So there's this venture that wants to do youth-oriented political advertisements. They're called Compare, Decide, Vote. The ads are a little cheeky, but they're certainly no more offensive than any candidate ads, and a damn sight less creepy than any of that Swift Boat nonsense. They point out where Kerry and Bush differ on issues that might matter to younger voters -- college costs, minimum wage, Iraq -- and urge the viewer to compare, decide, and vote.

The idea was to run them during the Daily Show, TRL, Chapelle, etc; get some good issue-based content out there to remind us tykes there are real choices at stake on Nov 2nd.

Pretty simple, right? Well, Viacom, which has a near-monopoly on young-adult oriented programming (MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, BET) is refusing to allow the ads to air.

Wanna do something about it?

Let me explain exactly why this is TOTAL BULLSHIT. First of all, Sumner Redstone (the tycoon in charge) is a Bush supporter by virtue of W's pro-consolidation platform. Suspect. Secondly, they've given no real reason why they're not going to air the ads. They probably believe they have a right to refuse to run political advertisements because they give space to 501c(3) orgs like Rock The Vote and Declare Yourself, which urge people to vote more or less "just because."

But here's the thing: becoming an engaged participant in civic life and the political process isn't something you do "just because." It's about formulating and acting upon opinions. It's about making choices based on your (hopefully informed) judgement as to which candidate(s) will best protect and advance your interests, not printing a voter reg form off the internet because a celebrity implied that it was cool. While I'm glad that Rock the Vote and Declare Yourself exist and are registering gobs and gobs of people to vote, they by no means in and of themselves express or constitute an informed political consciousness.

Viacom apparently believes that their channels, which reach millions of potential young participants, are not an appropriate forum for data which might set their viewers down the path towards forming such a consciousness for themselves. They are fine with other consciousness raising messages, though.

"Your Skin Belongs To Noxeema?" You bet it does.

"Girls Gone Wild?" They sure have!

"Unleash The Cold Filtered (and right-wing owned) Taste of the Rockies?" Mmmm... twins...

"Compare, Decide, Vote?" What the... get that crap off the air!

So, yeah. The message is clear. Consumerism, intoxication and sex are great, but don't try and give our kids the grist from which they might form some political opinions. We oppose that. We will not take your money to run ads which do this.

Can you think of anything more fucking condescending than that? Anything more patronizing? Anything more un-fucking-American? Our future is on the line -- our jobs, our education, our health, the looming spectre of widening warfare and compulsatory military service -- and the corporate masters of our media universe want to keep us in a happy hazy trance.

That and they want to hide the fact that Bush's record and agenda sucks ass from the youth perspective. I think there's a mix here between Sumner Redstone having a paternalistic moment and wanting to "protect" his products (young viewers are the product, don't forget) from those troublesome bits of data that might upset their valuable little consumatronic lifestyle, and him simply trying to help his man out by keeping Bush's record on education and the minimum wage off the airwaves. My response? Fuck you, Sumner. I will burn you down.

Make a stink. I'm so tired of the anesthetization of our generation by the broadcast giants. This is bullshit, and we shouldn't stand for it. If we can put the screws to Sumner and the Viacom cronies, maybe we can get them to re-think their position.