Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): The single most overlooked and under-appreciated aspect of our society is the way domestic propaganda is used to shape the way mainstream westerners perceive and think about their world. Typically the only time you'll ever hear the word "propaganda" mentioned in mainstream discourse is in reference to things other countries do to their own citizenry or as part of foreign influence operations, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the times we've encountered propaganda in our day to day lives, the call was coming from inside the house.
"Apse in his cathedral mind." In other words, a largely empty, echoey space, inside a larger, even empiter, echoey space. And what IS there is strictly reflective of a certain dogma, to the exclusion of all others.
A thinking, educated and well-read person does not believe a single word of the American (Western European) media. The fact that the media financed by the USA is already the II. Since World War II, it has been constantly inciting wars and uprisings, and I would like to give an example from my family's life. My father was a well-known and successful Hungarian athlete who took part in the 1956 Hungarian uprising, for which he was imprisoned, and was only able to escape to the West thanks to a Russian officer who liked sports. When the revolution failed under the tracks of the tanks of the Soviet empire, Radio Free Europe, in the hands of the USA, encouraged the Hungarian revolutionaries to fight and said the soldiers of the Free World, led by the United States, were already near the border. As we know since then, the United States told the Soviet leadership through secret channels to calmly "sort things out" because they have no intention of interfering ! So they knew that there was no hope for the resistance, but the lives of the Hungarian resistance fighters did not matter to them ! Just as it doesn't matter now how many young Ukrainians will be sacrificed in the slaughterhouse, the bottom line here is that at any cost, even millions of Polish, Romanian, Baltic young men, just do harm to the Russians ! For anyone who has even an iota of doubt about the bloodthirstiness of US politicians, let me remind you of the statement of former US politician Madelein Albright :
“We heard that half a million [Iraqi] children died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima,” Stahl asked, “and you know, is it worth the price?
“I think it's a very difficult choice,” Albright replied, “but the price, we think, is worth the price.
The American media empire is owned and operated by corporate America, under orders from the US Government, who is effectively doing the same thing Hitler did during WWII when he gave all German citizens a free transistor radio to spread lies, disinformation, misinformation and every other imaginable type of propaganda. Stop reading and listening to the news as well as stop relying on the tel-LIE-vision for truth. Instead, listen and read what writers and journalists say about what's going on in our world like Caitlin is doing. 👍👏
'Western News Media Exist To Administer Propaganda'. I think most of you readers understand that bit Caitlin, that's why we read your work - as an antidote.
The English political comedy "Yes Prime Minister" did a good take on understanding the media, which is easily found via a quick search of Youtube.
Western malice is positively vertiginous: this gang would shoot itself in the head if it thought the bullet would exit their head and penetrate Russia's. The G 7, held, of all places in Hiroshima - what short memories the Japanese have - is sanctioning Russian aluminum, copper, nickel and diamonds- ensuring that the prices for these commodities, along with gas and oil, will go sky high.
But that's all good- more money in the pockets of Western elites, at the expense of the populaces.
It has gone beyond propaganda to mind control. Populations are completely passive to the lies of the war mongers and accept perpetual war as part of the times we live in.
The US has its independent media to break the spell of lies. Here in Canada there is no alternative media, its straight out NEWSPEAK . We are the ultimate colonized country and powder monkey to the empire's wars.
Duh! Recently Western News Media has become so unhinged and farcical that they run the danger of losing even low-information citizens, hence push towards censorship. Interesting times.
“…."Psyops" is short for psychological operations, the component actions in psychological warfare, which becomes more important in cold war conflicts between nuclear powers who can't confront each other directly…..”
RAND Corp has laid out how they can use this as a means of social control, and not even related to cold war really. Just purely how media in the current age can be used to control the masses by governments.
Also the con game is much deeper than just the false media like Bellingcat or the “think tanks” used to promote lobbyist agendas in the media. The con game also includes many phony “consultancies”, such as the one that spread the dubious narrative about Uyghurs into the NGO and media. And phony NGOs like the NED and USAID, also used to promote and spread state agenda and narratives.
The entire landscape is information gathering and analysis is riddled with these false fronts. It’s far beyond the media.
Worse yet, as has been reported recently the Pentagon is now getting its hooks into academica.
So before long there will be no almost no source of knowledge and information that we can rely on. All of this done by basic plain old means. No need fo “AI” or whatever.
And that dear friends, is its only reason for existence. Because 99% of the news, whatever it may be, has no bearing on your life (excepting local events of concern), I feel it can be ignored. I do and have for decades.
