Editor: "Of course you realize that this job entails much more than just writing."
dave: "errrr, no, I didn't."
Editor: "And of course you can't just write anything. The companies that pay for advertising pull our strings."
dave: "I see."
dave interviewed for a senior editor position with a magazine a few years ago. The first statement above was actually spoken, the second statement implied. For years prior to this interview, dave was an Internet warrior, albeit in anonymity. He battled with pen and keyboard against the very companies that could have paid his salary.
dave's Platform - "Dear Mr. CEO, we come to you in community. Within our ranks can be found some of the brightest and most passionate engineers, technicians and managers in our industry. Mine our collective knowledge and please, listen to us. We can help you connect with your customers."
Mr. CEO - "We have no time for you and other pitiful peons like yourself. We're too busy trying to increase our revenue and profits."
The Man had drawn the line in the sand. dave veiled himself in cloak and went underground. To surface would have taken food from his family. Years of frustration followed. By the time of the job interview for the magazine he was weary of battle. No one knew his true identity. No one knew of his crusade. He could have had the job. But that would have meant to sell out to the Man. And the day that would happen would be the day that the Man pried the keyboard from his cold, bloodied and dead hand.
dave was recently found trolling for souls in search of liberation, in search of freedom. It has been said that he happed upon a soul about to embark upon a maiden voyage, a voyage away from the status-quo. Later that day, dave climbed the mountain to his most favorite ledge. He built a fire and leaned back upon the cold, damp rock and looked West. The sun bobbed upon the waves as he thought about the most precious gift that people of his land had been given...freedom.
Though total independence and freedom came to his nation in 1783, when the United States liberated itself from the rule of Great Britain and then again in 1865, with the end of the Civil War that brought an end to slavery, dave's mind drifted to the freedom of speech part of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Or, perhaps to expand, the freedom of expression.
How precious the opportunity to sit down at the keyboards and write without fear of retribution...except of course if one works in corporate USA. For a moment however, remove the revolutionary tendencies that are induced by Ivory Tower dwellers. The liberation of soul, body and mind that come with freedom of expression, how precious of a gift is that? For me, the most.
Comments