Welcome to
A web site dedicated to helping all citizens become
more informed about how their government works. All information made available to the public through Pierce County Insider.com-unless
otherwise credited-is researched and written by Pierce County Activist
Will Baker.
Will Baker, an admirer of the peaceful,
non-violent, confrontational tactics of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. believes that knowledge is power and hopes that
providing a source of accurate and unbiased information to the public
will help empower the people. Will Baker believes that currently the
average citizen does not have a reliable source of information for the
following reasons:
1. Television. The Seattle television stations idea of
covering Pierce County consists of the following two steps:
Step # 1 - Repeating whatever the City of Tacoma and
Pierce County Councils tell them in press releases and
Step # 2 - Listening to police scanners so that they can
chase the ambulances.
Basically, if it bleeds, it leads; without any investigation
into the underlying causes of the bleeding.
2. T.N.T When you ask old-time Pierce County residents
what the letters T.N.T mean to them; they will respond
by saying, "Oh, you mean the Tacoma News Tribune".
However, when you ask old-time Pierce County activists
about the letters T.N.T; they will respond by saying,
" Oh, you mean the Tell No Truth".
Furthermore, while most Pierce County citizens realize that
Tacoma is a one newspaper City, few Pierce County citizens
realize that McClatchy Newspapers/ The McClatchy Company-owner
of the " Trib " - also owns the Puyallup Herald and
the Peninsula Gateway News (Gig Harbor); thereby making Pierce
County a one newspaper county as well.
Also, currently McClatchy Newspapers/The McClatchy Company
has the contract to print and sell advertising space in the
Northwest Guardian (Fort Lewis).
(Please Note: The Northwest Guardian is officially
published by the Public Affairs Office at Fort Lewis.)
Also, the "Tribune" is the local outlet for the
Associated Press (A.P.), which means that anything printed in
the "Trib" is then repeated as gospel through the
Associated Press to the nation.
Also, the "Tribune" pays KVI radio commentator
John Carlson to write a column for the "Trib" that
is printed every Wednesday. Because KVI radio host/News
Tribune columnist John Carlson is on the "Tribunes"
payroll, Carlson is constantly telling the public during his
radio broadcasts that the people of Tacoma are
"lucky" to have a local newspaper as wonderful as
the "Tribune"
(Please Note: On Tuesday, March 14, 2000, the
"Tribune" announced that John Carlson’s column
would not appear as long as Carlson is an active candidate for
govenor.)
Political Question: Golly, is it possible that
Carlson’s lofty opinion of the "Trib" is bought
and paid for? KVI HotTalk? Puh-leeze! Try KVI "BoughtTalk".
3. Activists? Will Baker has come to believe that the
only thing more dishonest than your average Pierce County
Politician is your average Pierce County Activist. During the
last three years, Will Baker has heard many so-called
activists throughout Pierce County state that in order to
"effectively fight the government and the 'Tribune' you
have to use the same tactics they use; because they slant the
news, we have to slant the news too." Will Baker has also
been told by so-called activists on numerous occasions
"it's great that you criticize and expose the government,
but activists shouldn't criticize other activists."
However, Historically speaking, the "fight fire with
fire and the "turn a blind eye to the actions of people
on your side" approach has been disavowed by all the
truly great (and successful) activists such as Jesus Christ,
Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez.
Christ says, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam
out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."
Matthew 7:5
King says, "We must work passionately and
unrelentingly for full stature as citizens, but may it never
be said, my friends, that to gain it we used the inferior
methods of falsehood, malice, hate, and violence."
When an activist uses the same tactics that he/she would
denounce when used by someone else, the activist loses
credibility and the moral high ground.
When an activist becomes aware of a good issue and decides
to "embellish" or "bend the truth" to
support that issue rather than let the issue and the facts
stand on their own; the activist becomes like the "boy
who cried wolf." The third time that the "boy cried
wolf" he was telling the truth, but no one believed him
because his previous record for not telling the truth had
destroyed his credibility.
Please Note: Pierce County Insider.Com is not meant to
be a popularity contest! The purpose of the Pierce County
Insider.Com is to attempt to leave a permanent
accurate, truthful, historical record of the politics of
Pierce County, letting the chips fall where they may.
willpower76@hotmail.com
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