OT 9-3-15 - Outright lying by the Government and the Press
My very first disillusionment came in 1973 when the U.S. backed the Pinochet coup in Chile. Reading the New York Times article the next day was irritating. It was so obvious that the U.S. was involved and that Allende was murdered yet the Times absolutely ignored those facts. They didn't even speculate that what had happened *might* have happened. I had grown up thinking that the Times printed the truth. Naive, eh? According to the Times the coup was Chilean only and Allende had committed suicide. Which was our government's line to a T. Later it was found that Allende killed himself twice, using two different guns, a pistol and then an AK-47.
Here's a good article from the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/07/chile-coup-pinochet-allende
and here's how the Times reported it
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/AllendeCoup.html
The coup followed weeks of nationwide strikes and economic chaos, with growing groups of workers and professionals joining in demands that Dr. Allende halt his attempts to bring socialism to Chile and resign. Yesterday morning, the chiefs of the army, navy, air force and national police sided with the anti-Marxist opposition and issued an ultimatum for the President to resign by noon.
As if the people were rising up against Allende, which of course they weren't.
So now I knew the press would protect the government by not reporting what really goes on. The next shocker for me was the total corruption of justice among the military. I think you'll remember when the U.S. pilots joyrided around Italy, flying so low that they clipped a ski lift line, sending twenty to their deaths. Again the press went with the government's story
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/world/death-in-the-alps-a-special-repo...
It was the crew's first flight through the pristine Alpine valley, framed by mountains and dotted with tiny villages and ski slopes. But the pilot of the EA-6B Prowler did not have Italian military charts provided to his commanders that marked the ski lift, which is also clearly noted on road maps.
Not true, of course. Wikipedia says this:
Twenty people died when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying lower than regulations allowed, in order for the pilots to "have fun" and "take videos of the scenery", cut a cable supporting a gondola of an aerial tramway, causing it to plunge 260 feet to the ground, killing 20 people. Joseph Schweitzer, one of the two American pilots, in 2012 finally confessed that upon return to the American base he burned the tape that contained incriminating evidence
The pilots went on trial....in the United States! And were acquitted.
So it's no surprise that we keep reading about how black kids might have had a knife, well it looked like it could be a knife!, when they get shot dead by police. The police tell the press how bad the black man was, how he had a record, how he sold cigarettes illegally and had a temper! so naturally they had to kill him. And the press prints it and the "all news" TV stations show the video of the cops explaining why they had to shoot.
And I'm afraid I don't believe a word they say.
Maybe some music will help...
Comments
We're fed jokes about Baghdad Bob & we're supposed to yuk it up…
Whereas the real "Baghdad Bob" is the set of ingrained habits in our heads — the pattern of conditioned mental responses implanted by U.S. schools and media. This "press secretary for consensus reality" biases all our perceptions, colors emotions, filters facts and storylines in favor of patriotic groupthink — until the spell is broken by some personal epiphany.
hmm, I remember the incidence in Cavalese, Tirol of Italy
because my father's family went to this region every year (grandfather took all the sons and their girlfriends, wives, some aunts etc to ski vacations there in the 1930ies regularly.) and my parents had not far away a little vacation home there later in the sixties.
When it happened I think lots of people were very upset.
Here is a link from the Gutenberg project, giving some details.
CAVALESE CABLE CAR DISASTER (1998)
With regards to the NYT or the Washington Post not telling the whole truth etc, there was a point in time, when I became aware of that. I had to do some research at the Library of Congress for a small project for one German reporter of German TV I think it was in 2006 (just a small thing of a couple of week contract). Without any knowledge of US history it was for me like an endeavour of Alice in Wonderland stumbling through the shelves and papers in the College Park archives section and feeling very lost.
But I ran in a lot of papers and articles I wasn't supposed to search for. Those just happen to pass my hands and eyes. Events I remember in my mind of great political importance looked very "unimportant" in the old papers headlines of the front page. Very revealing were the emotions of some archivists during WWII presented by some side-note scribblings on the papers. It was the first time that I learned to see WWII and Germany through the eyes of US newspapers of that time and through the eyes of civilians (former archivists). It was then that I got curious about archives and I did regret ever since that I never was able to do this kind of work professionally and got the chance of education in that field.
Nice OT, Shahryar. Have all a good day. Have to do the dumb stuff of survival mode work and will be busy and probably not be back.
The MSM/government propaganda still works wonders.
What's been happening in Syria is a good example. Like the U.S. backed coup in Chile, the war in Syria is a
U.S. backed regime change operation using Al Qaeda and ISIS as proxies and cover. It's been obvious from the start
for those with access to the truth. But the MSM /government lies have been over powering. I noticed in a diary yesterday
(gjohnsit's diary about the refugees), that people are still blaming Assad for what's happening in Syria when in fact
Assad has reacted to an outside, western instigated attack on his country. This is over 3 years after it started.
