Now THIS is newsworthy

... which means you won't see it in the news.

In many of my classes and in the book, I outline the issue of "power to define," as in the power to define some acts as crimes while ignoring others.

This is a power that is in the hands largely of rich, old, white men, those that make the law (which determines which behaviors are illegal and which are not), as well as those that own the media (who determine what we see on TV and in newspapers and what we do not).

Together, these people define crimes and determine what we fear. They also determine which harms we ignore and don't learn about.

Take the crime of terrorism. We hear about it all the time. And of course many Americans fear terrorists, even though they almost never kill Americans.

Compare terrorism to a "non-crime" you've never heard about--terracide, and the people who commit it--terrarists.

Terracide could be the most harmful act on the planet. Yet, it is legal and will remain so. Even as we all ultimately die from it.

Yikes!

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175703/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_biggest_criminal_enterprise_in_history/