2010 03-27 :
I like Truthout. I always have. But I have been growing increasingly annoyed with their never-ending money grovel. As they put it:
Internet users ... expect everything to be free. Unfortunately we're a small nonprofit organization and although we run on a lean budget, our work costs real money.
Its probably true; Internet users do kind of expect Internet content to be free. Okay, weve dispensed with the slightly patronizing first sentence. Well move on to the more serious part now. Its tragic that were living in a world where even the richest liberals and progressives, despite their kindnesses and charity, are generally AWOL when it comes to combatting the corporate ogres and tyrants who provide all of the material for the exposes and alarming headlines with their corruption and destruction. This is, after all, their world too and surely they understand that the business of America is business - and without consumers they cant sell their goods either. Unfortunately, bona fide noblesse oblige is not required to get into that 15 percent (or less) tax bracket that most of us only dream about, stuck as we are at 28-35 percent, plus the 10 percent sales tax, plus the ... but I digress. This isnt an essay about the Ponzi scheme that has been played on the American middle class, nor is it a plea for charity for the poor. Were living in a climate in which being miserable is supposed to be the punishment for being poor, and job one is seeing to it that everyone who isnt poor now will be reduced to eating economy dogfood as soon as inhumanly possible.
But this essay isnt about all that. Its about these daily pleas for money Truthout sends me every day.
Truthout isnt the problem, of course. I like Truthout. Im just not sure anything they say really matters, no matter how well their contributors put it. Even if it did, I dont think theyre reaching enough people to make a dimes worth of difference. And, in that context, their budget doesnt seem lean at all, at least not to me.
A few begging sessions ago, they announced that their monthly overhead was $50,000. I like my Truthout updates each day, but I dont think of Truthout as a powerhouse of information. Far more information can be obtained at other sites, like the Christian Science Monitor, Common Dreams.Org, Democratic Underground, and lots of others where they find a great many of the articles they reprint.
No, $50,000.00 per month doesnt seem at all lean to me. It boils down to $600,000.00 per year for a domain name, servers and hard drives and some money to pay a few writers whose articles, interesting as they are, are more akin to Captain Renaults comments in Casablanca than they are to anything that will make a difference in mine or anyone elses, life. We know the corporations dont pay taxes. We know Sarah Palin is an abomination. We know that Fox News is a mouthpiece for everyone without a brain and a heart. We knew that since we were children. Tell us something we dont know.
The reality, despite all these articles, at $600,000.00 per year, not to mention the tens, if not hundreds of million of dollars regular people have donated to all the other progressive organizations like MoveOn, etc. is clear. We're STILL in Iraq, STILL in Afghanistan, the Patriot Act is still in full force, the banks and health corporations STILL own the whole shooting match, none of the Cheney-Bush crimes have been addressed, the economy is in the tank and will be for a long time to come and NOT ONE of the progressives elected thanks to Move ONs endless money farming money we could have used to pay for our ever-rising food and medical costs has done anything meaningful in terms of taking a stand, speaking out, or working to change the status quo. All that money is gone forever, at least from our wallets although the people who sell those ads MoveOn bought have done pretty well you know who I mean, yes? Rupert Murdoch, General Electric, etc....
Am I saying that we should simply stick our heads in the sand and our asses in the air?
Of course not.
Truthouts spokespersons say stuff like: Things would be much worse without organizations like Truthout. Also, Truthout pays for their content and their writers and does a lot of original reporting and videos, and art. This stuff has a pricetag and I say: So what?
Please. Do tell me how much worse things would be without Truthout? Who do they think reads those articles? Dick Armey? Theyre preaching to the choir. All you need to know is that weve seen issues that had 80-85% of the peoples support and their elected representatives performed as if their constituents hadnt expressed any opinion on it at all.
I respect and admire Will Pitt's voice as much as anyone, and I'm convinced that the story Jason Leopold suffered all that embarrassment over, the sealed Rove indictment thing, could have been probably was 100% legit when he wrote it, but what difference did it make? Then, or now? ROVE GOT AWAY WITH IT! And who made sure he did? Uh, it was the Yes, We Can crowd. I dont see Truthout doing much in the way of hard-hitting journalism on this eight-year scandal, or the coverup now. Like the pols, theyre probably too busy trying to raise money to write something powerful. So who needs em?
