Thursday, May 28, 2009
Truthful Information in an Age of Massive Disinformation
Why is the corporate media ignoring the atrocities, on a much bigger scale I must add, taking place as we speak in Sri Lanka, not so far away from Afghanistan and Pakistan, while inflaming spirits and minds with the atrocities committed by the Taliban? Why does the corporate media focuses hysterically on North Korea, and not in Sri Lanka where tens of thousands of innocent civilians are being massacred? Is this the kind of false "balance" we want in this blog? One that will just mirror an entirely out-of balance mediatic universe? Aren't we supposed to present a new and better form of balance, opposed to such a biased system of "information"? Well, in my modest view, to achieve such new and better form of balanced information, we must systematically doubt the corporate media, and give voice all those who don't have it within such dominant media. Otherwise why blog at all, if all we are going to do is mimic that media and regurgitate its fraudulent narratives?
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What? We don't come here to get the monolithic conventional corporate media news? :) You mean, it is enough to have it blaring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on global media? How shocking! I mean, isn't that what we went to school for, especially to institutions of higher learning also?
ReplyDeletehttp://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2005/april/video/dnB20050406a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:50:09
You mean, it is enough to have it blaring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on global media? How shocking!
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Hahahahahahaha
V said the Taliban were "taking the high road" and I felt that needed rebutting. No one is stopping you from posting on Sri Lanka, Moy. Go right ahead.
ReplyDeleteOne could say you are ignoring it, too. Not everything in the coporate media is fraudulent, Moy. <span style="color: #335577; line-height: 16px;">"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the need for thought."</span>
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<p style="">Henri Poincare (1854-1912) "Science and Hypothesis"
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Speaking of the corporate media: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7181
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: blue; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1px; padding: 0px;">SIBEL EDMONDS: Announcing 'Project Expose MSM' | Whistleblowers set to name names, turn tables on media who've betrayed our trust | Newsweek reporters named in 'real-life' case example of new project...
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<span style="color: #404040; ">One could say you are ignoring it, too. Not everything in the coporate media is fraudulent, Moy. <span style="color: #335577; line-height: 16px;">"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the need for thought."</span> </span>
ReplyDeleteHenri Poincare
Yes, and Molly believes! Hallelujah! Sister :) Praise Obama, we will destroy these wicked Muslims soon!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMqDhS-hVME
I am not one for giving advice, so I will let someone else give it. My recommendation is to listen to this in full, it is really short but packed with great advice -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/C5xTzP21MXk
I think democracynow.org does a great job covering stories from Sri Lanka, Burma, India, Pakistan, Africa,South America,etc. IMHO.
ReplyDeleteThey are often the lead stories.
I agree DJ
ReplyDeleteAs a hypothetical, I have often wondered what it would look and sound like to use the same remarks of condemnation that are used now with these regions, as compared during the time of Black antebellum slavery. One could go on a "critique" how uneducated the Blacks were, ask why they could not better themselves, why many were beaten and imprisoned, quote some of the southern racist literature about the "nature" of the slaves etc. Of course, people would rise up and say how racist and prejudice such statements would be in that context, but they cannot seem to bring themselves to the same conclusions with the new whipping boys in these regions targeted by virulent Imperialism.
ReplyDeleteAs a hypothetical, I have often wondered what it would look and sound like to use the same remarks of condemnation that are used now with these regions, as compared during the time of Black antebellum slavery. One could go on a "critique" how uneducated the Blacks were, ask why they could not better themselves, why many were beaten and imprisoned, quote some of the southern racist literature about the "nature" of the slaves etc. Of course, people would rise up and say how racist and prejudice such statements would be in that context, but they cannot seem to bring themselves to the same conclusions with the new whipping boys in these regions targeted by virulent Imperialism today and the heir of the racism of yesteryear.