Of course the War OF Terror is over 14 years old now and the lies and propaganda supporting that illegal and immoral
agenda are still holding with most of the public.
Not to mention "Russian aggression" in Ukraine ...
Another regime-change operation which certain prominent Dem figures are up to their necks in.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Ya, big one there.
I remember when I first visited VICE news. I saw an article and went to the site and they had an entire section
titled, "RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE!" Day 1, Day 2. They kept the same headline for months. I was telling people,
"uh, VICE news doesn't look very trustworthy man".
I read somewhere how VICE news is funded and that told
me to be on alert reading their pieces. And I am not fond of their video style. But then, it's not a thing you can't read or watch, just be careful. Their footage from all over the world in war zones can't be possible without the help from sources you should not go to bed with. I don't find my old source anymore, but it said seomthing about DoD, NSA, CIA etc. I don't trust them.
funded by millenial males...
May be this explains what I feel about them:
That's why more often than not I don't give a fuck about their video reports and always wonder, who pays their cameramen...
NYT lies about US & cluster bombs
Another example of propaganda reported today by Glenn Greenwald on the use of cluster bombs in Yemen by Saudi Arabia and bombs made by the US
US has not signed the treaty against cluster bombs, people killers
Well, if we have guns everywhere, why not bombs that can kill people at random?
NYT Claims U.S. Abides by Cluster Bomb Treaty: The Exact Opposite of Reality
article also has a reminder about the Yemeni reporter who outed the US bombing in Yemen that was covered up. Jeremy Scahill led an international effort to get him out of jail. He was in jail from a phone call from Obama.
Other articles about the human carnage in Yemen have appeared but ignored by mainstream media.
Who said that the largest terrorist organization in the world is the US?
Another NY Times example of spinning the truth
On a related note
Oh, "the news"
see, this is what I've become. I see people saying, now the news is not covering Bernie, that's how you know he's the real deal. And all I can think is--ha ha!...no. Vote all you want, it doesn't matter. If Bernie, by some miracle, gets in, well sure...we, us little people, might get thrown some small crumbs, but on the grand scale...it won't matter. The US--our business is empire, and that's a shitty business for us, and it's a failing thing for us now, only we're too stupid to know it, or admit it, whatever. Sure, I'll vote for Bernie in the primaries, for all the good it'll do me. He's bringing a revolution? that's a knee slapper. I wish it were true. But my mama always told me if wishes were horses, beggers would ride.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
The American belief that we are just one
…Presidential election away from salvation — that one stabs me in the heart. I grieve for what they are about to discover. But, of course, it is grief wasted, because they skip over the disappointment, deny the reality revealed, and are off chasing a new candidate in a new election. Good people.
I can no longer bear witness. It's too painful.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Yes, it's too painful,
but what am I to do? I live here.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
You've been pretty good at
…compartmentalizing the political disgrace going on around you. At least that's how it seems to me.
It can be done, with enough self-discipline and mental hygiene. (Of course, it would be better to expatriate, and immerse yourself in a new culture, in a child-like way.) In any event, one can live a more joyful life in the US, by having no political awareness. Not one shred. This is the key to bliss.
Hyper-aware people need to protect themselves.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
there is no way to not become political aware in this country
even for the most innocent person (like my son was at a certain time in the past), it is just impossible. All you can do is give in to stubborn denial of any reasonable conclusions your political awareness bothers you with.
I compartmentalize like a champ, I must!
As I said--I live here, and I have children, not being able to unknow certain things, and being totally incapable of becoming ignorant of what's going down, I need to be able to do that in a massive way to raise happy, well adjusted kids. I can't imagine what it would be like for them to be raised by the whack-job harridan I could be if I let the current conditions and my inability to anything other than bitch about them, really...well, that would be a nightmare, wouldn't it? So...yes, you have to set it aside, lock it up sometimes, let it go for a while, go just be a human and have some fun with your kids or your friends or whatever. Life is oh, so short.
I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~
Not necessarily ;-)
You sound like a terrific parent, Mrs. Occam.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Even if you
don't have kids or their grown up and doing fine, for your own survival, body mind and spirit you have to let it go, set it aside and continue with your life. Hopelessness and despair just make it harder to figure out how to keep a roof over your head in times like this. Unless you are lucky, 'made the right choices' or know how to 'play the game' (as my yuppie realtor neighbor tells me is our problem) it's a viscous cruel dog eat dog society we live in. Keeping the wolves from the door takes fortitude and confidence.
