| July 28, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been a misleading week here at Insurgent Headquarters. If you’ve taken any time out of your busy summer to veg out in front of the TV lately, you might be coming to the conclusion that the State of Alaska no longer belongs to Alaskans. First, there was a group calling themselves “Alaska’s Future”. They spent a lot of money on advertising in a valiant effort to convince Alaskans that our oil and natural gas resources are not actually ours, that we’re lucky the oil producers are here to look after us, and that if we don’t support the gas line contract our Governor worked out so carefully with the “Big Three”, the oil companies will be forced to pull up stakes and leave the state (where would they go, by the way, for a friendlier deal ... Ecuador?). Then came “Alaskans Protecting Our Economy”. Their mission is to talk Alaskans out of passing Ballot Measure 2 (the cruise ship tax initiative) on August 22nd, and they’ve spent thousands of advertising dollars to do it. There’s only one problem with these groups. They’re fake. I guess grassroots is in these days, because that seems to be the tactic that any large, powerful organization that wants something done (or not done) in Alaska is using. They portray themselves as local, get as many locals as possible to sign on to their agenda, and produce slick ads that forewarn of the economic disaster Alaskans will have coming if we dare to demand our fair share of oil revenue, or require the cruise ship industry to conform to the same environmental standards that commercial fisherman are held to. The veneer of credibility begins to come off, however, when you follow the money trail. Would you be surprised, for instance, to find out that Alaskans Protecting Our Economy is funded by the cruise ship companies via the North West Cruise Ship Association? Or that Alaska’s Future is funded by Big Oil? It begs the question, then, in the case of both of these “front” organizations: Why, if what they’re advocating is so worthwhile, can’t the companies paying for all of it just be honest and come forward themselves? Why hide behind some fabricated “grassroots” organization? The answer lies in the most time-honored of Alaskan adages: we don’t like Outsiders telling us what to do. Alaskans will always be more receptive to ideas put forward by our brethren than by Lower 48 companies and organizations. It’s just in our DNA (and I’m pretty sure written into the State Constitution somewhere). It’s in that very spirit, however, that we can fight this recent scourge of disingenuous advertising and put an end to these front organizations. If going “grassroots” is cool, then that’s just what we ought to do. We’ll form a new group, slap together a website, raise a pile of advertising money, and hit the airwaves with our message. We could call ourselves “Alaskans For Truth In Bullshit”. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com |
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