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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 6/25/17

Policing "Truth" to Restore "Trust"

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From Consortium News

There's been a lot of self-righteous talk about "truth" recently, especially from the people at The New York Times, The Washington Post and the rest of the mainstream news media. They understandably criticize President Trump for his casual relationship with reality and happily dream about how nice it would be if they could develop algorithms to purge the Internet of what they call "fake news."

But these "truth-loving" pundits, the likes of star Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, never seem to reflect on their own responsibility for disseminating devastating "fake news," such as the falsehoods about Iraq's WMD, lies that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of American soldiers and spread horrific chaos across the Mideast and into Europe.

Nor does that Iraq experience ever cause Friedman and his fellow pundits to question other Official Narratives, including those relating to the proxy war in Syria or the civil war in Ukraine or the New Cold War with Russia. Meanwhile those of us who ask for substantiating facts or observe that some official claims don't make sense are subjected to insults as fill-in-the-blank "apologists" or "stooges."

It seems that any deviation from Officialdom's pronouncements makes you an enemy of "truth" because "truth" is what the Establishment says is "truth." And, if you don't believe me, I refer you to Friedman's Wednesday's column.

Friedman leads off the article by quoting himself telling a questioner at a Montreal conference: "I fear we're seeing the end of 'truth.'"

But Friedman doesn't take himself to task by noting how he helped disseminate the Iraq WMD lies and how he flacked for that illegal and disastrous war for years.

If he had 'fessed up, maybe Friedman could then have explained why he didn't resign in disgrace and engage in some lifelong penance, preferably including a vow of silence, rather than continuing to spout lots of other nonsense while also continuing to collect a handsome salary and to rack up lucrative speaking fees.

Instead, after wringing his hands over why Americans no longer trust their leaders, Friedman cites another voice of authority, a friend and mentor, Dov Seidman, who complains that "What we're experiencing is an assault on the very foundations of our society and democracy -- the twin pillars of truth and trust...

"What makes us Americans is that we signed up to have a relationship with ideals that are greater than us and with truths that we agreed were so self-evident they would be the foundation of our shared journey toward a more perfect union -- and of respectful disagreement along the way. We also agreed that the source of legitimate authority to govern would come from 'We the people.'"

Friedman then goes on to share Seidman's lament that when "we" no longer share basic truths "then there is no legitimate authority and no unifying basis for our continued association."

The Villains

Friedman identifies the villains in this scenario as "social networks and cyber-hacking," which help "extremists to spread vitriol and fake news at a speed and breadth we have never seen before." So, it seems those "truth" algorithms can't arrive soon enough.

However, if you keep reading Friedman's column, you learn that the real problem is not that "cyber-hacking" is generating "fake news," but rather that it has let Americans see too many ugly truths about their leadership, as happened when WikiLeaks published emails showing how the Democratic National Committee unethically tilted the playing field against Sen. Bernie Sanders; how Hillary Clinton pandered to Goldman Sachs in return for lucrative speaking fees; and how the Clinton Foundation engaged in pay-to-play with rich foreigners.

Friedman's column acknowledges as much, again citing Seidman: "Social networks and hacking also 'have enabled us to see, in full color, into the innermost workings of every institution and into the attitudes of those who run them,' noted Seidman, 'and that has eroded trust in virtually every institution, and the authority of many leaders, because people don't like what they see.'"

In other words, the answer to restoring "trust" and to respecting "truth" is to hide ugly realities from the unwashed public. If the people are shielded from the facts, the Establishment will regain its control over "truth" and thus win back the people's "trust."

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Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at
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