GNN Profile: John Stauber

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GNN Profile: John Stauber

Ian Inaba/Josh Shore

NAME: John Stauber TITLE: Democracy Activist and Author AFFILIATIONS: Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Media & Democracy, Madison, WI. Founding editor of PR Watch quarterly. Co-author (with Sheldon Rampton) of: "Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future," Tarcher/Putnam, 2001 "Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?," Common Courage Press, 1997 "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry," Common Courage Press, 1995 YOUR MISSION: Revealing how powerful wealthy interests manipulate and manage public opinion, news information and public policy through the use of hidden propaganda strategies that are part of the multibillion dollar public relations (PR) industry. FAVORITE BOOKS: "Taking the Risk out of Democracy," by Alex Carey; "In the Absence of the Sacred," by Jerry Mander; "Who Will Tell the People?," by William Greider FAVORITE FILMS: Blade Runner; Who'll Stop the Rain?; Wag the Dog FAVORITE WRITERS: Erich Fromm; Paul Goodman; Theodore Rozak; Ruth Ozeki; Mark Dowie; Sheldon Rampton. INSPIRATIONS: Ordinary people who rise up and fight like hell for what is right when they discover that their family, their community, their nation and planet are getting messed-over by the greedy and the powerful. Some inspiring people I've met and/or worked with include Julia Butterfly Hill, Billee Shoecraft, Ronnie Cummins, John Kinsman, Jane Akre and Steve Wilson. I'm also inspired by listening to the music of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and other rockers and poets of my youth, especially those from San Francisco between 1966 to 1971. PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW: I grew up loving Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers in a conservative Catholic Republican family in Marshfield, Wisconsin, the hometown of Nixon's Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird. Luckily, at age 14 in 1967 I was radicalized by the Vietnam war and became a high school activist for peace, social justice, and ecological and economic democracy. I've outgrown a lot of my youthful inclinations, but forgive me, I still love Packer football; as Mexico's Marcos says, "you can learn a lot of political strategy from it." QUOTE: "Kick butt or die, but have fun and love life and your neighbors."