So, the "fake news" stigma didn't apply to Hiatt and other mainstream journalists who actually did produce "fake news," even though it led to the deaths of 4,500 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. To this day, Hiatt remains the Post's editorial-page editor continuing to enforce "conventional wisdoms" and to disparage those who deviate.
Another painful example of letting propaganda -- rather than facts and reason -- guide U.S. foreign policy was the Vietnam War, which claimed the lives of some 58,000 U.S. soldiers and millions of Vietnamese.
The Vietnam War raged on for years after Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and even President Lyndon Johnson recognized the need to end it. Part of that was Richard Nixon's treachery in going behind Johnson's back to sabotage peace talks in 1968, but the smearing of anti-war dissidents as pro-communist traitors locked many officials into support for the war well after its futility became obvious. The propaganda developed its own momentum that resulted in many unnecessary deaths.
A Special Marking
In the Internet era, there will now be new-age forms of censorship. Your Website will be excluded from major search engines or electronically stamped with a warning about your unreliability.
Your guilt will be judged by a panel of mainstream media outlets, including some partially funded by the U.S. government, or maybe by some anonymous group of alleged experts.
With the tens of millions of dollars now sloshing around Official Washington to pay for propaganda, lots of entrepreneurs will be lining up at the trough to do their part. Congress just approved another $160 million to combat "Russian propaganda," which will apparently include U.S. news sites that question the case for the New Cold War.
Even if a President Trump decides that these tensions with Russia are absurd and that the two countries can work together in the fight against terrorism and other international concerns, the financing of the New Cold War propaganda will continue.
The well-funded drumbeat of anti-Russian propaganda will seek to limit Trump's decision-making. After all, this latest New Cold War cash cow can be milked for years to come and nothing -- not even the survival of the human species -- is more important than that.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
5
3
3
