Paying attention to who owns our media is a tradition and counteraction as tale as old as capitalism. Who impacts the messages and narratives we are subjected to? Why did Larry Ellison’s Oracle insist on buying a significant stake in TikTok’s U.S. operation? Why is the merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount so alarming in a climate where misinformation, authoritarianism, and fascism are rampant and go hand-in-hand?

Beyond the outrage of it all, we do have power. We can control what we invest our attention and money into because, as we all know, Everything is Political. What may seem inevitable—the consolidation of media, music, news, films, cartoons, and short-form viral content in the hands of oligarchs whose values do not align with collective liberation—is not inevitable at all. Our data and attention are being harvested to enrich these systems, while the constant stream of information risks rendering us passive witnesses to multiple atrocities and genocides happening in real time, simultaneously.

There is an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and YOLO in the air, as if we have collectively become saturated by—and succumbed to—fascism, racism, and oppression by becoming mega-consumers. We witness, scroll, share, buy, watch, repeat. Our outrage itself has become profitable.

But many of us are alarmed, and rightfully so. And many of us are actively building alternatives, including independent media platforms. So resist the urge to stop at sharing your outrage. Take meaningful action. Fund, support, and become a member of as many independent media platforms as you can. If you repeatedly read, watch, quote, screenshot, or share their work, help sustain the infrastructure that makes that work possible.

And we should not underestimate what we have already collectively accomplished. We have shifted the Overton window towards liberation, where mainstream media and political institutions have worked for decades to normalize hate. The influence of Zionism and pro-Israel political interests across media, education, entertainment, lobbying, and cultural institutions is now being scrutinized publicly in ways that were much more difficult only a few years ago. Palestine’s freedom has entered mainstream public consciousness. The devastating consequences of starving Cuba through decades of sanctions can be openly challenged. U.S. intervention in Venezuela and its relationship to oil and geopolitical power can be questioned. And bombing Iran is not going to make our groceries cheaper.

But years of Orientalism—as Edward Said taught us—have made it possible to portray certain human beings as “terrorists” and others as “saviors,” “civilized,” or inherently “legitimate.” The language changes depending on whose violence is being described, whose humanity is being recognized, and whose history is allowed to begin before the moment that makes them useful as an enemy. We are still hard at work breaking this illusion.

And now the game becomes harder, more rigged, more consolidated and hyper-funded by oligarchs who clearly understand the power of narrative and its role in controlling what populations perceive as normal, possible, legitimate, or inevitable.

Meanwhile, the Democratic establishment continues to strive for mediocrity, while liberal and leftist funders continue to backstab one another, policing movements and organizations in pursuit of a level of political purity that only the Pope could aspire to. All while the people who oppose collective liberation are buying infrastructure.

We need to get our hands dirty here. We need to build, fund, protect, and sustain independent infrastructure that centers communities at the grassroots level, where life is lived and consequences are felt. We need to understand independent media not as the smaller, poorer cousin of corporate media, but as political infrastructure: places where journalists, writers, artists, organizers, and communities can produce knowledge without first asking billionaires for permission. Because oligarchs understand something very clearly: whoever controls the narrative holds enormous power over what becomes imaginable. They are investing accordingly. We should too.