Some Inspiration
I had the opportunity to interview George Gramlich in the 4th episode of the podcast (audio only version) and I encourage people to watch it or listen to it. I know it sounds like self-promotion, but whether it’s my blog or Lies of Omission, it’s always been about listening to the right voices out there. George is one of the voices that I’ve been listening to for nearly a decade. When everyone else turned away from the Tea Party, they decided, well, that failed, but it wasn’t the Tea Party that failed so much as once you got rid of the self-promoters, the sabotaging RINOs and petty tyrants who simply wanted to rule their own kingdom and looked at the Tea Party to seize power, there weren’t many people left.
Two or three of those who were left in the debris of the Tea Party were Mike Hess and George and Yvonne Gramlich, who, instead of admitting defeat, realized they had to publish a paper. They decided this in a community of roughly 1,000 people, who already had a community newspaper. What could they possibly accomplish? Didn’t they know that newspapers were on the way out? That they were dinosaurs in a Jetson age? What fools! But people who say that don’t understand the dynamics of power.
I hear all the voices of defeat, even without comments on this blog. The reason there are no comments, is because the software I use, and like, to publish this blog requires Facebook comments to do the heavy lifting of that aspect of the service and I’m perpetually banned from Facebook. I do have an accessible email for that purpose and I hear the voices of encouragement through those, but also the voices of defeat. They were there when we decided, as a last-ditch effort, to produce the film Lies of Omission. “What’s the point?” “It’s too late for anything like that to matter.” “No one watches documentaries.” And yet, we not only had time to film it, produce it and distribute it in the time they said we didn’t have and now, even after 4 years, it’s only picking up steam, because of the Pandemic (which isn’t and never has been) and lockdowns are starting to bring it into the mainstream of thought. When tyranny was mentioned in the film, people didn't get it. Now, they do. In the past month two new streamers picked it up, bringing the total to 10 and the views have gone way up.
It’s the same with George and Yvonne. Didn’t they know that newspapers were over? Please check out episode 4 to answer those questions for you. I won’t spoil it, but my point is that when you decide to make a difference, in whatever way you can, it’s as much the dedication to it that makes a difference, the driving pursuit that’s needed. They published and continue to publish the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel.
For about a year, I’ve been trying to fund an “edgy” Christian/veteran film. Everyone told me it wouldn’t work. No one watched Christian films. It was too late to have an impact, didn’t I know the world was about to explode? Since then, The Chosen has come out, completely crowdfunded, breaking records for crowdfunding with a total of $15 million and it’s been heralded as an “edgy” Christian series. Now, it’s about Jesus, so that helps a lot, but do you know the greatest crowdfunded film before that? Veronica Mars and they raised only $5 million. By the way, The Chosen Christmas Special blew every other mainstream film out of the water. I’ve never given up and I believe, when it is finally done, it will be a success that 12 Round Productions can use to help fund other efforts that are worthy of some timely capital investment. To me, it’s always been about the community. The podcast is something I can do to pass the time before people (and truly some have already stood tall for us) realize the opportunity, that even during civil wars, films get done. If we lose the civil war, well, they’ll take all the money and property. They’re communists.
The purpose of this post, though, is to point out what impact one little town, one little paper can have on a local community. Not only during the first few years, but now, during the pandemic they were able to be a voice of reason and science against a backdrop of disinformation, fraud and spin.
And then, just as another source of inspiration, there's this from the World Signal News that points out what real resistance is. The people intent on ruining our future rely on technology as much as the average Joe, actually, a lot more than the average Joe. When they make your life hell, if they're determined to do it, sometimes you have to return the favor.
As we go forward, I hope to bring a lot of interviews. In fact, if I never do another solo, I'll be happy. There are some great, unheralded people out there doing the hard work. It's not all prep and target practice, though don't neglect those for the future, either.