I used to get mad at the so called liberal/progressive in my 85% Democratic community which has over the years become so gentrified that anybody who doesn't make over 100,000$ can't qualify to buy a house or rent a decent apt./house for less then 2,500$. They all preach the gospel according to the Democratic establishment, NPR and are busy gate keeping like crazy. They blame the pig ignorant Republicans for everything. They support the New Democratic agenda as it feeds their kids, enables them to send them to decent schools, buys them new earth destroying SUV's, makes them able to afford solar panels and invest in the housing market.
If I fall into despair or tilt full time against the 'inevitable' windmills or slide into being a full time whack job harridan I really will fall between the gaping cracks created by Axelrod and his ilk's 'world as we find it', the cracks that swallows a lot of regular people up, breaks them and spits them out. You can't really blame people for adapting the best they can and doing what they need to to have a decent vibrant happy life. They go along to get along as people always do.
Strange days, mama. Being politically aware is a dangerous thought crime. Easier to believe that this is inevitable and democratic and the way forward. My negativity and self pity seems to be running rampant today. I'm getting off this great site and getting back to playing a game with about how to get my roof repaired, find some new paying clients and navigate the shark filled water, of a Kafkaesque society, economy and government that does not brook slackers, dreamers, socialistic losers, those trouble making profit losses who just don't know how to eat some dog. See you guys later. This ain't no party this ain't no disco this ain't no fooling around.
"once in a generation candidate"
sure, if each generation last 4 or 8 years.
Actually Obama was a once in a generation candidate. Unfortunately he's an ordinary typical President. But he gave some great speeches! He was a much better candidate than Bernie.
I think you need to go more neutral, here:
From:
To:
Because it is closer to reality and intellectual integrity.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
so we have to wait for the Visigoths
because the fix won't come from within
Yes and no.
See my comment below.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
That heartbreaking photo of drowned 3-yr-old boy
I tried to avoid it yesterday but it was on the front page of The Globe & Mail newspaper, covering half the page.
Here's the father of the toddlers.
To thine own self be true.
This is a very good question to ask:
I can see a Studs Terkel type book, where Americans of all stripes answer that question. In fact, that needs to be written.
I can't name my first disillusionment, but I can name my greatest one because it is ever-present. It's when I discovered that Americans actually believe what they read in the American press. The more it sabotages reality, the harder they believe. It's ubiquitous, now. The American people's belief (particularly on the left) in the phony revolutions in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine (US backed like Pinochet) finished me off, broke me. Every time I write a post now, I'm pretty sure it's my last one. I'm ashamed to be participating.
Tom Toles was in fine form today:
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I managed to depress myself when writing this
I should have written something happier and added some Cowsills videos or the Partridge Family.
I can accept the Cassandra role that I (well, all of us here) have been cast in. On the other hand, accepting it implies mentally admitting that we can't affect anything. I've read that some existentialists slag Camus because they think Camus is too jolly. Perhaps that's not the exact word, but they suggest that accepting Sisyphus' punishment is to enable the punishers. Personally I think that it might be a misreading of Camus.
In any case, we really do have to keep telling others what we see.
The existential dilemma strikes again.
Last night I decided to write one final essay. It's about a candidate for the 2016 Presidential election from a political party that no one has ever heard of. But its constituents are among the most conscious and brilliant people alive in the world today, from Elon Musk to Joe Stiglitz.
The campaign strategy is pure illuminated genius, with careful attention to reality and synchronicity. The party platform is human immortality, which causes a profound paradigm shift in human consciousness. (And, yes, it has been achieved.)
I figure it might make people feel better to know that science has this covered.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Please do write your essay
I'd like to see what presidential
candidate might get me back on the
hopey-changey treadmill. I personally
don't think that any president can use
the power of the office of president
(propaganda!) to effect any significant
change in the trajectory of USA Murder,
Inc.
dr
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
...human immortality? Elon Musk?
I again don't understand the Republic of Pluto. Please write your essay. In a way I can understand it please. (if you don't mind, I guess to make it comprehensible to me, would make it more boring for others ... but then you want to persuade the dummy, little people, or not?)
I write all my books
…with an audience in mind that is very much like you — interested, curious, and seeking step-by-step clarity.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Pluto, I'd like some
of whatever it is you're smoking.
Yesterday you were full of tantalizing
news of imminent "free energy" (i.e.,
a breakthrough in cold fusion reactors)
and today you 're announcing
immortality (for all?).
"Science" will save us. The same
science, I presume, that brought us
chemical weapons in WW1 and
nuclear bombs in WW2. I can't wait to
see what the Israelis and Saudis have
their pet proxy Islamic State do with
free energy and immortality.
dr
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
Sorry. I changed my mind.
My fellow noetics have advised me not to cast anymore pearls.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
I'm a Space Cowboy
Bet you weren't ready for that.
