The Act of Dissent

Tim Hudak recently blasted away at unions, likening them to armies or mobs, “dangerous for our province”, he said, and blamed them for the NDP by-election win in Kitchener-Waterloo. But he failed to acknowledge that unions were borne - out of necessity - at a time when things were so severely slanted in favour of the very rich, that people had no choice but to dissent; to band together and fight back. The media also failed to report on this.

Nothing has changed.

Why aren’t we, the 99%, on the side of the unions? On the side of our only legitimate and effective means of correcting the gap between the haves and have-nots? Quite simply, why aren’t we all pro-union?

The simple answer is: The Media. The media is owned by the richest of the rich and responsible for creating, promoting, and fostering the anti-union image. They see unions as “bad” because unions demand fair wages and benefits for workers, something that could take money away from corporate profits. So media spends lots of time making sure that an ugly image of unions is drilled into our heads; quite often it works.

What can we do about it? Vaclav Havel talks about “living within the truth”; in short, finding the courage to speak out. It’s not “bad” to express dissent, he says. In fact, we must legitimize, in our own minds, the idea of “dissent”; our right to “defend human beings and the genuine aims of life against the aims of the system”. When unions and individuals speak out against injustices they are seen as “dangerous” to the system. This is why Tim Hudak fears and speaks so harshly about unions…and why the corporate-owned media reports on his views without criticism or elaboration. By so doing, the media misinforms a trusting public.

"There are 1500 newspapers, 1100 magazines, 9000 radio stations, 1500 TV stations, 2400 publishers owned by only 3 corporations."

Source: @injusticefacts