakota, their Indigenous and Non-native allies and everyone else who loves the Earth –with or without humans running amok on it.
Rampant capitalism, greed, exploitation of the Earth’s resources without a care beyond the goddamned almighty profit margin VERSUS honoring the Earth and all other living beings it supports; a formerly perfect planet with a formerly perfect ecosystem for supporting an immense diversity of life.
It’s Death versus Life.
It’s Oil versus Water.
It’s the value system which claims Earth is a but a resource for non-stop consumption versus the value system which claims Earth is our Mother which allows us the ability to live and thrive as long as we Honor and Cherish it by living in harmony and balance with our environment and non-human relatives.
It’s the illusion of control and dominance of Nature versus graciously living in our place in the web of life.
But, hey, you probably already have thought all this out.
So–what’s next?
What will happen when ETP/DAPL lays pipe under the Missouri River? Does anyone really think an acting without a permit fine will stop them? In our more idealistic moments we like to think so in a fair game. But this is not a fair game played by nice players willing to obey a set of rules. The oil industry is not bluffing, it really is an absolutely ruthless business run by people perfectly willing to LIE endlessly about the reality of Climate Change and make no apologies for it. Exxon, Chevron, Shell–all you have to is check their histories in the Amazon, Niger Delta and in the Gulf of Mexico to get the point–if you don’t have it already. These people do NOT play fair. They do what they please–until it blows up–literally–in their faces. And even then they go right back to business as usual.
Oh wait, if the pipeline isn’t laid at Standing Rock and gets rerouted elsewhere is not the same problem still on the books for potential contamination of the soil and water?
Change is in order.
Climate Change is coming one way or another.
Ask Mother Nature what’s on her agenda. Perhaps her answer is on the winter wind so cold it hurts to breathe. Perhaps a touch of global warming would be welcome at Standing Rock, North Dakota where the cold freezes bones and ices the air it sucks from your lungs. Ask the buffalo what they prefer.
#NoDAPL
#WaterIsLife
#HonortheEarth
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Kandi Mossett, Tara Houska, and Dallas Goldtooth present an update and call to action on the situation at Standing Rock, North Dakota – where thousands of Indigenous water protectors and allies are defending sacred lands from desecration by the Dakota Access Pipeline in the face of police brutality and arrest.
Filmed live at the Bioneers 2016 Conference on October 23, 2016.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment is not respected in North Dakota. Or maybe it got lost in the Second Amendment Shuffle. The right to bear arms is definitely allowed–well, as long as you’re a police officer or a member of a private security force or oil company executives. Can’t say for sure about oil company executives because they don’t show their faces in public and they’re definitely not heading out any time soon to lay any pipe themselves. Personally, I’d really like to see that dirty work in the field happen but that’s an entirely different issue. Oh, wait, there’s also some serious history of law authorities not being too fond of the Lakota/Sioux having weapons of any sort close at hand–so I suspect the Second Amendment is off-limits to them in North Dakota.
When in North Dakota:
Journalists Shall Not Report what is going on at Standing Rock or elsewhere regarding the defense of water and land under threat by a big oil pipeline. They will arrest you for this:
Citizens Shall Not Live-stream the actions of Police, the National Guard and Private Security Firms. They will arrest you for this.
Thou Shall Not Take Photographs which document Police, National Guard, and Private Security Firms which contradict their stated version of events involving peaceful Protectors.They will arrest you for this.
Thou Shall Not Reveal How the Police in North Dakota are doing the bidding of Energy Transfer Partners. They will arrest you for this.
If you think I’m joking just ask Deia Schlosberg, Unicorn Riot , Shailene Woodley, Madison WI City Alderman Rebecca Kemble and the Standing Rock Protectors who’ve been jailed for documenting what’s happened with North Dakota Police, ETP’s private security, and the National Guard.
If you do record and share such information you are an enemy of the state of North Dakota and its good buddies, Energy Transfer Partners and the big banks which are funding the Dakota Access Pipeline. (If you think ‘enemy’ is too strong a word then feel free to suggest other word choices. I’m open to suggestions.)
Wondering why I’m rambling on about the Freedom of the Press?
Things are going to get a tad interesting regarding the Freedom of the Press in North Dakota on Monday morning when Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman intends to turn herself in to authorities to deal with the charges made against her for doing her job.
I’m wondering if any mainstream media operations will cover this action. Will CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR show up for this confrontation regarding First Amendment festivities? How about Al Jazeera? CNN maybe? At the moment I’m betting they’ll all be no-shows, though they do like using Democracy Now!’s news footage from time to time. Those pesky independent journalists get to go to all the ‘fun’ hot spots television news anchors might not be able to find on a travel guide map. (Is that too harsh? I don’t think so, but one never knows.) By the way, if you don’t know who Amy Goodman is and you’ve never watched Democracy Now!’s Independent Global News well then it’s about time you considered expanding your news horizons. Be forewarned, there will be no hot blondes in tight dresses breathlessly spewing out sound bites in an effort to give you an anxiety attack about local events. The headlines are often delivered at a fast and furious speed in an effort to make the most of the time. The in-depth coverage might take you places and introduce you to people you never knew existed–and probably would never meet via mainstream news.
