You Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee
Connecting the Dots
by Glynn Wilson
A blog is like a vinyl disc in a way. It’s not all about news or creating something that sells. It’s a canvas for creating art.
As I took a break from the news during the holidays of 2008, I took the time to re-watch the documentary film about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, produced for the Sundance Channel.
My conclusion is there are important lessons in the story for any creative person searching for answers about life or art.
For one, corporate chain newspapers are dying because the business school managers who run them don’t get this. They have no imagination. And most of the people they’ve hired over the past 30 years, at least those who cling to their daily jobs, also lack imagination.
Tom Petty was not like most rock stars of the 1970s. He was a true artist and a poet who refused to compromise with commercial forces and pressures. In the end, that paid huge dividends, both artistically and commercially.
I’ve seen it time and again in my life. There are people who will try to tell you that you have to conform to be successful. You have to wear certain clothes, cut your hair a certain way, write a set type of story, cut a pop record. And they will say, whatever you do, don’t do anything to piss anybody off.
Just yesterday, my part-time copy editor tried to convince me that I would lose readers by using the word “fuck” on this Website.
Once again, I tried to explain that this is not a “family newspaper.” I mean, watch cable TV. Read a New York magazine. Fuck is the favorite word of Dennis Miller, the conservative Republican comic from Saturday Night Live.
Publishing on the Web Press is where freedom rings true. That’s what draws an audience, the wide open freedom of it all. It may offend the occasional corporate advertiser or Christian Republican, but so what? They are among a shrinking minority of the population now anyway.
As of this writing, for a case in point, Blue Cross is running blog ads targeting this site trying to sell insurance. We’re not sure why. We’ve not published a single post sympathetic to the insurance industry. Our editorial position and philosophy is all about supporting a single-payer national health care plan and the rights of juries to rule against corporations in law suits.
We believe for this country to have a chance at pulling out of this recession and continuing to be successful in this world, every citizen has a right to health care.
We don’t know if the new president, Barack Obama, will be able to pass such a plan in the coming months. But we would urge him not to back down when moderate members of Congress try to water down his plan.
Be a rebel. Fight for what you believe in. Surely that creates a hard road at times. But in the end, that’s what makes lasting rock stars, successful writers — and political heroes.
So take a lesson from Tom Petty. You don’t have to live like a refugee.
© 2008 – 2018, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.
