The most insightful, provocative OPINION columns I’ve come across are anthologized in Amy Goodman’s Breaking the Sound Barrier. Enthralling viewpoints from “Democracy Now!,” a TV, radio, and internet news program, are bound into a book which bears a striking title, Breaking the Sound Barrier. The revered host of “Democracy Now!” tells it best about breaking the sound barrier:
“My goal as a journalist is to break the sound barrier, to expand the debate, to cut through the static and bring forth voices that are shut out. It is the responsibility of journalists to go where the silence is, to seek out news and people who are ignored, to accurately and clearly report on the issues — issues that the corporate, for-profit media often distort, if they cover them at all.” [Hey, fellow media people, does this definition fit you?]
In the foreword to Goodman’s book, Bill Moyers, a well-known journalist, wrote, “Read this collection and revel in the truth-telling. Be outraged by what you learn from it and renew your oath as a citizen. We stand with journalists around the world who deeply believe that the mission of a journalist is to go where the silence is.”
Moyers quoted Goodman when she accepted the Right Livelihood Award for personal courage and transformation: “The responsibility of a journalist is to give a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, beaten down by the powerful.”
Moyers continued with his foreword: “And, at a time when the future of journalism is in question [the current Trump era in the U.S. of A. takes potshots at journalists], the tragic rationale for our embattled but essential craft.
He needed with a quote from Goodman: “It’s the best reason I know for us to carry our pens, our microphones, and our cameras, both into our own communities and out to the wider world.”
The anthology covers eleven of humanity’s concerns to wit: war, climate change, torture, healthcare, global economic meltdown, media, news from the unreported world, grassroots activism, elections, Obama, and luminaries. The thought-provoking viewpoints start with The Art of War and Deception, written on November 30, 2006, and end with Healthcare Reform Needs an Action Hero, written on August 11, 2009.
Among the luminaries mentioned in these compilations, I chose John Lennon, featured in the chapter “John Lennon: Imagine Peace – A Ray of Light in Dark Times.”
Excerpts from the first paragraph: “John Lennon would have turned 67 years old (column written October 16, 2007) had he not been murdered in 1980, at the age of 40, by a mentally disturbed fan. On his birthday, October 9, his widow, peace activist and artist Yoko Ono inaugurated the Imagine Peace Tower, a pillar of light emerging from a wishing well, surrounded on the ground by the phrase “Imagine Peace” in 24 languages.”
Folks, sing John Lennon’s iconic piece, “Imagine” and be immersed in the overpowering feeling of love and peace for all of mankind.
According to Wikipedia: “’Democracy Now!’ is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations and does not accept advertisers, corporate underwriting or government funding.”
The American TV, radio, and internet news program is replete with investigative journalism, which compiled Breaking the Sound Barrier, a must-read.
An autographed copy of the book, acquired by my daughter Rose and her husband Tim during a conference, was addressed: Dear Timothy & Rose, Keep BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER Democracy Now! [Signed] Amy Goodman.
It’s a book that has enriched their home library, a collection of masterpieces, where I bask from the rigors of Uncle Sam’s country, where I presently reside.
Interested? Ask a book dealer how to secure a copy.
If I may say so, my hubby Rudy, the human rights lawyer gone to eternal rest, would have reinforced the title of Goodman’s book, like I did in the title of this column: Democracy Now!
***
Julia Carreon-Lagoc was a Panay News columnist for two decades. She pops up with Accents now and then. (juliaclagoc@yahoo.com)/WDJ