ReplyDeleteMany people are not aware what they are enveloped within in this country, they have no idea what they are up against - one of the reflections of this is th repetitive propaganda that poses as media. It actually is the application of mind control, brainwashing -
ReplyDelete"To indoctrinate so intensively and thoroughly as to effect a radical transformation of beliefs and mental attitudes."
http://gnn.tv/videos/viewer.php?id=3&n=1
Many people are not aware what they are enveloped within in this country, they have no idea what they are up against - one of the reflections of this is th repetitive propaganda that poses as media. It actually is the application of mind control, brainwashing -
ReplyDelete"To indoctrinate so intensively and thoroughly as to effect a radical transformation of beliefs and mental attitudes."
http://gnn.tv/videos/viewer.php?id=3&n=1
It is the disruption and destruction of thinking patterns, people are pushed to these positions sometimes unwittingly - with a need to belong or preserve what they think they have, through fears of different sorts, like loss. Here is a sort of funny intro. to what takes place with brainwashing, listen to the points carefully, and see if you do not find them taking place en masse in this society -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtpOqn6rfE
The comparison is remarkable! The same discourse found its way to the mouths of modern day JudeoNazi supremacists. How many times have we heard it here and on As'ad's blog talking about the Paleos" as a separete group of humans, with characteristics barely better than those of animals?
ReplyDeleteThe comparison is remarkable! The same discourse found its way to the mouths of modern day JudeoNazi supremacists. How many times have we heard it here and on As'ad's blog talking about the "Paleos" as a separete group of humans, with characteristics barely distinguished from those of animals?
ReplyDeleteAs an illustration of the above I found this comment made by kahein yesterday on a thread a couple of threads back:
ReplyDelete"the events of the last few days merely confirm what all know: filthy subhuman moslem weirdos must be kept in the flithy cages where they belong..
I want to destroy Muslims? Because I criticize the Taliban? I guess that means they represent Muslims to you. That's pretty sad, V.
ReplyDeletejust in case the other post did not take. there is a distinct connection between the "they only understand force" in regard to Muslims in the ME, and "they only understand the lash of the whip" in black slavery.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of whether they represent Muslims or not, Muslims will be killed Molly - innocent ones, in the name of these others. Thats pretty sad Molly.
ReplyDeleteLike what has and is currently taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan Molly - more innocent are dying, or have you not noticed? I didn't think so
ReplyDeleteNo Molly, not every piece of information is fraudulent. That is no one's contention, because it would be simply an idiotic one. The point, however, is that the general narratives are fraudulent. The way many tiny pieces of information are assembled is what is fraudulent. The biased way in which they are proritized and presented according to an underlying perspective that distorts the truth is fraudulent. What I'm questioning, following very closely what Chomsky has posited in works that no one has been able to dispute yet, is that the distortions are oftentimes so insidious and so subtle, that one needs to have a very critical approach in order to grasp the magnitude and essence of the fraud. So it's not about blatant lies -although sometimes such is the case- but mostly about choice of words, subtext, the importance each event and news are allocated within the whole media, and the way some pieces of information are simply missing. It's not an explicit and planned conspiracy, but the result of the way the corporate structure behind all big media outlets, imposes a certain ideological perspective on its journalists and upon public opinion. For example, its pretty obvious that someone with my views would never have a chance to rise within such corporate media. I would have to embrace the ideology of the corporation in order to rise within its ranks and be able to express myself fully. So the corporate media self-reproduces itself by endlessly replicating a certain ideological perspective within its ranks, which in turn ensures that no overt coercion on its journalists has to be excerted. Thus, it seems free, democratic and open, when in fact, its exactly the opposite.
ReplyDeleteNow, with respect to Sri-Lanka, I have written almost a whole chapter in one of my books about the origins, history, causes and significance of the conflict. So what I'm trying to tell you is that this blog only occupies a very small part of my work, both as an activist and as an intellectual. We have a broad and profound revolution going on here in Latin America, and its towards that endevour that I invest the best of my energies.
Should I point out Molly that the quotation from Poincare you resort to, is completelly out of context. He wasn't obviously refering to the media, but to the scientific enterprise. And in this latter respect, I fully agree with him. I mean, isn't it pretty obvious that one may reasonably doubt the validity of the Alvarez's hypothesis concerning the demise of dynosaurs, while its pretty silly for anyone with a modicum of scientific background, to doubt the validity of Darwin's natural selection theory? So yeah, doubting about everything may be in science quite stupid. Some discoveries or theories have to be accepted as valid truisms, as axiomatic truths, unless you want to waste yur entire life trying to prove or disprove them again.
"The chief of staff of the US Army, Gen. George Casey, said this week that the American military is preparing to continue its interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan for at least another decade."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/iraq-m29.shtml