I have been an activist for the last 15 years. I decided 15 years ago, that the most effective method to protest and awaken others to a cause and for people to hear me and my writings was through broadcasting both on radio and television. However in 1999 when I first began broadcasting on television the only outlet for me to gain the training I needed and be allowed to go on the airwaves was through local cable access television. Within the short time span of the last 6 or 7 years technology has created and allowed social media and the internet to explode with the voices of millions of committed activists around the world bringing their causes and concerns to world wide attention.
The video production equipment available today is far better and far more easy to operate than when I began 15 years ago. The photography and editing process is all digital today and can be done on Iphones and PCs with very user friendly software. When I began producing and directing television programs video cameras were cumbersome and editing was a long process with expensive equipment available only in television studios. Technology and the internet have revolutionized activists around the world, and the internet is the greatest tool ever invented for a committed activist.
The wars and battles I fought with local and state government agencies to get my voice heard by a limited audience was far greater than any censorship is today. Everything I said or did had to be FCC compliant and had to meet strict ethical, political and editorial standards placed upon producers of television programs. Today anyone can say anything political or personal on blogs, social media or Youtube.com and other video networks. Television censorship has become all but obsolete with the exception of children programs.
I began broadcasting on radio in 2003 on FM station WQQQ103.3 and established a long running liberal talk show at a time when few if any existed on commercial radio, and denounced the beginning of the Iraq war. This was over a decade ago and the times have changed dramatically. In 2006 the national radio network BlogTalkRadio.com was established and I began broadcasting the L.A.Steel Show on it in conjunction with my FM show and television program. This allowed me to reach a national audience. Today my online broadcast is listened to in 166 countries as is my website viewed by hundreds of thousands of visitors world wide. This has made my NSA interest factor somewhat large and seeming worthy of continual surveillance. I have been hacked and had controversial programs deleted from my network, and have been publicly attacked by many critics from right and left wing hate groups. It doesn’t bother me anymore, I expect it as part of what I do.
I wish I could say I’ve made a lot of money doing all of this, but as so many activists are aware, money helps but it isn’t the reason we keep doing what we do. Most people realize early on in their activist careers that corporate sponsorship of your activism usually impairs your independence and creates a dependency upon them. That is why they sponsor you. To fight the enemies of society and be credible to your listeners and followers we have to be true to ourselves and to all we speak to. I endorse and advocate unions on my programs. I believe they are the last bastion of defense for the working classes of America and workers around the world.
I titled this article “Activist Apathy” because I understand the growing apathy of other activists and I often become apathetic and cynical as well, due to the seemingly overwhelming obstacles against me and the rest of the awakening world population.
I believe the world is in the last stages of civilization, before it implodes through environmental destruction, war and revolutions.
Many once strong and committed activists have pulled back over the years,because of their disillusionment in their governments, or new political parties, or the ineffectiveness of the members of their own activist coalitions to prevent or even acknowledge their ever increasing slavery to debt, corrupt governments, and the economics of idiots, under the control of Military industrialists and corrupt bankers and corporate CEOs.
There are many non violent movements around the world and in the U.S that should be given attention, however those movements that have become violent and have overtaken or threaten to overtake governments are the ones the world recognizes. The Ukrainian Violent Protest is one of the best examples of what will soon happen elsewhere around the world, when citizens become activists and refuse to sit back and be a slave. Activists can not become apathetic, we must become smarter, more committed and more organized than ever before in the history of mankind, because the stake we are playing for is our own survival and that of the planet. We must support each other and find common ground to unite and fight to overthrow the Masters and their minions, who control the on going destruction of Humanity and the world.
L.A.Steel
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