''We're an empire now, and when we act, we
create our own reality". Bush aide; Ron Suskind, New York Times
Magazine 10-17-04
A great deal of print has been wasted on President
Bush's inability to tell the truth. In fact, it really makes little
difference whether Bush is a pathological liar or not. What is meaningful
however is that deception is the primary tool for the maintenance of the
state. Transparency and candor are now seen as direct threats to the
preservation of the status quo. This suggests that Bush's lying is not
simply a matter of human frailty or corruption, but a clear statement of
administration policy. This may seem like a minor point, but in fact the
conduct of the Bush administration cannot be seriously evaluated without
understanding that deceit is the cornerstone of their class-based world
view.
Evidence of this is everywhere, right down to the
language that is painstakingly minted in right-wing think tanks to conceal
the real meaning of administration policy. "The war on terror",
preemption", and "enemy combatant" are just three expressions that are
intentionally designed to mislead the public. The real purpose of this
language is to elicit support for unpopular policies that serve the
exclusive interests of elites.
Administration policy is normally reduced to snappy
sound-bytes that charm the public and keep the main players "on message".
They are released as "talking points" to their political and media
surrogates and disseminated from every newsroom and radio-station across
the country. This is the true meaning of propaganda; "to propagate" one's
ideas from many vantage points. No one has succeeded at this better than
the Bush administration.
As many commentators have already noted, the lead up to
the war in Iraq was perhaps the "high-water mark" for state propaganda.
Dissenting, anti-war voices were excluded from all the major media and the
false, uncorroborated charges against Saddam were highlighted in a way to
make war inevitable. Reflecting on the imagery and theatrics that went
into marketing unprovoked aggression, the media-coup was carried out with
astonishing precision. Since then, however, media credibility has steadily
declined; leaving the public increasingly disenchanted with the ongoing
occupation and distrustful of the coverage.
The "privately" owned media is only capable of producing
a narrative that is compatible with the goals of ownership. Curtailing
civil liberties (Patriot Act, National ID etc) and waging war are never in
the public interest; they only serve the narrow objectives of the few who
stand to gain from them directly. It is critical that the
propaganda-system be progressively exposed so the public can see its
destructiveness and work to create a different model.
At present, the American system of governance is so
inherently corrupted that there is very little worth salvaging. The
electoral system has been clumsily rigged with voting technology that
maintains the appearance of democracy, but eliminates the real possibility
of majority rule. Similarly, the US Military, now deeply imbedded into
domestic affairs is directly involved in "Strategic Intelligence"
operations that are almost exclusively designed to deceive the American
people to sustain support for foreign interventions. Pat Tillman and
Jessica Lynch are classic examples of intentionally misleading Military
information, but there are countless others related to the use of banned
weapons, bombed wedding parties and fabricated civilian casualty-rates.
Similar to the Bush administration, Pentagon deception is a matter of
policy not simply a "cover-up". Nothing they say should be taken at face
value.
In Iraq, we have seen the military insert friendly
journalists into their operational structure; ensuring that the message
they produce corresponds with their overall strategic goals. The
"embedded" journalist-phenomenon establishes news organizations as a
front-line part of the military apparatus. The media is now a fully
integrated part of the armed services. The American people have seemingly
accepted this transparent absurdity without question. On the other hand,
we've seen journalists, who prefer to stay beyond the reach of the
military's control, directly targeted and sometimes killed. This gives us
a good idea of how serious the civilian leadership takes its role of
making sure that the "facts fit the policy".
In all areas of American life, information is being
manipulated to manage public perceptions. Most TV programming is
intentionally designed to make sure that the public is removed from the
economic and political facts that may either inform them of what is really
going on, or inspire them to get directly involved in the process. The
goal of media is to create a reliable base of consumers, not to cultivate
informed citizens in a participatory democracy. Julius Caesar recommended
"Bread and circuses" to keep the people amused and uninvolved. The
American media has faithfully honored that counsel.
With Bush the information-war has entered a new and more
aggressive phase. BBC has been purged by hostile groups after David Kelley
stated that Blair had "sexed up" the information that supported the drive
to war. Similarly, PBS and NPR have been infiltrated by Bush-loyalists to
remove liberal elements and craft a message that pleases their corporate
constituents. Also, Al Jazeera, which provides a uniquely Arab view of the
world to 40 million people, has been put up for sale due to the
extraordinary pressure applied by the Bush Administration.
Bush's top lieutenants are entirely committed to creating
their own storyline and calling it news. They are not restrained by the
facts that emerge from the"reality-based" community. They are equally
zealous about seeking out conflicting points-of-view and silencing them
through their attack-dogs in right-wing radio. We should assume that they
will do whatever it takes to eliminate the voices that compete with the
one message they want to convey.
This means that the internet, which is perhaps the last
outpost of democracy in America today, is undoubtedly part of the broader
government strategy for controlling information. The internet is seen as
"command and control" for the disparate leftist and liberal groups that
foment resistance against the political establishment. There should be
back-up plans to protect this vital resource. The Bush administration has
already demonstrated its penchant for toppling regimes through
"decapitation" or removal of the leadership. As the nexus for leftist
organization, the internet is a logical target for this type of government
disruption. Any attack on the system would be catastrophic for the antiwar
and anti-imperial movements as well as a serious body-blow to personal
freedom. Be forewarned.
Both free speech and its antecedent the truth are much
greater threats to the state than any bomb-wielding revolutionary. In the
new world order only the managers are entitled to the truth, not the
managed. That way, the public can be moved sheep-like in the direction of
government policy. This means that hard news on any topic is the implicit
enemy of the political establishment. It is only by providing a constant
stream of diversions and fear engendering alarms that the public can be
kept in a persistent fog and deprived of the right to choose. Information
is freedom; and that freedom is destined to become the province of the
ruling class alone if the public fails to organize resistance.
The administration is "privatizing" information in the
same way they have privatized all of the other tangible forms of wealth.
The rest of us are left with the lies and distortions that course through
the government's ideological-filter. This isn't a battle that can be won
without a struggle. We believe that the truth is the birthright of every
human being who will pursue it with an open heart and an inquiring mind.
And, we will fight to preserve that right.
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