From the beginning, HotBands.com focus has always been on independent music and promoting the independent artist, but it’s time to take a stand for something and use the power of the Internet, our website traffic, and most importantly, the voice of the artists and readers to instigate long lasting change.

To our readers who aren’t in the United States, here is a quick summary of the typical mind-set of the majority of Americans: Politics in the United States has taken on the appearance of a ball game. You have your die-hard staunch fans that always support the home-team as well as fair-weather fans whose alliances continually shift, not because they particularly like or even know the players, the team or the team concept, but because they want to be with the winning team.

Due to rampant ignorance and apathy on the part of voters (not knowing the candidates’ backgrounds and not wanting to put forth any effort to learn about them), we have our current elected administration. The majority of American voters elect officials based on which candidate gets slandered the least, and gets the most coverage by media rather than their accomplishments in previously elected positions. In other words, the one with the most money generally wins because they can afford to purchase more negative television and radio advertising.

This is the heart of the issue, and I feel one of the main ways that media that has fueled the polarization of our country has been through talk-radio. Radio stations that are supported and paid for by corporate advertisers benefiting from ‘conservative’ talk show hosts have no interest beyond keeping their radio station profitable, while the advertisers have no interest beyond selling products to the people that are attracted to that programming. Therefore, much of the content is inflammatory rhetoric designed to create an emotional response from the listener, which increases the likelihood of a product purchase. If you stop to think about it, it’s ridiculously clever, but most people don’t stop to think about it, and instead become a cog in the corporate wheel.

The point of these right-wing talk shows seem to be to play games with the viewpoints of those who are trying to sincerely and intelligently reveal and express the truth. There is something seriously wrong with our country when people scorn and mock those who are either speaking or seeking the truth while supporting (as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said) “…People that are willing to lie to the world in order to further their agenda”, yet scorn and mockery are the cornerstones of conservative talk-radio.

How have artists and ‘politically active’ musicians been affected by the new radio economy since deregulation was supposed to help the movement of free speech? With deregulation came private investment capital, which began buying out smaller, independent radio stations while taking over their coverage areas. The upside to radio giants like Clear Channel is that as a parent company, they are able to provide more programming, syndicated shows and music to more areas, but the downside is that those programs are controlled by one company, and one company generally has a more limited interest, which by de-facto limits the amount of new artists.

In the case of Clear Channel, the relationship between George W. Bush and Clear Channel management (Clear Channel’s vice president Tom Hicks helped make G.W. a multimillionaire), also represents an ability for a political party to influence what is allowed to be aired, likely leaving artists with politically critical songs on the sidelines.

After the impeachment proceedings against former President Clinton and a controversial and contested 2000 election, ‘Bush the Uniter’ took office and vowed to “heal our country”. Since then, I can’t remember a time in my life when our country was more polarized. Families, friends, neighbors…the very fabric of our country has been ripped apart at the seams in bitter dispute.

Over 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote a book called The Art of War, in which he advised that you must first divide your enemy in order to conquer him. Based on that principle, It’s us against them…Democrat against Republican, conservative vs. liberal, left vs. right…or is it the elite creating a working class that can be manipulated through the media? Who is the enemy? If we examine who and what has been divided, it seems “We the People…” are the enemy and have been willingly and unwittingly conquered.

The following links and info can be useful for people that want to find out more about the truth and want to do something about it.  The enemy isn't terrorists...it's ignorance. 

REGISTER TO VOTE - http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm
The feeling of despair and that your vote doesn't matter is what those in power want!   Great things can be accomplished if like-minded people act together.

Regarding Religion

• Keeping the Peace = Starting a war
• Making the U.N. relevant = Remember that G.W. Bush set the standard when HE broke article 51 of the UN charter by  going against what the UN Security Council voted, attacking Iraq unilaterally.
• Liberating Iraq = Invading Iraq
• Iraqis are now free = They are occupied.

http://www.votetoimpeach.org - If the standard for impeachment was set by former President Clinton because he lied about a personal issue in his life, should we also impeach President Bush for lying about....well...about just about everything?   From WMDs to bogus terrorist threats, he brought us into a WAR based on lies and is responsible for thousands of deaths. This impeachment proceeding was drafted by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Patrick J. Ferris
Publisher - HotBands.com

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