It's a vicious circle, no question, but no reporting on the problems, regardless of their probative value, is ever going to fix any of them. If the little people, who, appropriately, always get the shortest end of the stick really feel like giving what little portion of their money they feel they can afford to throw away instead of using it to buy themselves or their family food, or medicine, or use it to pay their rent or mortgage, shouldnt they give it to progressive candidates instead of news rehashers? Progressive candidates are the only hope weve got. Aren't they?
Of course not! Even the most progressive pols don't seem to be able to get the job done, if, somehow, they get elected. But why would they? They know whats going to happen in two years if they cant raise as much money as the republican candidate certainly will. And just like that, yesterdays progressive is todays Harry Reid, Jr. except without the power. Thats comforting, isnt it?
How is giving my hard-earned money to Truthout so they can publish more articles reminding me of what I already know going to fix that? What I need is action.
I realize that hopelessness seems to be the thread running through this essay, and I am sorry for that. Ive been reading Patrick OBrians early nineteenth century, Aubrey-Maturin sea series again, and I am forced to admit that, compared to the lives of seamen aboard those British Navy ships, our lives are pretty damn groovy regardless of Dick Cheneys apparently infinite existence. But... the changes that came several generations ago the changes that led to the growth of unions and government policies and laws that genuinely worked to improve the lot of the poor and the indentured didnt come about from a few scattered, article-reading people, nodding in agreement over their lattes and/or quiet outrage in their survivalist cabins in the boonies. They were the result of an ever growing popular call for action and the massing of a large-enough body of angry citizens to force the issue. At some point, when the revolution comes... the foreclosures, loss of jobs and retirement security, lack of medical care and all the rest of the package will build to the breaking point. Whether Truthout is writing provocative articles or not.
Thats the future. Maybe.
More likely, by then everyone that isnt pushing a shopping cart will be working for the United States of Blackwater.
I dig John Pilger and Joe Conason as much as anyone, but their current articles on the instant issues arent any different, in their way, as the treatment of the same issues back when Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, or B. Traven wrote The Death Ship, or when Frank Capra made Its A Wonderful Life. Theyre the same as they were when Suetonious wrote about life in Rome in the first century or when Ayn Rand put words in Ellsworth Tooheys mouth in The Fountainhead in the twentieth century, and while you might think that iPhone has made you bulletproof, youll feel differently after youve lost whats left of that 401(k) and your house is upside-down. Hows it gonna help you when your job is gone too. What exactly is Truthout doing to help with any of this that justifies their existence in the first place? Im just wondering.
By the way, every plea for money includes this note: For those of you who cannot afford to donate, please don't. We deeply appreciate your readership and your participation.
Thats cool. I just feel uncomfortable with this sort of arrangement. If Truthout is a business it should be run on some sort of business model. If it cant sustain itself, maybe it shouldnt exist. Maybe they need to do what others have done; charge for their subscription. Thatll separate the men from the boys damn quick. Or they can sell some advertising. Truthout is not an outlaw periodical; its not radical. If they cant get anybody to advertise with them, its likely nobody even wants to read their stuff. But stop this endless begging. Its pathetic.
I also cant help but wonder what sort of offices Truthout requires to maintain this website, and where those offices are. They used to have an address on the letters with a modest address a mile or so from where I am but their address no longer appears on the emails or the website. Now theres only a p.o. box in Sacramento, California for donations. I also cant help but wonder just how much compensation the new editor has decided is necessary for her to keep up this important work of hers on the non-profit venture. We all need loot, and I dont begrudge anyone their salary. I just need something in return when I part with my hard-earned money.
I realize this is a piss-poor, somewhat pointless puddle of semi-conscious rambling, but those endless money requests bug me and I wanted to get it off my chest. For the record, my annoyance is not about the money; in the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have donated a small amount of money in the past. I have also purchased and own actual books by many of the people whose articles run on Truthout and, generally speaking, I value them highly. I just wish theyd stop already with these endless requests for donations.
