Can “Manifest Positivity” replace voter confidence?
Humboldt Sentinel staff
9/3/09
After several months in “stealth mode,” a local website has been officially launched with the release of a second volume of essays by a local advocacy journalist.
Eureka resident Dave Berman, previously the editor of the GuvWurld and We Do Not Consent news aggregation and political blogging websites, has released We Do Not Consent Volume 2 as a compilation of 20 of his essays on peace, media reform, election integrity and other public interest topics. His book, like the first volume published in 2006, is available for free on the Internet and paperbacks may also be purchased on-line.
“For years I've been practicing and promoting advocacy journalism, transparently using media to facilitate the achievement of public service goals,” Berman stated in a release.
His new website, www.ManifestPositivity.org, declares as its focus the production of public service videos for mainly “apolitical” persons and organizations -- and Berman’s philosophy of withdrawing the consent of the governed from the federal government due to mass election fraud, encapsulated in the “We Do Not Consent” meme, has apparently been replaced by “pronoia, the belief that the universe is conspiring on our behalf.”
Pronoia, otherwise described as the other end of extremism from paranoia or an assumed distrust of others and especially of large organizations and governments, has been described by Dr. Fred Goldner of Queens College as a psychological affliction or a “delusion that others think well of one.” Its chief proponent is Rob Brezsny, a Santa Cruz-based astrologer and author who once ran for City Council on a platform of imposing “yuppie immigration quotas.”
Apparently as part of his shift away from political organizing, Berman left the election integrity group he founded behind last year, and according to its few remaining members, the Voter Confidence Committee no longer meets regularly.
Its previous accomplishments include the adoption of the Voter Confidence Resolution by the Arcata City Council and their early work against continued use by Humboldt County elections officials of vote-counting machines produced by Diebold -- a position eventually validated when Election Advisory Committee volunteers and Clerk/Recorder Carolyn Crnich found over a hundred ballots were not counted in the presidential election last November due to an error in the Diebold device.
The VCC was unsuccessful, however, in persuading Crnich and the Board of Supervisors to switch entirely to a hand-counted paper ballot system, as the county moves towards its first election using Hart Intercivic-produced ballot tabulation machines this fall. Its efforts were also dissipated by a well-publicized split in 2006 by VCC members Scott Menzies and Mark Konkler, who founded a Humboldt Voter’s Association which briefly sponsored mock ranked choice voting demonstrations before going inactive itself.
For his part, Berman is moving from writing about his own projects and causes towards a new stance where an on-line talk show, samples of which are posted on YouTube, will focus on the work of others.
“The Manifest Positivity site comes from a place of love not anger, showing how we can use media as a tool for the greater good,” Berman stated. “People everywhere are collaborating independent of the corporate/military/government/media juggernaut to address the survival needs of humanity and our planet. Manifest Positivity is the work of peaceful revolution…”
Berman, who worked as a radio disc jockey for a decade after garnering his communications degree from Cornell, is featured in the new issue of the Steelhead Special published this month. He’s also looking to “reprise national and international media exposure” from his previous organizing efforts and to resume public speaking appearances.
“I'm especially interested in collaborating with students,” Berman stated. “Social networking and other new media tools are particularly conducive to advocacy journalism so I'm reaching out to my contacts at HSU, CR, and elsewhere…I invite everyone to contact me through ManifestPositivity.org to get involved.”
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3 comments:
Thanks for the article and context of past work. Just to clarify, the press release about Manifest Positivity says the site (and eventual web-based TV talk show) will include "videos supporting the public service goals of other people and groups, many entirely apolitical." This does not mean the site as a whole will be "mainly 'apolitical,'" though it would be impossible at this point to predict the precise degree of balance.
Impossible indeed. Yet apolitical is the direction you're headed in as opposed to your recent work, right? The clips I've noticed on your site thus far have fit that "mainly" description, which formed the basis of why it was used.
Of course there's always the question of what public service means, and which part of the public gets served what, but that's have to be the subject of a more in-depth piece than the one we've run.
Glad you liked the article, either way.
Yes, the clips posted at Manifest Positivity so far are mainly apolitical. There will likely be more political stuff in the future and it is the balance between the two that I'm saying is uncertain.
Still, the bigger point I'd like to convey is that using media this way (advocacy journalism) to promote even apolitical matters changes the traditional relationship between the public and the media itself, which is so heavily influenced and controlled by corporations and government. Changing this relationship is how I define peaceful revolution. Put this all together and it is important to realize that even the apolitical content can be revolutionary with this mindful approach.
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