And yet millions sit down daily to get their dose of “news”. It’s kind of an addiction to many. They wouldn’t know what to do around meal time if they didn’t have the “stories from around the world” time.
Worth the wait. I hadn’t seen you in my email for a few days and went a-roaming. Got to Jimmy Dore, some Tucker on Ed Dowd, the Geopolitical Economics Report and the wildly entertaining Vigilant Fox. I had a great time, but I’m glad to be back home. And looking forward to your regulars’ comments.
It's not just the war profiteers that engage the self interested propaganda game you outline here.
Case in point: The NJ Audubon Society (publicly considered wealthy birders) are led by a former corporate Exxon Mobil scientist named Alex Ireland. Mr. Ireland appeared in a recent press release issued by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection announcing a sweetheart settlement deal with corporate chemical giant polluter BASF at a massive 1000+ acre toxic waste site in NJ that is known to have been the cause of a childhood cancer cluster were over 100 children died. Mr. Ireland profusely praised this settlement in terms of its benefits to the local community (it involved creation of a small "nature park"). Mr. Ireland's quote was widely printed by the media. The local government passed a Resolution condemning the dirty deal and residents were outraged about it and blasted the NJ DEP at a public session held AFTER the deal was negotiated behind their back and without their knowledge or input.
Now here's the cherry on top: BASF has been a longtime "major donor" to NJ Audubon, a fact that is in NJA annual financial reports and not hard to find out, but never reported by media. Curiously, just prior to this BASF deal, NJ Audubon received an "anonymous (dark money) "gift" of $6 MILLION, which they openly brag about as the largest in their history.
So there is all is: 1) revolving door; 2) propaganda; 3) regulatory capture; 4) conflicts of interest; 5) dark money; 6) lapdog corporate media; 7) self serving schemes (conspiracies); and 8) corporate poisoning of people and violations of environmental laws that goes unpunished.
And this is just one example - the same organization NJA formed a partnership with Donald Trump at his Bedminster NJ golf course for which Trump got media praise and corporate tax credits.
And none of this is an anomaly - it's how even the environmental groups now play the game.
Great analysis Caitlin, as usual. I first became aware of Bellingcat during the press fiasco with MH17 and again with the false flags in Douma. Bellingcat and White Helmets go hand-in-glove.
"Apse in his cathedral mind." In other words, a largely empty, echoey space, inside a larger, even empiter, echoey space. And what IS there is strictly reflective of a certain dogma, to the exclusion of all others.
A thinking, educated and well-read person does not believe a single word of the American (Western European) media. The fact that the media financed by the USA is already the II. Since World War II, it has been constantly inciting wars and uprisings, and I would like to give an example from my family's life. My father was a well-known and successful Hungarian athlete who took part in the 1956 Hungarian uprising, for which he was imprisoned, and was only able to escape to the West thanks to a Russian officer who liked sports. When the revolution failed under the tracks of the tanks of the Soviet empire, Radio Free Europe, in the hands of the USA, encouraged the Hungarian revolutionaries to fight and said the soldiers of the Free World, led by the United States, were already near the border. As we know since then, the United States told the Soviet leadership through secret channels to calmly "sort things out" because they have no intention of interfering ! So they knew that there was no hope for the resistance, but the lives of the Hungarian resistance fighters did not matter to them ! Just as it doesn't matter now how many young Ukrainians will be sacrificed in the slaughterhouse, the bottom line here is that at any cost, even millions of Polish, Romanian, Baltic young men, just do harm to the Russians ! For anyone who has even an iota of doubt about the bloodthirstiness of US politicians, let me remind you of the statement of former US politician Madelein Albright :
“We heard that half a million [Iraqi] children died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima,” Stahl asked, “and you know, is it worth the price?
“I think it's a very difficult choice,” Albright replied, “but the price, we think, is worth the price.
Now it's the Ukrainian children's turn!
The American media empire is owned and operated by corporate America, under orders from the US Government, who is effectively doing the same thing Hitler did during WWII when he gave all German citizens a free transistor radio to spread lies, disinformation, misinformation and every other imaginable type of propaganda. Stop reading and listening to the news as well as stop relying on the tel-LIE-vision for truth. Instead, listen and read what writers and journalists say about what's going on in our world like Caitlin is doing. 👍👏
'Western News Media Exist To Administer Propaganda'. I think most of you readers understand that bit Caitlin, that's why we read your work - as an antidote.
The English political comedy "Yes Prime Minister" did a good take on understanding the media, which is easily found via a quick search of Youtube.
