Say Hello to the ‘Super Rich’

The 0.001% of the world comprise a class all of their own, spanning several nations and holding 40% of global wealth; some activists are turning away from industrial agriculture and back to the Native Americans’ approach to harvesting; meanwhile, in an age flooded with tweets, videos and blogs, how are readers expected to wade through the news? These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The Shocking Amount of Wealth and Power Held by 0.001% of the World Population Many now know the rhetoric of the 1% very well: the imagery of a small elite owning most of the wealth while the 99% take the table scraps.

Navigating the Rising Tide of News At a time when YouTube users upload 48 hours of video and Twitter users send over 10,000 tweets each minute, how can students wade through this flood of information to become discerning consumers of the news?

Putting the Culture Back in Agriculture “At one point ‘agriculture’ was about the culture of food. Losing that culture, in favor of an American cultural monocrop, joined with an agricultural monocrop, puts us in a perilous state…” says food and Native activist Winona LaDuke.

Phone boxes: Do we really need them? The red ones may be design classics, but when was the last time you actually used a phone box?

On PRISM, Partisanship and Propaganda Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald takes time to note a few points on the NSA story and highlight what Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez said after Congress on Wednesday was given a classified briefing by NSA officials on the agency’s previously secret surveillance activities.