Episode 035: Right History

One of the most important things we can do for our benefit today, and for that of future generations, is to focus on how we “right history.” Too often, we allow ourselves to be portrayed via historical inaccuracies–without protest–or allow ourselves to be written out of history completely. Heit & Cheri begin with a discussion of MSNBC host, Chris Hayes’ recent apology for saying it makes him “uncomfortable” to describe fallen soldiers as heroes.

Other topics include Memorial Day violence in Chicago, progress of the new Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case files site (TheyAlwaysGetAway.com), the first official donor after we began the drive was a conservative, a voicemail from a ticked off viewer, Diddy’s son’s $54K scholarship to UCLA, man who was killed by police while eating the face of another man, homelessness, and biased Wikipedia editors.

Call us at 202-446-1886 and let us know what you think about the show!

Segment 1

• Discussion about MSNBC host, Chris Hayes, who was pressured to apologize about having said that he was uncomfortable with calling fallen soldiers “heroes.”
• This was the topic of discussion on a number of conservative blogs–how a person is accused of being anti-American if they criticize any aspect of the U.S.’s military actions or service members for their participation.
• Discussion about the violence in Chicago over the weekend. Forty people were shot and ten were killed. By coincidence, Cheri’s Facebook news feed had two posts that were virtually opposite about the Memorial Day weekend in Chicago.
• There is a distinct divide in the way people view the violence, which is largely concentrated in Black communities in the city. Some suggest that the issue is that people have become so used to violence that they are not as touched by the loss of life anymore.
• Update on the donation drive to support the new website, TheyAlwaysGetAway.com, which we started to house the documents associated with the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case.
• This site contains the full clips and documentation of the witness interviews and other documents.
• This week we received our first donation from a surprising source–someone who visited the site from a conservative website. They came to the site, reviewed the information on the site, sent us a feedback email, and then made a donation.
• We appreciate that there are those who are able to see beyond disagreement with the commentary of Axiom Amnesia, and focus on what’s important–the fact that the information is available for anyone who is interested to access.
• We need you to please support this effort by making even a small donation.
• A caller left a fiery bit of feedback on The Axiom Amnesia Theory Hotline. The caller represents a group of people who feel that our commentary is dead wrong.
• She suggested that our coverage is biased. Of course there is a certain bias because we have formed our opinion about the things we discuss–that’s what commentary involves.
• She suggested that our biased coverage is causing riots. Obviously there are no riots related to this case, so this comment was based on an inaccuracy.
• She wanted to know why Axiom Amnesia hasn’t discussed the bounty that the New Black Panther Party put on George Zimmerman’s head. Why would we discuss that, when we are not discussing the Trayvon shooting targets that sold out? We are discussing the actual facts of the case.
• The New Black Panther Party doesn’t represent the totality of Blacks any more than the KKK represents the totality of whites. These are merely opinions of some people within the race. They in no way represent the entire race.
• We challenge this caller to examine all of the information on the new site–the witness statements and everything else. She is simply regurgitating Sean Hannity-esque commentary.

Segment 2

• Discussion about Diddy’s son, Justin Combs, receiving a $54K scholarship to UCLA to play football. Diddy’s estimated worth is over a half-billion dollars! Should his son be receiving scholarships? What are the implications?
• With all the money Diddy has, why should his son’s education be subsidized? For the record, UCLA says that the scholarship is from non-taxpayer funds.
• When it comes to athletes, the school sees them as an investment, because they help to bring money to the football program.
• There are people who suggest that if Justin Combs earned the scholarship he should be able to receive it. This is yet another example of people supporting situations that allow the wealthy to remain wealthy.
• Discussion about how Denzel’s son tried to turn down a scholarship and he wasn’t allowed to do so.
• When you come to the point where you’re willing to give money to the rich, then you have lost sight of what being a member of society is all about.
• The average person will be inundated with debt when they finish school, and this is what keeps them unable to really improve their socioeconomic standing. On the contrary, the son of a half-billionaire already has many advantages that the average person does not.
• Diddy has made his living from excess and exploitation. We challenge him to send someone else to college with that $54K.
• Discussion about the recent story of a cop shooting and killing a man who was in the process of eating another man’s face to the point of him being unrecognizable.
• Why couldn’t they use a nonlethal remedy? Was shooting him necessary? Why not taze the man or try to pull him off?
• Reports are that the man was homeless. Nobody mentioned him or cared about his condition as a homeless person. Even after the event, the focus is on his criminal record and possible drug use, not on his homelessness.
• We challenge anyone to go and sleep on the streets with no money, and try to find food and shelter. See how that affects your mental state!
• Reports suggest that the man was in and out of the criminal justice system since the age of 16. How did this lead to his mental state? Why aren’t people looking at the impact of this?
• People are looking at this case as entertainment, when it is not a laughing matter. They get off on this sort of coverage. They are laughing at it. It’s not a laughing matter, it’s an ignored matter–homelessness.
• The man was unarmed and killed by the police.
• Read the comments on some of these articles. It will tell you a lot about the mindset of the people. It is a sad situation.
• There are many homeless people, and you can take this opportunity to consider ways in which you can help instead of referring to the man as a zombie.

Segment 3

• Discussion of the song “Who’s That?” by Conscious Plat. The song is about homelessness.
• Heit & Cheri share their recent experience with Wikipedia’s point-promoted “editors.”
• The content is created primarily by volunteers who write articles, and have the power to edit articles as well. ANYONE who registers for an account with Wikipedia can write articles and make edits. It doesn’t even require an email address!
• The information Heit & Cheri entered about the highly edited, Shooting of Trayvon Martin article

was immediately deleted, and later dismissed for a number of bogus reasons, including copyright (FYI, information in the public domain has no copyright) and questionable sourcing.

• This is the problem with the media to begin with. The information is not being released to the public! And when it actually is released, it is disputed as unreliable. It is obvious that the preference is to link to mainstream sources that are using clips, often taken out of context or ignoring obviously important facts. Finally, the article in question is basically pro-Zimmerman. Anyone who reads it can see the obvious bias of the “editors,” who seem dead set on making disparaging remarks about the victim. One need only look as far as the talk page for the article to see where their heads are on the subject. Multiple people have commented about how their changes were reverted. This article is extremely imbalanced in its coverage of the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The racist overtones are appalling. It’s like rewriting history–rewriting the official record… shameful! Why are they afraid to post the full audio of the witness statements? Why would these editors choose edited audio clips over allowing people to listen to the entire witness interviews? It makes absolutely no sense, but it is the reason why people remained ill-informed on most subjects–the facts aren’t readily available for them to review for themselves. As such, they’re left to whatever’s presented to them through the lens and filter of the media, and Wikipedia and its point-promoted “editors” are complicit in this.
• These bogus Wikipedia “editors” are essentially rewriting history–they are telling lies and/or writing and presenting slanted content. This is the written record that people in the future will refer back to. We cannot let others tell our story for us without being represented in the discussion.
• We challenge you to start searching some of the racist and otherwise inaccurate articles on Wikipedia. Consider getting an account and helping to correct this record. We cannot do it alone. You don’t have to be a “great” writer. Simply edit and/or delete the inaccurate information.
• These editors are able–through their sheer numbers–to block the truthful and factual information in favor of their preferred slant.
• We must have the tools we need to make up our minds for ourselves. We need to have accurate and complete information in order to do this. Those who want information should have it available to them.
• We need to break the never-ending cycle of what can be called a credible source. If we stick only with the the mainstream media that we know is filtering information, then we will never have the complete truth about anything.

Audio Credits:

“Who’s That?” – Conscious Plat

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