In an impressive collection of news reports, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) showed that in 1998, ABC World News This Morning, NBC's Today, The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, CNN, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsday all reported the fact that the U.N. weapons inspection teams were removed from Iraq by order of the U.N. However, four years later, every one of those sources reported that Saddam had forced the inspectors out. Did they forget their own reporting or were they consciously assisting the United States government as outlets of propaganda by effectively re-writing history in a way that aided the Bush administration's war aims ("What a Difference", 2002)?
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/InformationControl.htmlhttp://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1123Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
Voltaire
IT would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas in disguise.
—Joseph Goebbels
The United States is the most media-saturated country in the world. We are bombarded daily with thousands upon thousands of images and sounds designed to get our attention, entertain, and inform us of everything from shoes to food to celebritydom to political ideology. Its been estimated that the average American is exposed to more than 3000 advertisements every day, but on top of that, there are the news programs, sitcoms, films, radio and other forms of media that we choose to consume. All of this works to shape our opinions of the world and a great deal of time, effort, and money is spent to guide our opinions down particular avenues. This used to be called "propaganda". Today, with the negative, Nazi-esque connotation which comes with that word, euphemisms such as misinformation, disinformation, image consulting, political consulting, news consulting, advertising, infomercials, public relations, damage control, and the art of spin have taken its place in the English lexicon, all but concealing its true nature and omnipresence. And omnipresent, it is. The industries that deal with information control – in both the commercial and governmental sectors—work with hundreds of millions of dollars annually, for Schoolhouse Rock was right on target when it said, "Knowledge is Power!" Is it any wonder that our schools are suffering so badly while corporate CEOs and members of our government continually allot themselves raises? Uninformed, ignorant masses are far easier to manipulate then educated, thinking masses.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/InformationControl.htmlHad a discussion with a friend about how nobody reads anymore. If they can't get it ina 2 minute sound byte or a 1 paragraph blog note they don't have the time for it. Thats a shame. The Government counts on that! You can't Ride Free if your not Free.......rc
Add to Technorati Favorites
Kieth Olberman on MSNBC this evening reported that information has been released from the "Presidents Advance Manual" about how the government insures that demonstrators won't be seen by the president during speeches. Which of course would make everything look rosy on T.V. Well I'm thinking that can not possibly be true can it? The government restricting legal demonstrations and suppressing free speech (well maybe not suppressing it, just making sure you do not see it)???
