You are the Media

Here's a great example of new media.  This video was free to produce and distribute and it probably took less than an evening to make.  Powerline linked to it and now it's been viewed a few hundred thousand times.  Think about how much this empowers individual voters.

Notice how militant the message is.  The video is painfully slow in the beginning, but it builds toward revolution.  Frankly, I don't think America has been this close to revolution since 1968.  The video does a great job capturing the militant spirit. 

Comments

[barb850]

I doubt that anyone involved with producing this video had anything to do with electing Obama or trusting him.

[RonJ]

Very powerful. Let's hope--and pray--that the movement only gets stronger as we approach November. It's truly time to take back America from the radical leftists who are destroying our beloved land.

[KC6404]

Yea, it the Dems fault...Yea, the Reps will fix it. Lame video.

[Steve F.]

"I doubt that anyone involved with producing this video had anything to do with electing Obama or trusting him."

You're likely, hell, certainly correct. That doesn't change the facts.

I didn't vote for him, and even I decided to give the guy a chance.

So far, the guy has completely exceeded expectations in a negative way. That takes skill to do.

The man is a tone-deaf dolt. Shout-outs after a mass shooting by an US Army jihadist (who gave off plenty of warning signs, all ignored due to PC). Check.

Vacationing in Hawaii and playing golf after a attempted terrorist bombing on Christmas day (again, plenty of warning signs, but he boarded the plane because he was represented as a PC refugee), with a press conference three days later. Check.

If Bush did things like this, the media would be hammering him 24/7. Instead, Obama gets a pass, although that's starting to change...

If you think it's only conservatives feeling the rage, what about his supporters? What about that stupid twit that thought he'd be paying her mortgage and gassing up her car?

2010 is going to be ugly, and few of Obama's supporters are going to bother to show up at the polls since they see as well as everyone else that only the Wall Street types, corporations, and Administration insiders are getting the government money that THEY were gonna get because they voted.

Hopefully 2010 will result in complete government gridlock between the legislative and executive branches, and even if he gets re-elected (likely not, if that inane health care bill passes and we start paying for it early), he'll still have to deal with a hostile congress just like Bill Clinton.

[Crystal]

I like it. Thanks to Youtube we can all be the media now. Have you seen this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLa1BvtaxM

[Hmm?]

What was new media about that? Or did someody just introduce you to moving pictures?

[John]

Let me handle that question, Hmm? This film would have been considered "old" media (or "dinosaur" or "legacy" media, if you will) if it had been distributed via cable, satellite, or over-the-air television or perhaps seen in a movie theater. But the fact that it only appeared on the internet makes it new media.

The point is that prior to the existence of the internet, the average person did not have 24/7, unfettered access to the means of message distribution. In 2010, having a blog is the equivalent of having one's own newspaper in 1990. Having an audio podcast is the equivalent of having one's own radio station in 1990. And having a video podcast or simply uploading individual videos is the equivalent of having one's own television station in 1990.

The creator of this film did not have to "sell" it to an editorial board or station owners. He acted 100% autonomously - created it and published it. No filters - no censorship - no artificial political distortions in the process. He had a message he wanted to send, and he utilized the available technology to send it. Hundreds of thousands of people have now seen it (and millions may see it eventually.)

All judgments of the video's content or quality aside, Espresso Pundit is spot on in his recognition of the fact that any person can communicate with hundreds of thousands or even millions of others on a whim. This was virtually impossible even 15 years ago. This reality is rapidly rendering the legacy media obsolete (as are Ebay and Craig's list, as well.)

[todd]

There are clearly several factual problems even in the little text that is presented, but what i find disturbing is that this video is 'free' insofar as the authors did not compensate the artists whose work they are using. The composer(s) and musicians involved are already likely less than fairly compensated for their work and years of study, so to see video which purports to be about economic liberty steal the hardwork of underpaid artists to make a case that we need to fear 'redistribution' is beyond ridiculous.

[John]

Todd - you may be right, but as a professional new (and old) media producer, I can tell you that there are plenty of resources for royalty-free music. I use a firm in Norway and typically pay $25-$30 for unlimited use of a musical theme. Moreover, there is Creative Commons licensing, under which composers, musicians, artists, and bands agree to allow their work to be used in order to increase their exposure. It is true, however that plenty of people just violate copyright protection. I see that the video has been taken down "by the user," perhaps because there was a copyright violation. If so, I'd be happy to compose and produce a new custom composition . . . for free.

[todd]

John,
Yes I am aware of all that, but it was clear to me that in this case that the music was not under either.

[John]

Todd - I'm curious as to how you are so sure about this . . .

[Kenny Jacobs]

If Greg wants to be a cheerleader for a video cliche he can call it whatever he wants. It is only fair to point out two things:

1. The video producers stole the music (as pointed out by Todd)

2. By Republican standards the video is anti-American because producers selected music that is not sung in English.

[John]

Todd and Kenny - the "stolen music" meme is incredibly weak. Drop it. But if you insist, it's incumbent upon you to prove it. To whom does that music belong?

[todd]

John,
The point about the music is not to discredit the message of the video, but rather to point out that much of new media, which I am certainly supportive of, purports to be 'free' but is in fact based on work of others.

I am sorry I can't indicate the source of the music but it seemed familiar to me . Now that the video is down I can't really go back and name the source.

[Hmm?]

John, I don't buy it. Having a blog or making a video these days is about the equivalent of of having a CD Walkman: Everybody and their grandma's got one. Nothing "New" about it.

[John]

Todd - exactly! There are boatloads of composers and producers out there who create music that sounds reeeeeaally familiar, but you can't put a finger on it. There are some who literally just change the order of the notes in a familiar melody - that's the kind of stuff available for cheap via the internet. I agree that the music sounds like it was lifted from a Hollywood soundtrack, but there's more than a small chance that it was a royalty-free composition paid for by the film's creator.

Hmm? - owning a CD Walkman does not grant one the capacity to convey a message to an audience potentially in the hundreds of thousands - only elites had that capacity back in the good old days. That is indeed a new thing - at least in the past 5-10 years.

[Hmm?]

John: Woosh!

[James L.]

"Frankly, I don't think America has been this close to revolution since 1968." Yeah, that revolution gave us Nixon, Agnew, and 7 more years of a war that supposedly destroyed LBJ's presidency. I guess I just fail to see how one big spender, Bush, gets to spend trillions on Iraq and prescription drug benefit and no one on the right is freaked out about socialism or loss of freedom but another big spender, Obama, does what he said he'd do and the right goes nuts.