MIM NOTES No. 190 July 15, 1999 LETTERS Reader tells youth to turn off TV, join the revolution Greetings comrades, I am a young, regular reader of MIM and RAIL notes, and do my best to contribute to local revolutionary functions, and fight against COP-raganda. I appreciate MIM and RAIL: as information rich, behind-the-headlines news sources. All political affiliations aside, MIM and RAIL present the truth as verily as I can tell, and serve as an important antidote to the glut of Misinformation that passes for the evening news. I am inspired by MIM and RAIL and by books like "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" by "jerry mander." So I submit the following message to any who care to read: I am a white male, born into middle class suburban micro- rational reality, and my message addresses white middle class suburban television youth culture. To the disenfranchised masses, to the intelligent dissidents who only participate in mock rebellion, who seek to occupy their minds with entertainment, drugs, occultism, materialism, or violent gang mentalities, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FALLOUT. We are so blessed as middle class whites, with our education and secure food source, our cars and constant comforts. Youth who are angry need to direct their intelligence away from the fabricated realities that surround us. Television will provide for you a false rebellion, it has none of your interests as a Citizen of Earth in mind. People are watching so much television, they are stunted from even thinking about action. You must realize that a fantasy land has been created to divert your attention. Every data-point on any given broadcast is inevitably second hand information. Searching, at least, for higher meaning, is to be applauded. Whites are hardly ever given a reason to question their safely removed bubble-reality of beeping, clicking Komercial suburbia. We think we understand about white guilt, us Gen X-ers, we think we understand why the Black Man has a just grievance against the white power structure. Yet we don't even fathom the control exercised upon us as white people. Watching t.v. all the time is proof that you are BUYING INTO IT. Identifying with that stupid sitcom character is providing you with a false idea of who you are. If you don't TURN IT OFF, you'll never realize how hypnotized you are. Why would you revel in yesterdays trashy drama, just because you feel culturally impoverished? White people need to wake up to our position as architects of the world we are inheriting. We are in a position to upset the white corporate power structures. If we want to realize true revolutionary change, we must adopt a role of being 'insiders',who can utilize the power our fathers have stolen, and redirect it to make a world closer to justice. Don't be a poser and try to take on the black mans struggle, realize all oppressed peoples struggles as your own, and even, as a white person, your place in the word, the lie, and the LAW of 'HIS'tory! -- a reader in St. Louis January 1999 MIM Responds: Thank you for contributing this essay challenging youth -- especially privileged white youth -- to turn off the reactionary influences of television and focus on the need for revolution. Certainly, a measure of the decadence of Amerikan imperialist existence is the large amount of free time available, and the wasteful activities (like television) that fill it up. But we remind the letter-writer and our readers that while television content is superstructural support for imperialism, and does serve a social control function, it is only that, and not our principal enemy. MIM and RAIL do not forbid our members from watching television any more than other leisure time activities, provided that people have a political practice, contribute to the revolutionary struggle, and work from the perspective of the international proletariat. In fact, working from that perspective, we seek to unite all who can be united under the proletarian-led united front against imperialism. We expect oppressor nation youth to join us disproportionate to their adult counterparts and in opposition to their "inherited world." But the vanguard of this struggle, and the group upon which its success ultimately rests, is the world's oppressed majority, not "insider" whites who subvert the corporate structure on their behalf. MIM's web work gains supporter Dear MIM, I like what I have seen of your work on the Web (I'm computerless but I can get on at the University). The essay of Godard in your Maoist Movie Reviews got me looking at him again. A recent book on Godard, Dixon's I believe, quotes an interview with Andre w Sarres in which JLG maintains that (1) He was not a Marxist and (2) he never read Marx!? Well, he does admit to trying to "mix Mao and Coca Cola' (I believe Marx and Coca Cola is the phrase from Masculin/Feminin). It makes one want to write and direct a film essay entitled Letter to Jean Luc: From Mao to Coca Cola. But I agree with your reviewer, his early works are well-worth looking at. Its the Brechtian element that makes them really interesting. Speaking of Brecht I wonder if any of your reviewers or editors have seen the "post modern" Marxist Frederic Jameson's new book on Brecht Brecht and Method. There is a fair amount of talk about Mao Zedong in this book which surprised me. I've just glanced at a copy but there are references to the Maoist flavor of Brecht's "Stalinism," his "secret Maoism after 1949," and the influence of "Chinese wisdom" on Brecht. Well, I'll stop rambling about the hidden history of Maoism among Europe's intellectuals and I'll offer you my $20 for a subscription. I'd buy all the MIM Theory if I had the funds right now. The issues elaborating your thesis on the white working class look especially intriguing. So you'll be hearing from me again. Ever since I read For Mao by Carrigan, Ramsey and Sayer I realized that the neglect of Mao by Marxists of the Imperialist countries was a tragedy. MIM restores Mao not only to theory but also to practice. Your work is impressive. Sincerely, A reader in Seattle May, 1999 MIM responds: We hope this letter sets an example for other readers of MIM's web site and print literature: don't just read, get in touch with us! It sounds like this person reads a lot and we hope to interest him/her in reviewing books, movies and music for MIM's publications. In particular, we are soliciting reviews for our online bookstore, which is an amazon.com associate. MIM gets a portion of the sale price of all books bought from amazon.com through MIM's site, so we want as many reviews as possible of items available there. Brecht made important theoretical and practical contributions to proletarian art, and reviews of the book mentioned, of Brecht's plays, or "Brecht on Theater" would all be useful for the MIM Bookstore and for general distribution. The bourgeoisie has to a large part successfully covered up Brecht's proletarian contributions either by "canonizing" or ridiculing him, or both. A short article along the lines of the Godard review on the MIM movie review web page could inspire and instruct some budding proletarian artists. Finally, we invite this and any other reader who can not afford our literature to exchange labor for the cost. There are a wide variety of areas we need help with including web work, news writing, newspaper distribution, art production, translation and much more. Contact MIM at either address on page 2, or via e-mail at mim@mim.org to get involved.