Have to vote for that
(No subject)
wow
Wow
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
wow
that reminds me of a young Canadian Native American woman
who dedicated her time in her two last college years to produce a video symbolizing the struggle of Native American Women to defend their land against exploitation by corporations, who fracked and extracted the tarsands. Don't remember anymore from which region she was. I heard her speaking in the New School in New York, the day before they had the big The People's Climate March
While she was giving her speech she showed a video she produced on a bigger screen behind her. Not only did she break out in tears during her speech (like all the three other Native American women, who spoke at this event), but it was her video which shocked me the most. I have never seen a more brutal and bloody representation of how she visualized the corporations raping and massacring Mother Earth. I couldn't barely watch it and thought to myself, how could she handle the production of such a video.
Later in her speech she said she had to pull out of school and get for six month in a retreat to receive therapautic help for the depression the whole production period had caused in her. So, yes, be careful to not hurt yourself.
You do have to keep telling others what they see, but you have little influence on them seeing that what you would like them to see. Even with the most direct, under-the-skin going footage. And you have to protect yourself. Over identification with other people's pains can go only so far. It is quite hard for me to tell my son not to over identify with the homeless people. He could be more helpful staying healthy himself and keep a self-protecting attitude when trying to help others. Kind of hard to do, if you have a heart.
It's not much different than DWTS really.
Spending most of your time watching MSNBC and Meet the Press while following the polls to see which
candidates are winning today. Then there's the clerk in that state who won't issue marriage licenses to gays, man
is that a story. And what was it last week? Was that the Shaun King week?
They take a short time out to exclaim about the pictures of refugees from Syria and wonder why the U.S.
hasn't done something, anything to help them, not a single one coming out and stating, "hey, it was the U.S.
that did this you stupid ...., "shut your mouth".
Then it's back to that Davis woman who to their utter delight is getting her ass handed to her. That's better than
contestant number five beating number 8 any day.
Testify, Big Al
Hey cw.
Some things never change.
That site is built upon social outrage
which serves as a very flashy and shiny object of distraction from the bigger issues that affect us all. Nary a word about climate change, but we get plenty of social outrage and evil Rethugs every day.. With few exceptions, the global issues that affect us all are rarely ever part of the front page. Outrage porn is easy writing. It takes no real analysis and it serves the purpose of keeping the status quo. Which, I mean is the binary Republicans are terrible and Democrats are less bad. Yeah they both will screw us over economically and they both promote and continue wars, but at least the Democrats get outraged over social issues. Whoopee!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
GOS is built on outrage porn
It's all about "what is different from my identity group and yours".
There is no deep analysis of events or ideas. You would think from reading the site that everyone's motivation in the world is either racism, sexism, or a reaction to racism or sexism. Mankind is simply not capable of thinking of higher concepts.
Exactly!
You tell it like it is. And I really admire you for that, gjohnsit.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
My attitude is sightly different
For the last two weeks I have been in a little bit of a personal funk, but I refuse to allow myself to get so depressed over the political situation in our country and the world. If I did, I might as well lay down and die. I have to have some rays of hope and optimism. Maybe that is just my somewhat naive personality.
First, I cannot allow myself to get caught up in despair over things that are too large for me personally to control. I keep my fights at the level at which I feel I can make some difference, if it is only just one drop of water in the ocean. I am still trying and I have to try. That means even if I can reach one other person, I have made a difference and perhaps that other person can make the difference in someone else. We are fighting a huge fight and even if peope like me cannot bring the system down, it certainly is more than just saying what the hell? I simply cannot go there and I have these arguments with family members all the time who say it is futile. Nothing is futile until we are all dead.
I have been a realist here all along about the Presidential campaign. No one person can undo the damage that has been done over decades or as many believe, from the very founding of this country. But one person can do a hell of a lot of damage if the wrong person is elected. It is not a lesser of two evils for me, because I see some huge difference in most areas between all the candidates. But let's be realistic here. Our freaking foreign policy is beyond the control of one man or even Congress itself. With the NSA, in all probability, nearly every elected official is vulnerable to the information that has been collected upon them. The MIC is the first system that must be taken down and the only way I can see it is if its funding is drastically cut.
Of course, there is another option and that is to blow the entire system up. The leading purveyor of that option is Trump. But electing Trump will not be a revolution. It will be a devolution of this country even more than it already has been. A revolution of the people does not happen overnight. People have to be angry enough to want to tear the system down. I am not seeing it yet. I was optimistic with Occupy and I personally saw Bernie's candidacy as a continuation of what Occupy brought to fore. But I have absolutely zero allusions that Bernie can take down the MIC. Nevertheless, I will still fight. I am not going to give up. And in the political arena, I will go with the best option available right now. Your opinions and mileage may vary and I respect that.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy