C.D.‘s, Lines, and Videotape
B. Solid
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| • April-May 1992 | Newspaper: Funded by Syracuse University students. | |
| The Alternative Orange: Vol. 1, No. 5 (pp. 13) | ||
| • August 27, 2000 | Webpage:  . | |
| DocBook XML (DocBk XML V3.1.3) from original. | ||
In the pursuit of mental stimulation, critical thought, and personal enjoyment, I offer the following amateur reviews of some new and not so new venues of communication worth your time and money.
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Homefront: every Tuesday at 10pm.
Yes, there is a television program on prime-time mainstream TV that is worth your time —Homefront— a view of post World War 2 America. This program is the first that I have ever seen on mainstream TV that deals, on a weekly basis, with the struggles of class, race, sex, and even anti-semitism, in a manner that both supports these revolutionary struggles and connects them together to show the unity of oppression. Unfortunately, there is an element of Hollywoodesque entertainment that interferes with the serious development of any of the above mentioned issues. But for the TV junkies, Homefront is better than the rot that pervades prime time television.
While the program is set in 1945, these issues in Homefront are timeless, and apply just as readily to workers, womyn, gays, and African, Latino, and Jewish peoples living in 1992 America. So checkout Homefront, give it a couple of episodes, sort through the soft entertainment themes, and get a soft dose of history from an angle foreign to the mainstream.
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The Right Stuff—the newsletter of the College Republicans at Syracuse University.
This publication is good for anyone interested in seeing what the politics of the American capitalist class and their political parties really look like without millions of dollars of glitz, speech writers, or slick advertising.
The College Republicans show us this classic side — mindless, anti-theoretical criticism of the people and values they find reprehensible (this is not new to the Syracuse University campus, the pre- 1991 Alternative Orange did the same thing!). I said that this is classic Republican/Democrat material because, like the powerful players in this country, it offers us nothing of any value to explain our situation as students and workers, or give us an historical look at our country and our political economy; how it is changing, how it is in crisis, or what this crisis will mean to us and our children. No. Instead, just more mindless, brain numbing hype about eating rocks because plants have feelings too; why they hate Jane Fonda; or how Biden lifted speeches from other people.
Now my question to the College Republicans is the following: when is the last time a vegetarian deprived you of a decent education, or Joseph Biden denied you access to a good job, or Jane Fonda jumped you at night and kicked your ass because you were a college republican?? Do you see what I am getting at: your politics, and the politics of the Republican and Democratic parties, do not relate to us, or our history, or our personal experiences. Instead, they alienate us and they constantly trip-up our attempts to critique and transform social relations with “diversions”: wars, “quota bills,” or in your case, attacks against powerless people who are made to be spectacles of folly.
While I am a great fan of political humor, and trust me, I know some of the articles are meant to be humorous (i.e. A Letter from the President), overall what anyone reads from The Right Stuff is not going to be much different from what is said by the President, or right-wing entertainers and intellectuals. And that is what is dangerous about these politics. They promote self serving, twisted versions of a truth, and usually end up creating a scapegoat out of the closest and weakest population that doesn’t happen to be white, straight, or male.
Again, if you are curious to see what the Republican and Democratic party would look and sound like if they had no budget, then check out The Right Stuff for a basic look at traditional status quo political thought.
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Consolidated—Friendly Fascism
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This second C.D. from Consolidated is not new (it was released last year), but remains a hidden gem of radical hip hop/industrial/dance music. Consolidated can best be described as marxist theory put to urban beats. But don’t let the word “marxist” turn you off; they are not Soviet Stalinists. Consolidated tackles everything from patriarchy (“Typical Male”), the unity of struggles between oppressed peoples and groups (“Unity of Oppression”), and the capitalist domination of the culture industry and its stifling effect on creative, revolutionary music and art.
Consolidated remains one of the best groups out there today that blends serious critique of the status quo with some great beats and samples. Look also for their first album, “The Myth of Rock.”
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