While researching ways to counteract propaganda, I came across the Internet Archive, a fantastic resource that culls audio, video, text and computer programs that for whatever reason have fallen into public domain. In other words – PURE INFORMATION out the wazoo.
In the moving images section for example, you can download the complete versions of Killers from Space (1954), directed by W. Lee Wilder, a movie about atomic bombs and aliens, and the minor classic Big Trees (1952), directed by Felix E. Feist, starring Kirk Douglas as a timber baron planning to chop down old wood sequoias in a Quaker colony. Can it get any better than this? Yes, there are a slew of Max Fleischer-produced Superman cartoons, math lectures, newsreels, propaganda films and stuff that I haven’t even looked at in the text, audio and computer program sections.
Additionally, I strongly urge everyone to take a gander at the reason why I happened onto this site in the first place – the Fairbanks (Jerry) Productions, Brink of Disaster Part I and Part II (1972), directed by John Florea. No joke, Brink of Disaster, is about a revolutionary war hero who travels back in time to quell campus rebellion in the 1970s. From its whacked-out premise to its re-christening of “freedom of speech” to “freedom of filth”, Brink of Disaster is a must.
In conclusion, sites like the Internet Archive are all about what the Internet can be and should be.