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LETTERS / The American Press Is Free To Lie For The Government

Dear Editor,

“The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.” George Orwell, former BBC propagandist.  The mainstream media is a tool of the dominant minority who use those systems to influence and control “consumers”.

The American press is free to lie for government, but mustn’t exercise any real freedom. Predictable “news” outlets are monopolized under a handful of corporations misleading the public, manufacturing consent for “our” rulers. There’s good reason it’s called programming. It charges emotions, causes “consumers” to join persuasion blocks and do all kinds of stupid things.

“Our government’s” bribes and threats produce whatever story it wants. The Secretary of State lied at the UN about Iraqi WMD “our government” knew didn’t exist. The consequences were millions killed, maimed, and displaced increasing instability in the Middle East. Government that consistently lies isn’t honorable. They’ve used “our free press” to sell lies leading to most of the Empire’s wars. It’s common in America’s propagandistic news reports, to bury/ignore key stories when they violate the Empire’s misinformation. Attentive readers have noticed how the Empire created all of the trouble around Ukraine.

Do you notice leading words used in presenting “news events”? What unbiased coverage do you see about our “adversaries” or “allies”? Where do you see honest views of opinions “our government” disapproves of?

The public, numb to this reality, still believes the “news”, the key weapon of social control against them. The prestitutes create false consensus, divide, and ridicule truthful, meaningful conversation about our world. The story is always America, the Empire, the civilized victim with adversaries, always barbaric and aggressive. Prestitutes create consent for policy makers and corporations. The average broadcast is spectacle. The idea sold is, if it’s not on the news, it’s not important.

The media has analysts for specific target audiences. Each one is predictable. Guests are chosen for skills that give the impression of diversity while keeping the debate controlled. If government needs credibility, they display some “experienced” ambassador for example.

“News” is business. Talking heads are hired to perform a role. It’s not to pursue morally driven journalism for your benefit. If they perform as required, they prosper. If they rock the boat, others will do what they’re told. “News” isn’t to inform but to sell a product, an idea, a candidate, an image, war. Corporations decide which issues are to be discussed, shaping perceptions. You’re drowned in lies; Lies by government, advertisers, and the corporate media.

The media saves money employing few actual news gatherers, using centrally scripted “news” handed to them by “press secretaries”. This is a fundamental characteristic of propaganda. You realize how dishonest your “news” presenters are and how easily duped “consumers” are when you see marketing/press releases presented as reality.

The media intentionally frames phony issues. Unorthodox views don’t spread because everything is sold as “with us or against us”, dividing “consumers” into winning/loosing sides requiring war till the bitter end. Opportunities for consensus and true progress vanish. “Consumers” are easily herded into a position favorable to the elite.

Sometime during Clinton/Gore, prestitutes stopped referring to you as people or citizens and you became “consumers”. Language is important in shaping reality, and as “consumers” your role in affairs of business and state was reduced to bystanders who shop, not speak and influence. “Conspiracy theorist” is pasted on those hostile to the corporate power structure and interests behind them. Conspiracy theorists explore unapproved questions, or speak for justice outside of the approved confusion.

The powerful make the decisions that affect your lives, so “news” outlets amuse with distractions: gossip, entertainment, violence, disasters. Important issues are seen as a drag, and never given proper reflection. The elite don’t like unexpected, hard questions so prestitutes ask trivial questions about irrelevant things like presidential dogs or golfing trips.

Abandoning important, complicated issues removes touchy subjects from public conversation. We’ve been trained to move quickly, never focusing on anything for too long; Short term memories protect politicians, overlook genocide, and bank bailouts, or whatever, by moving onto more “newz”. Once the media signals that a story is done, further inquiry is ignored.

When all else fails, they lie. There are enough “facts” available to prove any story. The ability to gather facts for any agenda is a profitable skill. Lying has always worked, and the bigger the lie, the more likely it is to be believed as Goebbels demonstrated.

Propaganda techniques used by “our” corporate state to enforce anti-democratic policies, routinely include creation and manipulation of “news” events to mold public opinion and, as Edward Bernays put it, “engineer consent” toward certain ends: political appeals, seemingly spontaneous terrorism and other events shocking “consumers” into accepting lies as political and historical realities.

Alternative media and internet quickly reveal lies yet “consumers” remain trapped imagining their rulers to be honest: confusion greets each new deceit. The question ought to be, when don’t rulers lie? The prestitutes facilitate this acting more like cheerleaders than someone whose job is to inform.

Focusing on emotional reactions, instead of events, win ratings wars, but denies “consumers” information useful to judge the situation. Yelling opposing views in the name of “balance” isn’t news, but theater. When was the last time you felt better informed after hearing two politicians yell at each other?

I remember a gathering where one person, upon arrival, announced their concern about the newest TV advertised emergency curiously attaching their state of mind to government created “burning issues”.

Corporations protecting their interests choose what you’ll see on the “news” tricking you into believing its unbiased reporting.  The “news” corporations contributed heavily to Bush so arguments that they’re controlled by liberals evaporates: money supported those who promised to allow media consolidation.

The “news” is manipulated to mirror the public relations campaigns of those operating at your expense for their benefit.

“Consumers” don’t know things that they’ve learned from research and education of the quality rarely found in America anymore: they believe things they’ve heard from a source they think trustworthy. Ain’t that curious.

Craig Dudley