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US media control in Iraq and elsewhere
zmag.org — The practice of literally corrupting the free press --at home or abroad-- is at odds with everything our nation stands for, but it has become a common practice.
notque- 82 diggs
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- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -1/+15The Media is the 4th Branch of the Government
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-455224120 ... - notque, on 10/23/2007, -1/+21Noam Chomsky on Media Control. http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9103-media-contr ...
Excellent Article with a lot of great information relevant to the topic. To quote.
"There is a very characteristic development going on in the U.S. now. It's not the first country in the world that's done this. There are growing domestic social and economic problems, in fact, maybe catastrophes. Nobody in power has any intention of doing anything about them. If you look at the domestic programs of the administrations of the last ten years -- I include here the Democratic opposition -- there's really no serious proposal about what to do about the severe problems of health, education, homelessness, joblessness, crime, soaring criminal population, jails, deterioration in the inner cities -- the whole raft of problems. You all know about them and they're all getting worse... In such circumstances you've got to divert the bewildered herd, because if they start noticing this they may not like it, since they're the ones suffering from it. Just having them watch the Superbowl and the sitcoms may not be enough. You have to whip them up into fear of enemies. In the 1930s Hitler whipped them into fear of the Jews and Gypsies. You had to crush them to defend yourselves. We have our ways, too. Over the last ten years, every year or two, some major monster is constructed that we have to defend ourselves against. There used to be one that was always available: the Russians. But they're losing their attractiveness as an enemy, and it's getting harder and harder to use that one, so some new ones have to be conjured up... So it was international terrorists and narco-traffickers and crazed Arabs and Saddam Hussein, the new Hitler, is going to conquer the world. They've got to keep coming up, one after another. You frighten the population, terrorize them, intimidate them so that they're too afraid to travel and cower in fear. Then you have a magnificent victory over Grenada, Panama, or some other defenseless Third World army that you can pulverize before you ever bother to look at them -- which is just what happened. That gives relief. We were saved at the last minute. That's one of the ways in which you can keep the bewildered herd from paying attention to what's really going on around them, keep them diverted and controlled...."- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -1/+16Great article! Though I wonder how so many have missed the propaganda at play in the United States? When I hear people talk of propaganda they typically refer to the other side of the debate, where facts/opinions contrary to their beliefs are propaganda, and anything more extreme is a conspiracy theory.
When you begin to look at the number of people the United States has killed since the rise of the Military/Industrial Complex, it appears this country is one of the most Dangerous Nations on Earth. When Iran threatens Israel, or when China threatens Tibet, the news erupts in flames, claiming abuses on Human Rights.
Where are these flames in respect to Iraq? Venezuela? When their leaders cry out against American Imperialism, our media paints them in the most Hellish colors, leading every American to believe that we are the superior force on the planet, thus supporting any military move against them as Justified.
Absolutely disgusting and completely disheartening.
- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -1/+16Great article! Though I wonder how so many have missed the propaganda at play in the United States? When I hear people talk of propaganda they typically refer to the other side of the debate, where facts/opinions contrary to their beliefs are propaganda, and anything more extreme is a conspiracy theory.
- phnx0221, on 10/23/2007, -1/+7Okay, so we know that our media system is horribly corrupted. Even the more outspoken mainstream shows have to submit to the will of their advertisers and parent companies (think daily show, colbert, and countdown - although the latter is much better with the special comments).
Knowing this...what do we do?
First, and this is the easiest, follow the upcoming legislation. The Net Neutrality legislation, and all other legislation circulating the internet. This is our last mainstream outlet that allows for unregulated free discourse. The minute we start putting in taxes and charges, fees and broadband control per company, we are submitting ourselves to the same conglomerates that our televised and print media has succumbed to.
Second...we need to be vocal about the things we learn about. Not just here on Digg, although this is a fantastic way to learn, discuss, and process information. No, we need to actively participate in conversations with people in our community. Our families, our friends, the people at coffee shops, art shows, after movie dinners, or wherever your chosen hang out is. The more you share information that you have, the more people are going to be aware of things outside of the little box in their living room.
This isn't one of those standard "here we are sitting on digg, typing on our keyboards, bitching but not doing anything" comments.
Really. This ***** is stating to piss us off right? We know a hell of a lot more about politics, policies, other countries, actions taken by corporate interests...everything, we know much more than we did a week ago, a month ago, or a year ago.
