MEDIA ROOTS – Standing for “truth, justice, and the American way” just took a giant leap into the twenty-first century with Clark Kent leaving the Daily Planet newspaper. In next week’s issue, to be released by DC Comics, Clark is expected to stand up in front of staff and mourn how mainstream “journalism has given way to entertainment,” according to the comic’s writer Scott Lobdell. He continues to explain how the superhero’s alter ego will now “start speaking an unvarnished truth” possibly by creating an independent outlet similar to that of Drudge Report.

This could be a huge, albeit indirect, opportunity to support independent news outlets such as Media Roots. Or it could be just another way for the establishment to mislead the public into thinking comic books will become a new frontier for reliable information. A current example of how the corporate entertainment industry poses as a source for reliable news is The Daily Show, whose host is one of the twenty most influential media personalities now influencing this year’s presidential election.

Clark’s decision is still worthy of note in that a fictional superhero is acting on a crisis that is affecting the citizenry every day. This is not the first time in recent history that Superman has stood up for contemporary political issues. Just last year, he threatened to renounce his U.S. citizenship before the United Nations because of he was tired of his “actions being construed as instruments of U.S. policy.” While he didn’t actually renounce, the episode created heated discussion among both supporters and dissenters of America’s modern role in the global community.

The depth of Clark Kent’s future investigations will ultimately underscore this impact on modern society. Will he highlight the numerous questions that still surround 9/11 or feature Obama’s current war on investigative journalists? Possibly he will investigate the role hedge funds have played in the still-occurring financial collapse. Only time will tell, hopefully before it’s too late.

Oskar Mosco for Media Roots.

Image provided by Flickr user istolethetv.

MEDIA ROOTS – In Egypt, street art is quickly painted over and removed from public view. To combat this, photographers have recently teamed up with artists to compile collections for print publication.

Since the resignation of President Mubarak last year, artists’ dissent appears to have grown even more angry and primarily focuses frustrations toward newly elected President Morsi.

 “You are a regime that is frightened by paint brushes and pens,” read one verse recently displayed. “If you were doing the right thing, you would not be afraid of what’s painted.” The Muslim Brotherhood is also a target of the denunciation.

Wall Talk is the newly released collection of graffiti displayed in Egypt over much of the past two years and is now available for free download on Scribd.

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Ottawa Citizen – Wall Talk publisher Sherif Boraie says graffiti was the vehicle that delivered clear, strong and angry messages during the anti-Mubarak uprising and afterward. Now it reflects the depth of frustration over the perceived failure of the revolution to realize its main goals, he said.

“We are in a difficult period, and the youth are very angry, while avenues for expression for the mare limited. Will the anger continue to simmer indefinitely without boiling over? I don’t think so.”

To read more about how graffiti artists are creatively spreading information in Egypt, read the full article in today’s Ottawa Citizen.

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Image provided by Flickr user Gigi Ibrahim.

where is your disbelief?

suppose you were to know,
all those lies you’ve been told.
then maybe this shock,
this latest disaster,
might break
your
dis
belief.

i came across an editorial photo capturing a woman, hand to cheek, eyes venetian, at the scene of some unfortunate event. she was unable to believe that the horror before her was real. but her eyes partially covered ensured that her eyes were witness to the events unfolding.

i then thought of all the truth and reality we experience on a daily basis and the lack of disbelief at what is happening in front of us. i wanted to know where the anger, frustration, shock and sense of justice was in my fellow americans.

i’m still looking for that disbelief, that critical thinking combined with the collective consciousness to bring us beyond the current paradigm of exploitation, division and atomization.

by rickpickett

MEDIA ROOTS – Coming from the Northwest, I was exposed to Native American totem poles early in childhood. I always loved the caricatures of beasts, man and gods; bold cuts into monolithic tree trunks with colorful paint made these sculptures come alive.

My own ‘totem’ pole, “Tree of Life” draws its inspiration from our country’s caretakers before us. I wanted to capture the thorny, the soft, the grotesque and the beautiful sentiments that make our world. From an atom in the womb, to the infinitesimal speck of existence exiting above, one travels through life feeling comfort, heart break, strength and fragility and during this transit, complexities and the unknown surround us.

By Rick Pickett

Tasering of the Christ, Pen & Ink, 14″ x 17″, 2010

Tiny Tim the Blood Sucking Gollum Giethner, Pen & Ink, 6″ x 6″, 2010

JA: With this illustration I was really trying to capture the true vileness that lurks behind the elf-like facade of our esteemed Treasury Secretary, Tim Giethner. Why pay your taxes when he can arrogantly self proclaim himself to be the hero who has negligently slapped a band aid on the hemorrhaging wound of our fiat, bullshit economy? All the while he and his cronies feverishly suck the life blood out of whats left in a limp, blue, stinking corpse!

Portrait of Alex Jones, Red & Black ball point pen, 14″x17″, 2008

This is a drawing I did of Alex Jones. I have lost friends over my beliefs, over my awakening, over my quest for finding the often ugly truth, and Alex Jones has been instrumental in my paradigm shift. I am a big supporter of Alex and I have been very fortunate to have met him a couple of times in NYC. On one occasion I saw a small group of people in front of the main WTC subway entrance. As I walked closer, I could hear the echo of a mega phone. There he was, bullhoring several paramilitary drones head to toe in kevlar while yielding automatic weapons. Our brave public servants, peace officers, adorned in their protective gear…hell, the kevlar had kevlar.

Alex was pleading with them to research Operation Northwoods and to not serve the system, to think for themselves. He passionately spoke in rapid fire motion as the sweat poured from his vein swelling brow. The cops merely stood there stoically with shit eating grins, dark shades, and twitching trigger fingers. At any moment you felt like one of them could literally just start spraying people with led while cackling wildly with glee.

Jones took a moment for a breather as I introduced myself to him. Still pumping full of adrenaline as he glanced up at the Fuji surveillance blimp and sincerely replied, “It’s good meeting you buddy, I will try harder. I will try to do a better job.” I asked him if there was anything I could do and began filming as I stood in front of the goon squad toe to toe. “Ask them about Operation Northwoods. You’re on film guys, you’re going to be in a movie boys,” he said gleefully as I looked at them with dread as their weapons reflected the dull glare of black patina.

I looked at them, I looked at Jones, and then I looked at them again. My fears shed away, and I thought, “Screw it, I am more nervous about looking like yuppie scum to Jones than I am of getting shot by the NYPD, which never ever happens in New York City.” I cleared my voice, and proclaimed loudly in a broken cracking tone like a boy hitting puberty, “Have any of you heard of Operation Northwoods?”

Jon Allen’s art stems from a genuine love to draw and write along with an inherent curiosity of nature, love, and politics. Jon Allen’s fascinating and hyperbolic drawings and caricatures are accumulations of the past thirteen years of generating ideas, frustration, and his quest for peace through his persistent, unadulterated examination of the beautiful and bizarre world we inhabit.

To check out more about Jon Allen’s work go to www.jonallenart.com  and www.jonallenart.blogspot.com