how to... (brilliant)

• meant to post this a while ago, pretty relevant right now:

via alternet

six easy steps to invincible ignorance.

coffeeandink launches an exciting new product: tired of discussions of racism in literature, television, and film? worn out from the unexpected criticism of your leisure pursuits? exhausted by the effort of having to respond to each new argument carefully and conscientiously?
we can help!
we'll teach you how to suppress discussion of racism in six easy steps. soon suppressing dissent will be so easy you can do it in your sleep!
especially designed for your online needs!
find out what how to suppress discussions of racism can do for you. in just 6 easy steps, you can make sure any discussion of race is so unpleasant that nobody will ever broach the subject in your earshot again.

1.control what your audience sees
2.attack the person, not the argument
3.argue against straw men
4.deflect attention away from the specific criticism
5.racism, however ugly, is better than the alternative
6.prove your opponent has mistaken some other quality for racism

• from the alternet digest, some hard news and analysis too:

the situation in darfur is spiraling out of control
thousands of civilians have been displaced. almost half amillion innocent people are without aid. tell president bush to act now - we cannot let the perpetratorsof genocide veto the international community's responsibility to protect.
take action today [latest news]

powell stands up to bush on torture
is the bush administration's top salesman for the iraq war finally done peddling fear?

cable news confidential
FAIR co-founder, media critic and former fox news commentator jeff cohen explains the importance of independent media and what it'll take to outfox rupert murdoch.

the activism industry
progressive groups are outsourcing their grassroots canvassing to national organizations. what happens when paid employees replace committed activists?

john lennon and the politics of deportation
a new documentary shows how nixon abused power in an attempt to deport lennon for his antiwar activism. but bush has gone much further to get rid of noncitizens he doesn't like.

pope benedict: the first year
although unity, peace, and love have been key words of Benedict's papacy, his actions or inactions are at odds with that rhetoric.

who's co-opting feminism?
what is an ifeminist and why we don't need any more of them.

bigger than hip-hop
hip-hop is arguably the most potent musical force in the country today, and african-american activists are workingto shape it into a political movement as well.
rapping in aymara
in Bolivia, hip-hop music and culture are becoming key partsof a larger liberation struggle.

• national television under siege in hungary on inymedia