So. Let's start organizing. Let's start writing stuff up and sending it to each other. For those of us who do public speaking in any form (guerilla style with megaphones, or spoken word, or art show gatherings), we can read this stuff out to people. Let's start drafting some flyers, and setting up meetings with diggers that are locally accessible. Let's start brainstorming about things we can do to subvert this system and get the information out that needs to be out.
Any suggestions?- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2I believe the answer can be found in the Open Source Movement. While many believe the FOSS philosophy strictly applies to software, others have taken the Open attitude and applied it elsewhere -- think, YouTube as a Free and Open alternative to Corporate Media, or Wikipedia as a Free and Open Information portal.
If we apply the Open Way to every measure of control, from an Open Government to an Open Economic Standard, we'll see how strong we are as a people when united under a common goal. Just look at what the Open Revolution has already accomplished, and then consider its next target.- phnx0221, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2See now that's a great idea. I'm not very good with video editing, but I know a couple of people who are. Are there any diggers that have or want to work on some political videos? Either in a documentary format, or with some emotionally pulling music with some emotionally charged pictures? Example would be, some of those photos from the Vietnam era, as well as in Iraq, Chile, Nicaragua, etc. I guess that example would be if someone wanted to work on a video outlining a U.S. policy of infiltrating leftist governments and instigating a regime change....
It's one idea of many, but that's the idea of brainstorming, right?
As far as Wikipedia goes, that is another good idea, that seems to be needing to happen. When I go to the Vietnam page for example, just about all of the actual information that goes against what the government told the public about what was going on, had to do with the protest of the war, not so much with the actual actions taken by the government.
So, we can utilize our knowledge there as well. The only issue with that, is that we'd have to be pretty active in making sure that the content stays where it's at, so when other writers change it, we'll have to change it right back. That's not necessarily an issue, as much as it is a challenge. But, it's certainly possible, and worth going with.
Do you know of anyone who has been wanting to work on videos? Hell, we could share ideas for that as well. Any pictures, videos, songs, or ideas we could share with each other and make something really poignant.- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2The people I've talked to fall into two camps: The technical folk who understand Open Source have a hard time understanding how these values apply to Government (or anything else for that matter) while the non-technical folk see it as a dangerous, Utopian, Communist ideal. What's missing, in my opinion, is a basic understanding of the Open Way.
To this end I've recently created a wiki on Zoho to capture some of the ideas. While the project is no more than a day old, I do hope to invite others -- hopefully, those who are involved with other fields such as political science, economics, etc. -- to contribute. My goal is to create a short work that can be passed around in PDFs and distributed through Lulu.com.
If anyone is interested please check out openway.wiki.zoho.com.
- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2The people I've talked to fall into two camps: The technical folk who understand Open Source have a hard time understanding how these values apply to Government (or anything else for that matter) while the non-technical folk see it as a dangerous, Utopian, Communist ideal. What's missing, in my opinion, is a basic understanding of the Open Way.
- phnx0221, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2See now that's a great idea. I'm not very good with video editing, but I know a couple of people who are. Are there any diggers that have or want to work on some political videos? Either in a documentary format, or with some emotionally pulling music with some emotionally charged pictures? Example would be, some of those photos from the Vietnam era, as well as in Iraq, Chile, Nicaragua, etc. I guess that example would be if someone wanted to work on a video outlining a U.S. policy of infiltrating leftist governments and instigating a regime change....
- geddon, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2I believe the answer can be found in the Open Source Movement. While many believe the FOSS philosophy strictly applies to software, others have taken the Open attitude and applied it elsewhere -- think, YouTube as a Free and Open alternative to Corporate Media, or Wikipedia as a Free and Open Information portal.
- iraq, on 10/23/2007, -0/+3That ***** is happening at home, what makes you think it isn't happening abroad?
- reeder, on 10/23/2007, -0/+3We are being conditioned.
- SuperMoses, on 10/23/2007, -0/+3Watch: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html
And now to quote Albert Einstein:
"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights." - OMGWTFROFLMAOx2, on 10/23/2007, -0/+3You guys should all go out and rent the documentary "Control Room" (about the U.S. media vs. Arab media).
- notque, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2That's a good one.
- adamintoronto, on 10/23/2007, -0/+2Note from Canadian Government: The United States does not control any media in Canada, in any form or function. Regardless, it is clear that the United States is a wonderful country and is doing everything to make sure our world is safe. We should all love George W. Bush for the quality and integrity of his term in office. God bless the United States of America, in all her shining glory. Praise the Lord!
Signed,
Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
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