Corky Siegel's Testimony
I'd like to welcome all of you to Chicago, our beautifully diverse city. And thank you for this opportunity.When I was a kid my Dad told me that all the houses in Russia were painted blue. I could see the joy in his eye when he said, "Here in America each of 'our' houses are built differently; they are painted different colors and they each look different." He said, "This is freedom!" Let me ask you--does the music you hear on most of the commercial stations all sound the same? Do the different news shows all sound the same? Do the voices on these stations sound the same? Are all the news shows formatted uniformly? Does it seem like everything on the radio is becoming the same? Does this sound a little like the way my Dad described suppressive communist Russia? Something is wrong here. When I go around this country the biggest complaint I hear is that all of the music on the radio sounds the same. And that it is getting worse. When I was a kid in the '50s and early '60s you would turn on the radio, and within one hour of listening, you would hear gospel, jazz, R&B, Dixieland, country, rock & roll, and classical music. When a group of people who are coming from one cultural flavor are listening to and enjoying the music from another cultural flavor, love and respect are nurtured--not just for the music or for the artist that makes the music, but also for all the people who love this music. In this way--if we allow it--music brings people together in a sharing relationship of love and respect and makes this world a better place for all of us to live in. When we limit and separate flavors of music, we limit and separate people. When we are faced with a decision in our family life and we realize that "following the money" will lead us away from something even more important, it is likely that we will fearlessly turn away from the money this time and do what is best for our family. When the collective and competing corporate mind makes decisions, it has the bottom line hanging heavy over its head--and it's looking for something that has already proved to be a money maker. Market research cannot tell us about something that is not known. It can only take what is known and narrow it down. This is why, as we let the corporate mind take over, things become the same. Think about this: Individuality is an expression that comes from the natural way our own mind, heart, and body are ordered. And when we flow with this, it connects us in a very effective and deep way to any activity we apply it to. And then that activity becomes a profound offering. Why would we want to do anything in this world that is not coming from this beautiful place? The corporate mind says: "Well, we are just giving people what they want." Yes, they might be following trends (which is mostly just chasing their own tail) but what they are not doing is giving people what their hearts crave and what uplifts them. They are not giving the profound offering of individuality and diversity. The irony here is that when commercial media cuts off individuality and diversity at the knees--which it will do if allowed--it is separating out and excluding a "deeper" connection to large groups of people. So for the long haul, the corporate mind doesn't even make good decisions in its own best interest. We need to make the right decision for this great family of ours, and now is the time to follow in the best interest of love, diversity, creativity, invention, individuality, and freedom. But if commerce is allowed to make this momentous decision for the people, we can surely know where this will all end up. We are not yet in the Russia my father described. We are in America. Stop the corporate mind from painting all our houses blue. Let the clear and joyful expression of freedom ring over our public airwaves. Thank you.
IM-AFM November 2007 |