In the good old days – back in the 60′s and 70′s – drug companies and such were so concerned about bad press about their products (like the Bayer and Tylenol scares over poisonings and tamperings), that they would immediately pull items off the shelves to prevent any kind of accidental death or injury from their product.  Sales would literally plummet the moment anyone worried about an irresponsible manufacturer’s product on the market.  But now, people seem to shrug it off, because the media tends to blow things out of proportion too often – thus numbing your senses into oblivion.

In the movie, The Insider, Russell Crowe, who plays a whistle blower for a cigarette company, expresses his disgust at how his bosses actually manufacture addictive poisons to be put into cigarettes. He then goes on to express how impressed he was with his former employer’s immediate response to news reports of deaths from tainted aspirin tablets, back in the 70′s. Back then, some companies actually went out of their way to make sure their products were 100% safe for consumption. Now, you’re lucky if they even tell you what’s in it.

Sigh…

Howard Zinn believed in the working class – or rather, the middle and lower class and their ability to change history.  He believed in the greatness of regular, working people – like you and I – and what they did to change history. He believed that true change came from the bottom up, and not from the top down. Movements like the Tea Party movement are called astro-turf movements because they are coporate sponsored for profit. They recruit working class people to do their bidding – to go out into the streets on behalf of the wealthy (like the health insurance companies, etc) to make it appear that they are connected with the working class in this country, when in fact they are not. They are sponsored events, for profit, whereby tickets are sold and celebrities are provided in order to draw a larger crowd. Their cause is not about the middle class, but about shouting down the opposition – the out-of-work class of people who get absolutely no media coverage, despite the size of their crowds.

The media is mostly owned by the wealthy class, which in turn tries to suppress the opposition – the voices of those who have been hurt by Reaganomics, exported jobs and industries. The few who have benefited from such policies are the benefactors and supporters of today’s astroturf movements.  What made Howard Zinn so special was his focus on the rebellions of the working class and the strikes they held throughout history. From the farmers’ strikes of the 1700′s on through the 1970′s, with Cesar Chavez’ farm workers strikes. Today, few people are willing to strike in public. We have been trained as a people to “put up and shut up” – to be afraid and submissive. The very thought of protesting invokes images of riots, armed police on horseback, water canons, and worst of all jailtime and the threat of being labeled an “enemy combatant”, which will more than likely generate a file at the FBI that will put you on every terrorist watch list. This is all thanks to George W. Bush’s Patriot Act and Homeland Security, illegal domestic wiretapping, and cointel-pro programs.

Howard Zinn died the other day, and his writings will speak to generations to come, much the same way Ghandi’s and MLK’s do for us today.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this very inspiring book.