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This is SUCH an important essay. I wish you could just republish it every day until everyone in the US has read it! It's one of the major causes of what we have today.

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Exactly the same here in the UK, possibly more so. Virtually the entire press is corporate-owned; The Guardian is not, but it has always been pro-Zionist and politically centrist - it led the antisemitism lies against Jeremy Corbyn and is now promoting Keir Starmer as the Messiah.

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When someone says they are a "resister," most don't know the meaning of the word. To "resist" connotes keeping oneself from accepting, joining or participating something. Sadly, many of the "resisters" out there view, read and listen to propagandist trash dressed up as news, information and, yes...even data.

While it's easy to tell yourself to be a critical thinker, it's not easy to be a contrarian. That is, unless you create it to be part of your persona. And that takes time and effort. Caitlin does a great job highlighting the issues surrounding propaganda and media/governmental manipulation but, to really appreciate what all this is one has to travel - especially to countries that restrict free speech and public discourse.

But the salient point remains: ALL countries employ media manipulation in one form and degree or another; the laziest amongst us are the ones they're after...the ones who mindlessly turn on CNN or Fox for their heaping serving of propagandist "sugar" for the day. You know, the same people who mindlessly vote one way or another because "he sounds nice" or "that's the way Daddy voted" or other weak-minded palaver.

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Here are a few examples of "double think" that infect many Americans:

Many partisan Democrats simultaneously believe that

a) The US was born of slavery, racism and genocide. It has no redeemable attributes. Even the founders' enlightenment ideals of the natural rights of individuals, democratic government and equality before the law are constructs of "white supremacy."

b) The US is an exceptional nation, a beacon of justice destined to lead the world toward a better society for all.

Large numbers of the general public

a) Are aware of corporate media and government lies, based on past examples of the Gulf of Tonkin, incubator babies, WMD and Qaddafi distributing Viagra to his troops.

b) Yet believe every new government/corporate media lie told such as Russia wasting its money to bribe people, who already hate US occupation and want to kill US troops, to kill US troops.

And then there's this.

a) Propaganda is the number one issue afflicting Western people because all the evil policies of Western governments depend on propaganda to generate support for those policies.

b) We can defeat propaganda without examining specific policies and exposing the lies being told to support those policies.

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What is the essence of the human being?

I have struggled with this question my whole life. This is true, at least, from the age of 12 to the present, including 35 plus years as a civil trial lawyer and owner of my own firm for over 20 years employing trial lawyers and paralegals. My cases have included, but limiting to, suing AIG Insurance Company in Federal Court regarding a 15 million dollar Officers and Directors policy, to representing

the largest insurance companies, defending and suing all types of licensed professionals under their Errors and Omissions policies, defending and suing individuals and/or corporate entities in motor vehicle collisions and doing Pro Bono work for people, including prisoners at San Quentin and Vacaville Prison as well as prisoners in the city and county jails of the San Francisco Bay Area.

From that experience, the essence of the human being, myself included, boils down to fear or laziness.

To me it seems, ultimately, the essence of the human being is fear.

Human fear manifests in basically two forms: material well being or, more precisely, monetary fear and physical fear, which is the fear of death.

The American Empire was created on, exists on and will only continue to consistent on the God of Money.

The god of money is the most powerful of all the gods.

You and I struggle against it; we fight to deny it.

You doubt it?

Look in the mirror.

What do you see?

Look all around you.

What do you see?

Does money make right?

Money makes what is

... in sight.

Feel free to take it as a slight.

Principles and values can make might.

You, however, must be willing to fight.

Not with words you speak or write.

Only fighting and dying, regrettably, are true.

What you say, think, write, feel believe means nothing, or next to nothing; the only consequence is what you do.

The God of Money ensues you have a roof over your head, have food on the table and have health insurance for cancer treatment at the hospital.

The human beings fear for material well being is the prime directive.

The human beings fear of death whether from internal bodily functions or from external perceived enemies … so-called “American Indians, The British or Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya or Syria” cause human beings to accept, if not agree with, the threats.

The word and theology of “propaganda” amounts to, on close examination, nothing more than words, gibberish.

Whether killing American Indians, The British, Koreans, Vietnamese, Iraqis, Libyans, Al-Qaeda or The Branch Dravidians or Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, all the U. S. Government needs to tell people “we” are under attack, physically or as to “our” way of life and that protesters or non-supporters are traitors, or, at least, apologists for Hitler, Stalin, Ho Chi Min, Saddam Hussein, or Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhāfī. Human beings will more than happy to kill, rape and pillage. Why? They perceive the material well being is under attack. They perceive the fear of death. Whether these human perceptions, these human fears are well grounded is not the issue. Understanding how, why, what or by whom this fear is created does not address the cause, at best, it highlights the symptoms or process. Simply, it is not substantive, merely style.

I respect people like Noam Chomsky or Ralph Nader. I submit, however, they and people like them are merely the controlled opposition.

Why am I wrong?

dennis hanna

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So true.

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press subsidies became a thing as soon as there were printing presses. FEC donations shown in the linked document (p.26) shows that there is a regime of publishing corporation that all contribute into the FEC system, year in year out. There are similar regimes in every sector of the economy also (p 22-30). I think the information systems that we have have evolved to meet the needs of wealth. I'm also assuming what we can see in the FEC data is just a subset of the actors involved. Facebook was running copious advertisements before the election for useless products like a trenching attachment for a homeowner sized chain saw, so you could dig a trench in your yard using your chainsaw.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K1KY40X1kkILTiBXpi11qDYGMlbVLqrM/view?usp=sharing

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My family business is journalism. My father was a reporter and then editor for more than 40 years. My sister wrote a newspaper column for 20. And I have worked at the Washington Post and The NY Times. Never have I read beliefs about journalism that are so wrong. I am deeply offended that you believe my entire bleeping family spent the entirety of their careers as “propagandists,” that every move they made in their professional lives was directed by Big Brother. Have you ever heard the saying “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted”? That is the mission of journalism, not furthering the agenda of anyone in power. Well, unless you work for Fox News. And by the way: no U.S. citizen is hurt by China?!?! Have you heard of intellectual property law? Every innovation created in American laboratories is reverse engineered by the Chinese, to the detriment of everyone in the West. Even hack writers from Australia.

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