You might get angry. You might be offended. You might start wondering why mainstream media treats people like blithering idiots. Some of those interviewed such as Henry A. Giroux will share their thoughts on that last notion from time to time. If you have children in school you might want to pay close attention. (Damn all the teaching to the tests.)
So, if you’re a serious reader you might discover some new books. Said books may depress you with their reality checks. But so be it.
And then there are the discussions of films ET wouldn’t dare spotlight:
If you’ve read and watched so far you now have some idea of the nature of independent journalism as practiced by Amy Goodman and the rest of Democracy Now! It’s probably clear why Energy Transfer Partners and the authorities in North Dakota are none too keen on making Goodman or any other kind of journalist welcome to venture out to Standing Rock and other oil pipeline sites. Even from New York City, Democracy Now! has provided all kinds of ongoing intriguing issue raising coverage of #NoDAPL. Most of which puts the likes of PBS to shame for its depth and breadth.
Hence, come October 17, 2016 I wonder which journalists will be covering the story of Goodman turning herself in Mandan, North Dakota. There’s a chance there might only be the Democracy Now! crew and Standing Rock Protectors as witnesses. Let’s hope not. Let’s hope mainstream media can find its way to Mandan, Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline no one needs. Like Climate Change, which mainstream media has done a damn fine job of ignoring, the First Amendment impacts all of us. Ignorance is not bliss. You really do need to know what the hell is going on. That’s the purpose of having an independent news media.
You may consider this video heavy post laziness on my part, unwillingness to return to previous stomped climate ground, or simply an easy way to engage via visual aides in order to get some traction. Actually it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that whatever your level of understanding of what’s going on with those parts per million comments popping up hither and yon there’s something here or in the links to other information resources for frying in your brain-pan.
On October 6, 2016, The PBS News Hour devoted some time to Climate Change via The Paris Accord . … during which Judy Woodruff asked Gavin Schmidt, NASA climatologist, if the rise to 4oo+ ppm was important. Schmidt clearly thought it was. It wasn’t clear if Woodruff agreed or not. ~~~ “baby steps”—ahhhh haaa….
So far there has been what amounts to zero– absolutely no real discussion of Climate Change in the American political arena. Mainstream media has done nothing to raise awareness or to educate the public after years of misinformation by the likes of Exxon which deliberately spread inaccurate information for its own monetary gain.
Are Americans too afraid of the facts to face this reality?
Do they truly not comprehend the import of 400+ ppm–way past 350.org’s 350 ppm?
Do they simply not give a damn?
Is it willing ignorance that prevents serious discussion of how to address Climate Change?
Is there just too much air conditioning that keeps people inside and oblivious to the natural environment which supports human life–so far? Well, Mother Nature will defrost all that frozen grey matter in due time.
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47whitebuffalo's Blog 
A Very Sincere Shout Out to ExxonMobil
December 22, 2016 at 7:31 am (creative writing, environment, ethics, exploring interconnectedness, history, issues, life, nature, politics, random, searching, Uncategorized, urban life, Writing)
Tags: #honortheearth, #NoDAPL, #WaterIsLife, Advertising, climate change, comment, ExxonMobil, Facebook, Oil, oil spills, public relations, response
Today on FaceBook I had a close encounter with ExxonMobil’s Public Relations Machine via a video advertisement. The following is my comment/feedback/response to said ad:
Okay, I just ‘inquired’ why I’m seeing this ad and got a ‘good’ explanation from Facebook
[thank you, Facebook]–Exxon wants to reach out to people like ‘me’. Well, Exxon you and
your fellow Oil companies ‘reached’ me long ago via the Niger Delta, Ecuador and
Guatemala, and the house down the street where the owners were ‘stuck’ with a gas drill in
their front yard for years, via the oil storage tanks and refinery in the little township two
miles up north where cancer runs rampant, with the oil spill in Alaska, the oil spill in the
Gulf, et al and that’s why I say NO! to Big Oil. #NoDAPL, No to the entire fossil fuel industry,
NO to Exxon’s influence in Politics, NO to an industry with the biggest profits in the world-
-an Industry which destroys the Earth we all live on, attacks people who criticize it, and lies
about Climate Change and truly doesn’t give a damn about people like me. Yeah, I get it,
you’re on a Public Relations Roll. Good luck with that. I guess the upside is that you’re
giving work to some people in advertising, Facebook and everywhere you’re placing these
ads. So you reached out to someone in my demographics. Well, now I’ve reached back.
#WaterIsLife But hey, Exxon, ‘you’ already knew that, didn’t you? Now learn how to
#HonortheEarthbefore it’s too late. I don’t think Mars is ready for Homo sapiens just yet.
Have a nice day.
🙂 .
Ad reference is to ExxonMobil’s #Energy Lives Here ~ “ExxonMobil is a leader in carbon capture and storage” This sponsored video ad appeared on my fb timeline. Perhaps you’ve seen it there or elsewhere.
~~~~
[note: speaking of ads–any ads appearing here do so at the behest of wordpress and have no connection to moi. thanks for visitng.]
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