Western malice is positively vertiginous: this gang would shoot itself in the head if it thought the bullet would exit their head and penetrate Russia's. The G 7, held, of all places in Hiroshima - what short memories the Japanese have - is sanctioning Russian aluminum, copper, nickel and diamonds- ensuring that the prices for these commodities, along with gas and oil, will go sky high.
But that's all good- more money in the pockets of Western elites, at the expense of the populaces.
That the western MSM uncritically reports fantastic Ukrainian claims of victory after victory should tell you all you need to know.
It has gone beyond propaganda to mind control. Populations are completely passive to the lies of the war mongers and accept perpetual war as part of the times we live in.
The US has its independent media to break the spell of lies. Here in Canada there is no alternative media, its straight out NEWSPEAK . We are the ultimate colonized country and powder monkey to the empire's wars.
Duh! Recently Western News Media has become so unhinged and farcical that they run the danger of losing even low-information citizens, hence push towards censorship. Interesting times.
“…."Psyops" is short for psychological operations, the component actions in psychological warfare, which becomes more important in cold war conflicts between nuclear powers who can't confront each other directly…..”
RAND Corp has laid out how they can use this as a means of social control, and not even related to cold war really. Just purely how media in the current age can be used to control the masses by governments.
Also the con game is much deeper than just the false media like Bellingcat or the “think tanks” used to promote lobbyist agendas in the media. The con game also includes many phony “consultancies”, such as the one that spread the dubious narrative about Uyghurs into the NGO and media. And phony NGOs like the NED and USAID, also used to promote and spread state agenda and narratives.
The entire landscape is information gathering and analysis is riddled with these false fronts. It’s far beyond the media.
Worse yet, as has been reported recently the Pentagon is now getting its hooks into academica.
So before long there will be no almost no source of knowledge and information that we can rely on. All of this done by basic plain old means. No need fo “AI” or whatever.
And that dear friends, is its only reason for existence. Because 99% of the news, whatever it may be, has no bearing on your life (excepting local events of concern), I feel it can be ignored. I do and have for decades.
It wil forever be one of the greatest tragedies of the Trump victory that any semblance of objectivity in the media died on election day, IMO.
And yet millions sit down daily to get their dose of “news”. It’s kind of an addiction to many. They wouldn’t know what to do around meal time if they didn’t have the “stories from around the world” time.
Worth the wait. I hadn’t seen you in my email for a few days and went a-roaming. Got to Jimmy Dore, some Tucker on Ed Dowd, the Geopolitical Economics Report and the wildly entertaining Vigilant Fox. I had a great time, but I’m glad to be back home. And looking forward to your regulars’ comments.
It's not just the war profiteers that engage the self interested propaganda game you outline here.
Case in point: The NJ Audubon Society (publicly considered wealthy birders) are led by a former corporate Exxon Mobil scientist named Alex Ireland. Mr. Ireland appeared in a recent press release issued by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection announcing a sweetheart settlement deal with corporate chemical giant polluter BASF at a massive 1000+ acre toxic waste site in NJ that is known to have been the cause of a childhood cancer cluster were over 100 children died. Mr. Ireland profusely praised this settlement in terms of its benefits to the local community (it involved creation of a small "nature park"). Mr. Ireland's quote was widely printed by the media. The local government passed a Resolution condemning the dirty deal and residents were outraged about it and blasted the NJ DEP at a public session held AFTER the deal was negotiated behind their back and without their knowledge or input.
Now here's the cherry on top: BASF has been a longtime "major donor" to NJ Audubon, a fact that is in NJA annual financial reports and not hard to find out, but never reported by media. Curiously, just prior to this BASF deal, NJ Audubon received an "anonymous (dark money) "gift" of $6 MILLION, which they openly brag about as the largest in their history.
So there is all is: 1) revolving door; 2) propaganda; 3) regulatory capture; 4) conflicts of interest; 5) dark money; 6) lapdog corporate media; 7) self serving schemes (conspiracies); and 8) corporate poisoning of people and violations of environmental laws that goes unpunished.
And this is just one example - the same organization NJA formed a partnership with Donald Trump at his Bedminster NJ golf course for which Trump got media praise and corporate tax credits.
And none of this is an anomaly - it's how even the environmental groups now play the game.
Great analysis Caitlin, as usual. I first became aware of Bellingcat during the press fiasco with MH17 and again with the false flags in Douma. Bellingcat and White Helmets go hand-in-glove.
"Louise Mensch is the Sy Hersh of our time"! Imagine thinking that was a smart thing to write!
Great article Caitlin, nice to have you back in my inbox