"The standard narrative proposes a dialectic of the myopic liberal left versus a coalition of right-wing authority... This is a tremendously unbalanced conflict. If this were a genuine analysis then the predictable result would be a victorious Fascist counter-revolution...With this in mind, an Orwellian filter of political language should apply..."

This is a piece about the anti-democratic nature of media conventions borrowing from three types of historical analysis: contemporary political scientists suspicious of democratic institutions (Gilens/Page, Brennan), Marxist media studies from the 80s-90s (Gitlin, Hermann/Chomsky and Parenti) and the distopian classics (Huxley and Orwell). The drafts of this paper usually coincide with news about Julian Assange, the American Espionage Act and "anti-disinformation" media censorship campaigns.

This is a rambling piece that functions as a hominidmedia. mission statement: heterodox content in tension with authorized media. The broader concept of decentralization (or re-localization) is core to American versions of dissenting ideologies like anarchism, populism, and libertarianism. These decentralized ideologies are not automatic allies.

Wendell Berry's version of an "unsettled" America is one method of decentralization. To Berry, the problem is the "consistently operative [law] in American History...that the members of any established people or group or community sooner or later become...the designated victims of an utterly ruthless, officially sanctioned and subsidized exploitation." This frame requires a reinterpretation of national myths like meritocracy, politics and democracy. Berry is writing about agriculture but inevitable centralization is also how Marxists conceive the development of industrial capitalism.

Authorized media reinforces modern systems of exploitation. Independent media is heterodox to the authorized media narrative in this tremendously unbalanced dialectic. The critiques of capital from individuals, collectives and unions are valid but siloed by theory and time. The bigger goal of "independent media." is reinforcing cross-ideological leftist alliances with historic sources.