[Imc] response to "CRITERIA" assignment

[Paul Kotheimer]

*INDEPENDENT 

     Corporate media outlets distort information in favor of their
owner-class and in favor of a status quo which distorts the power of that
owner-class by keeping power away from billions of people.  Corporate
media perpetrates this distortion in part by contextualizing its content
as nothing more than the bait on the hook--"the hook" being commercial
advertisement, which is designed to distort people's perception of their
own needs in order to stimulate consumption, which in turn generates
profit, which in turn distorts the allocation of resources, which in turn
distorts the distrobution of power.
     Independent media UNDISTORTS.  It does so by spotlighting sequestered
information, by seeking out the side of the story which was not told, and
by contradicting the myths, misconceptions, and lies which corporate media
spread.  As it undistorts, indymedia acts as a catalyst for equalization
of power distrobution, for the reduction of coercion and oppression, for
the meeting of human needs, and for the freedom to think and express
ideas.

*MEDIA  (I have set this portion up in the medium of "newspoem," in the
hopes that it will be read several times, and slowly--and also, to provide
an example of what I mean.)

     "Media" is plural. 
     ("Indymedia" is singular.)
     
     Indymedia works 
     in every medium 
     its makers can imagine, 
     in order best to convey 
     undistortions 
     to information, 
     technologies,
     cultural content,
     and, ultimately, society.
      

    
*CENTER

     A center is the point upon which the whole can balance.  A center is
the point around which the whole can rotate without wobbling or
collapsing. A center is accessible to all the parts of the whole and from
all sides of the whole.  A center, once found or founded, serves as a
focal point, providing clarity (which is the opposite of distortion).  A
center is the bull's-eye, the goal at which we aim.   

--12/18/00  Paul Kotheimer
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