When I heard these lies immediately
before
the outbreak of the war, I was well aware that the UN inspectors had
found
no weapons of mass destruction and were unlikely to do so. "When the
troops
go in there and find nothing," I thought, "there will be hell to pay."
Well,
they found nothing and there was no hell to pay. Why? Simply because
there
was no independent media available to deliver the "hell" to the
Bush/Cheney
administration, to Colin Powell, or, for that matter, to the
establishment
corporate media that fed the lies to the public.
To be sure, liberal commentators like Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Howard
Zinn,
et al, along with numerous progressive websites were complaining
to
high heaven. But who pays any attention to them? They are all outside
the
bounds of "respectable" opinion. And who determines what "opinion" is
or is
not "respectable?" That same mainstream media, of course.
The oligarchy that owns and runs our government and controls our mass
media
has learned Goebbels's lesson well: A lie unanswered is a lie
believed
more so if the lie is repeated, over and over again.
Accordingly, a successful propaganda campaign must accomplish two
essential
and coordinated tasks: (a) tell the lies, and (b) see to it that they
are
not effectively refuted. The
six media conglomerates that now control most of the US media
accomplished both tasks supremely well.
-
In 2000: Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet. Gore also claimed to have "discovered" the Love Canal toxic site. Bush won the election fair and square. The Supreme Court decision, Bush v. Gore, was legally sound and, in any case, did not affect the outcome of the election. There was no reason to believe that the unverifiable touch-screen voting machines were not accurate. Lt. George Bush completed his required service with the Texas Air National Guard.
-
2002: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." (Dick Cheney).
-
2004. John Kerry's alleged heroic war record in Viet Nam was a fake.
Etcetera, etcetera a list of
lies
much too long to enumerate here. But if you can bear to read about them
again, see Joe Conason's Big Lies (St Martins, 2003) and Jerry
Barrett's anthology, Big Bush Lies (Riverview, 2004). (My
contributions to this anthology on
Political
Propaganda and
The Environment
are available online at The Crisis Papers).
Three pages into this piece, I doubt that I have said anything that
most of
you don't know and agree with. And those who are not persuaded are
urged to
read Eric Alterman's What Liberal Media, and visit the website of FAIR (Fairness
and Accuracy in Media www.fair.org) and
Media Matters For America.
What Remedies?
What is to be done?
The GOP and the regressive right have pointed the way; in particular,
in
Lewis Powell's notorious 1971 memo to the Director of the U.S.
Chamber
of Commerce. While there is considerable dispute as to the actual
influence
of this memo, this much is clear; whether by design or by mere
coincidence,
the Powell Memo accurately describes how the regressive right has
achieved
its current dominance in American politics. The left would do well to
study
that memo and, when appropriate, adopt its proposals. In particular:
-
Establish "think tanks:" progressive counterparts to The Heritage Foundation, The American Enterprise Institute, The Cato Institute, The Competitive Enterprise Institute, etc., then promote the publications of its resident scholars and their appearance on the mainstream media. There are, of course, progressive think tanks such as The Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America and their work is commendable. But the funding for these organizations is minuscule in comparison with financial support of their ideological opposites.
-
Endow academic professorships and establish scholarships and fellowships. Encourage progressives to participate in the governance of educations institutions, from local school boards to university boards of trustees.
-
Underwrite the writing, publication and promotion of progressive books, journals and websites. Establish publishing houses, like the regressives' Regnery, devoted exclusively to progressive ideas and policy proposals.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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