(All content is, of course, c copyright 2010 by NSK, and all rights are reserved)
I like Truthout. I always have. But I have been growing increasingly annoyed with their never-ending money grovel. As they put it:
Internet users ... expect everything to be free. Unfortunately we're a small nonprofit organization and although we run on a lean budget, our work costs real money.
Its probably true; Internet users do kind of expect Internet content to be free. Okay, weve dispensed with the slightly patronizing first sentence. Well move on to the more serious part now. Its tragic that were living in a world where even the richest liberals and progressives, despite their kindnesses and charity, are generally AWOL when it comes to combatting the corporate ogres and tyrants who provide all of the material for the exposes and alarming headlines with their corruption and destruction. This is, after all, their world too and surely they understand that the business of America is business - and without consumers they cant sell their goods either. Unfortunately, bona fide noblesse oblige is not required to get into that 15 percent (or less) tax bracket that most of us only dream about, stuck as we are at 28-35 percent, plus the 10 percent sales tax, plus the ... but I digress. This isnt an essay about the Ponzi scheme that has been played on the American middle class, nor is it a plea for charity for the poor. Were living in a climate in which being miserable is supposed to be the punishment for being poor, and job one is seeing to it that everyone who isnt poor now will be reduced to eating economy dogfood as soon as inhumanly possible.
But this essay isnt about all that. Its about these daily pleas for money Truthout sends me every day.
Truthout isnt the problem, of course. I like Truthout. Im just not sure anything they say really matters, no matter how well their contributors put it. Even if it did, I dont think theyre reaching enough people to make a dimes worth of difference. And, in that context, their budget doesnt seem lean at all, at least not to me.
A few begging sessions ago, they announced that their monthly overhead was $50,000. I like my Truthout updates each day, but I dont think of Truthout as a powerhouse of information. Far more information can be obtained at other sites, like the Christian Science Monitor, Common Dreams.Org, Democratic Underground, and lots of others where they find a great many of the articles they reprint.
No, $50,000.00 per month doesnt seem at all lean to me. It boils down to $600,000.00 per year for a domain name, servers and hard drives and some money to pay a few writers whose articles, interesting as they are, are more akin to Captain Renaults comments in Casablanca than they are to anything that will make a difference in mine or anyone elses, life. We know the corporations dont pay taxes. We know Sarah Palin is an abomination. We know that Fox News is a mouthpiece for everyone without a brain and a heart. We knew that since we were children. Tell us something we dont know.
The reality, despite all these articles, at $600,000.00 per year, not to mention the tens, if not hundreds of million of dollars regular people have donated to all the other progressive organizations like MoveOn, etc. is clear. We're STILL in Iraq, STILL in Afghanistan, the Patriot Act is still in full force, the banks and health corporations STILL own the whole shooting match, none of the Cheney-Bush crimes have been addressed, the economy is in the tank and will be for a long time to come and NOT ONE of the progressives elected thanks to Move ONs endless money farming money we could have used to pay for our ever-rising food and medical costs has done anything meaningful in terms of taking a stand, speaking out, or working to change the status quo. All that money is gone forever, at least from our wallets although the people who sell those ads MoveOn bought have done pretty well you know who I mean, yes? Rupert Murdoch, General Electric, etc....
Am I saying that we should simply stick our heads in the sand and our asses in the air?
Of course not.
Truthouts spokespersons say stuff like: Things would be much worse without organizations like Truthout. Also, Truthout pays for their content and their writers and does a lot of original reporting and videos, and art. This stuff has a pricetag and I say: So what?
Please. Do tell me how much worse things would be without Truthout? Who do they think reads those articles? Dick Armey? Theyre preaching to the choir. All you need to know is that weve seen issues that had 80-85% of the peoples support and their elected representatives performed as if their constituents hadnt expressed any opinion on it at all.
I respect and admire Will Pitt's voice as much as anyone, and I'm convinced that the story Jason Leopold suffered all that embarrassment over, the sealed Rove indictment thing, could have been probably was 100% legit when he wrote it, but what difference did it make? Then, or now? ROVE GOT AWAY WITH IT! And who made sure he did? Uh, it was the Yes, We Can crowd. I dont see Truthout doing much in the way of hard-hitting journalism on this eight-year scandal, or the coverup now. Like the pols, theyre probably too busy trying to raise money to write something powerful. So who needs em?
It's a vicious circle, no question, but no reporting on the problems, regardless of their probative value, is ever going to fix any of them. If the little people, who, appropriately, always get the shortest end of the stick really feel like giving what little portion of their money they feel they can afford to throw away instead of using it to buy themselves or their family food, or medicine, or use it to pay their rent or mortgage, shouldnt they give it to progressive candidates instead of news rehashers? Progressive candidates are the only hope weve got. Aren't they?
Of course not! Even the most progressive pols don't seem to be able to get the job done, if, somehow, they get elected. But why would they? They know whats going to happen in two years if they cant raise as much money as the republican candidate certainly will. And just like that, yesterdays progressive is todays Harry Reid, Jr. except without the power. Thats comforting, isnt it?
How is giving my hard-earned money to Truthout so they can publish more articles reminding me of what I already know going to fix that? What I need is action.
I realize that hopelessness seems to be the thread running through this essay, and I am sorry for that. Ive been reading Patrick OBrians early nineteenth century, Aubrey-Maturin sea series again, and I am forced to admit that, compared to the lives of seamen aboard those British Navy ships, our lives are pretty damn groovy regardless of Dick Cheneys apparently infinite existence. But... the changes that came several generations ago the changes that led to the growth of unions and government policies and laws that genuinely worked to improve the lot of the poor and the indentured didnt come about from a few scattered, article-reading people, nodding in agreement over their lattes and/or quiet outrage in their survivalist cabins in the boonies. They were the result of an ever growing popular call for action and the massing of a large-enough body of angry citizens to force the issue. At some point, when the revolution comes... the foreclosures, loss of jobs and retirement security, lack of medical care and all the rest of the package will build to the breaking point. Whether Truthout is writing provocative articles or not.
Thats the future. Maybe.
More likely, by then everyone that isnt pushing a shopping cart will be working for the United States of Blackwater.
I dig John Pilger and Joe Conason as much as anyone, but their current articles on the instant issues arent any different, in their way, as the treatment of the same issues back when Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, or B. Traven wrote The Death Ship, or when Frank Capra made Its A Wonderful Life. Theyre the same as they were when Suetonious wrote about life in Rome in the first century or when Ayn Rand put words in Ellsworth Tooheys mouth in The Fountainhead in the twentieth century, and while you might think that iPhone has made you bulletproof, youll feel differently after youve lost whats left of that 401(k) and your house is upside-down. Hows it gonna help you when your job is gone too. What exactly is Truthout doing to help with any of this that justifies their existence in the first place? Im just wondering.
By the way, every plea for money includes this note: For those of you who cannot afford to donate, please don't. We deeply appreciate your readership and your participation.
Thats cool. I just feel uncomfortable with this sort of arrangement. If Truthout is a business it should be run on some sort of business model. If it cant sustain itself, maybe it shouldnt exist. Maybe they need to do what others have done; charge for their subscription. Thatll separate the men from the boys damn quick. Or they can sell some advertising. Truthout is not an outlaw periodical; its not radical. If they cant get anybody to advertise with them, its likely nobody even wants to read their stuff. But stop this endless begging. Its pathetic.
I also cant help but wonder what sort of offices Truthout requires to maintain this website, and where those offices are. They used to have an address on the letters with a modest address a mile or so from where I am but their address no longer appears on the emails or the website. Now theres only a p.o. box in Sacramento, California for donations. I also cant help but wonder just how much compensation the new editor has decided is necessary for her to keep up this important work of hers on the non-profit venture. We all need loot, and I dont begrudge anyone their salary. I just need something in return when I part with my hard-earned money.
I realize this is a piss-poor, somewhat pointless puddle of semi-conscious rambling, but those endless money requests bug me and I wanted to get it off my chest. For the record, my annoyance is not about the money; in the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have donated a small amount of money in the past. I have also purchased and own actual books by many of the people whose articles run on Truthout and, generally speaking, I value them highly. I just wish theyd stop already with these endless requests for donations.
(All content is, of course, c copyright 2010 by NSK, and all rights are reserved)