Friday, January 27, 2017

Postcard to Pennsylvania Ave.



Who's with me?

The First Amendment should unite all Americans, regardless of party or creed, but Mr. Bannon recently said the press should "keep its mouth shut."

To your typewriters, patriots!

If you type a card, I hope you'll post it online—but more importantly, post it to Washington.

(The current postage for a 6 x 4.25-inch postcard is 34¢. Mine is oversized and I added a couple of vintage stamps.)



27 comments:

  1. Great idea. I'll type mine up and send it this weekend.

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  2. Excellent... But what could I say to White House's personnel?
    Besides... I suspect this might be related with something made by Trump...

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    1. At this sad juncture in the history of US-Mexico relations, I think what will be most effective is messages from US citizens who are standing up for what is right.

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    2. (I am from Mexico) It's the first time in my whole, entire life that I see such a kind of activism from (white) Americans. I am amazed and astonished. Indeed, I don't know what to say you (all) this time! :D

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    3. There are many white Americans actively opposed to Mr. Bannon and his ilk, Joshua. You just don't hear as much about us in the news. :)

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    4. Of course, I do! It happens that, for me, it's too rare, too strange, too weird seeing white Americans marching and protesting against certain government's character and what that character does and makes. It's as if white Americans were going to go Mexicans. xD

      For us, Mexicans, marching a protesting against our actual president (Henry Stone) and his foolish acts is very common. xD

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    5. Ah yes, Henry Stone Grandson. I think I'd prefer him to El Pato Donald!

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    6. Oh, yeah! Specially, considering the fact he is giving our crude oil, fuel and petrol to foreign enterprises abroad. Ah, and remembering his shamefuls attempts to speak English and his suppressive acts. :P

      Yes, he reminds me of Donald Duck. xD

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  3. Excellent, I am getting my postcards today!

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  4. Love it! "This machine kills fascists."

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  5. I do not know if all my remarks about the disregard for the Constitution can fit on a postcard.

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    1. At least certain portions of the Constitution itself can fit on a postcard, and can conveniently be sent to whoever you think needs a reminder. Not just Mr. Bannon, of course.

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  6. I might be painting a target on my back, but here goes. What I want to believe, what I hope Mr. Bannon meant, is that news organizations need to quit spinning information in an effort to shape reality. Their coverage of the election was hardly the kind of balanced reporting I want in a free society.

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    1. Thanks, Taylor. There's certainly a lot of spin in the news media—and I think that perfect objectivity is only an ideal. But I would point out that "news organizations" is a very broad category including left and right, balanced and biased, professional and amateur, responsible and propagandistic. We shouldn't paint them all with the same brush.

      Furthermore, in the current context, Bannon was objecting to reporting that focuses on questions that are about as factual as they can get: How many people attended the inauguration? Was there widespread voter fraud? To say, at this moment, that the media should shut up, is to try bully everyone in the world into accepting whatever those in power want to be the case.

      At a recent political gathering in Cincinnati, I saw a sign: "Objective Truth Exists." How sad that we need to assert such a thing, but we do. The American idea is that the only chance for that truth to emerge is for all voices to be free, and to engage in debate. I hear no respect for this principle in Mr. Bannon's utterances, or in our new president's. Neither of them has the right to tell the press what it needs to do, or to decree what counts as spin.

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    2. I certainly wouldn't dare to attempt matching philosophical wits with this blog's author and his well-stated reply. But I'd only add this practical observation: Considering the "news" organization that Mr. Bannon recently led, he has a lot of nerve now complaining about press bias.

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  7. The freedom of the press is one of the most sacred principles we have, as it gives the people a forum for the communication of ideas and information. I couldn't care less if the media tells the truth or not, it's their right to spin information however they want based upon the natural bias they will have, quite often due to being owned by someone with said bias. A reporter wont be a reporter very long at a firm if he doesn't write what the boss wants of him. It is the duty of the citizen to consider the information which is presented, and discern the logical truth from it.

    In conjunction with that, the desires of the government do not always align with the desires of the people. In that regard, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has no place in attempting to restrain the flow of information. While I chalk Mr. Bannons comment to simply being a blurb by a politician that has a grudge against the general media, I will say that it will be interesting to see what the new administration will attempt to do, if anything, to curtail the ability of the media to say whatever they choose (since it's been made quite clear they don't like the media in even the slightest).

    In the end, if we allow the government even the slightest bit of power to determine what is lawfully protected under the notion of free speech and what is not, erosion of that first amendment commences.

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  8. Mailed my postcard today. -Citizen R.

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  9. I will pass out postcards at the next Tucson Type-In. Solidarity!

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    1. Thanks! This little movement should unite everyone who cares about freedom of the press.

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  10. Postcards as Protest:
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/02/07/postcards-to-bannon-critics--president-bannon-trump/97579950/

    I wonder where they got that idea?

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