UPDATE 6: I just got back. While I was gone, Sagebrush Bob reported that TED has released the video of the censored talk. Sagebrush posted the video at bottom of the comment thread. Go and see for yourself. We helped tip the balance. Who says direct action doesn't work? Thanks to everyone who chimed in!
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There is a diary quickly sliding down the recent diary list entitled TED Talk: Middle Class Are The Job Creators. The story is not getting the attention it deserves here on DKos. The diary goes on to reveal the compelling case made for the claim highlighted in the diary's title, a case made by a 1%-er, no less; but perhaps even more importantly that TED, which is notably sponsored by many present and past ALEC members, chose NOT to publish the talk for being "too political". Uh-huh. As if the decision NOT to publish perhaps one of the most if not the MOST impactful ideas of a generation was somehow not political.
I'm publishing this diary to underscore these points, which it seems are being missed on DKos, and to:
1) Provide a link to the National Journal's Restoration Roundtable re-print of "The Inequality Speech That TED Won't Show You."
NOTE: It's not a long speech. You can read it in a minute or two, and you'll be glad you did.
and
2) Provide a link to the contact page where you can let TED know just how you feel about this decision to "avoid" politics.
Please. If we can shame Rush Limbaugh's advertisers and ALEC's members into action, we can certainly shame TED... If nothing else, perhaps we can draw more attention to the video than TED ever could have. But first we have to notice. And then we have to act.
Yours in Acting Directly,
WIA
UPDATE
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Here's another diary on the story, which posted two or three before mine, no doubt while I was pondering Tags: Venture Capitalist at TED Dares Speak the Truth About 'Job Creators'
UPDATE #2
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TED, for those who may not know, is a "a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate 'ideas worth spreading.''" - See this Wikipedia entry for more. And here's the link to the TED homepage. The TED website's "About TED" page has this to say about itself:
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
UPDATE #3
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You might also take direct action by broadcasting the link to the National Journal article that broke this story, as well as the link to the TED contact page.
This is a good example of why we need a central progressive direct mail house that will broadcast a news item to every voting age person in the country. The printing and postage could be crowdfunded. That way, people who can't bring themselves to shove this TED speech in front of their Republican family members''s noses personally can do so anonymously. Just a thought.
UPDATE #4
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Per Catte Nappe comments:
The National Journal article identifies the speaker as Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist from Seattle who was the first non-family investor in Amazon.com."
Here are photos of Nick.
Also, in addition to the text of the speech itself, the NJ's Restoration Roundtable to some powerpoint slides.
UPDATE #5
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Sagebrush Bob links to TWO interviews with Nick Hanauer (Caputo, Ratigan) in the comments.