Not P but Disinformation ?

[Allan Balliett]

On Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 10:32 AM, Laura <laurakelber at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the info and the links, Thomas. As a denizen of the country
> with the freest, most democratic press in the world, I naturally hadn't
> heard about Hersh's latest article. I'm still addled by the chorus of
> cheers from the Trump-hating establishment when he "finally did the right
> thing" by blasting Syria. Now if he can only start a sub-nuclear skirmish
> in Eastern Europe, all will be forgiven!
>

Yes, that was sickening to see how rapidly the 'media of the left' fell
into admiration of Trump.  The whole scenario that Thomas describes was so
apparent to those of us who got out of high school in the mid-to-late 60s
and started watching "network news" as though our lives depended upon it.
Richad K Moore's Exiting the Matrix is essentially about how so many people
in America work up to the difference between patriotic duty and whatever
the Viet Nam War was really about that the whole news management scheme all
but broke down. (Don't worry, it quickly recovered. )

-Allan in WV

>
> *Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID*
>
>
> Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
>
> > Furthermore, the idea that "the US media" presents some
> >kind of monolithic, synchronized "propaganda narrative" is utter
> >bullshit, which should be obvious to anyone with working eyes,
> >ears, and a brain.
>
> As far as the geopolitical imperatives of the
> bipartisan war-party (e.g. McCain, Graham, Clinton, the
> Neocons) are concerned, the Western mainstream media indeed present
> an essentially monolithic and synchronized propaganda
> narrative with very few, isolated exceptions. This should
> be obvious to anyone with working eyes, ears, and a brain.
>
> But I prefer to provide at least some arguments along with my
> opinionating...
>
> So, what is Michael Gordon of the NYT up to
> these days? Not reporting on Syria, I hope?
>
> What is Fred Hiatt of the WP up to these days? Not writing
> editorials in favour of military intervention in Syria, I
> hope?
>
> Fool me once etc.
>
> A few relevant quotes from articles that I find interesting/agree with:
>
> "If you wish to understand the degree to which a
> supposedly free western media are constructing a world of
> half-truths and deceptions to manipulate their audiences,
> keeping us uninformed and pliant, then there could hardly
> be a better case study than their treatment of Pulitzer
> prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
>
> All of these highly competitive, for-profit, scoop-seeking
> media outlets separately took identical decisions: first
> to reject Hersh’s latest investigative report, and then to
> studiously ignore it once it was published in Germany last
> Sunday. They have continued to maintain an absolute radio
> silence on his revelations, even as over the past few days
> they have given a great deal of attention to two stories
> on the very issue Hersh’s investigation addresses.
>
> (...)
>
> [Hersh's revelations provide] an alternative narrative of
> these events that one might have assumed would be of
> intense interest to the media, given that Donald Trump
> approved a military strike on Syria based on the official
> narrative. Hersh’s version suggests that Trump acted
> against the intelligence advice he received from his own
> officials, in a highly dangerous move that not only
> grossly violated international law but might have dragged
> Assad’s main ally, Russia, into the fray. The Syrian arena
> has the potential to trigger a serious confrontation
> between the world’s two major nuclear powers."
>
> http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2017-06-30/medias-
> propaganda-war-on-syria-in-full-flow/
>
> 'Mainstream American media outlets have willingly and
> openly embraced a narrative provided by Al Qaeda
> affiliates whose record of using chemical weapons in Syria
> and distorting and manufacturing 'evidence' to promote
> anti-Assad policies in the west, including regime change,
> is well documented.  These outlets have made a deliberate
> decision to endorse the view of Al Qaeda over a narrative
> provided by Russian and Syrian government authorities
> without any effort to fact check either position. These
> actions, however, do not seem to shock the conscience of
> the American public; when it comes to Syria, the
> mainstream American media and its audience has long ago
> ceded the narrative to Al Qaeda and other Islamist
> anti-regime elements.'
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syria-chemical-attack-
> al-qaeda-played-donald-trump_us_58ea226fe4b058f0a02fca4d
>
> "All wars always produce phony atrocity stories – along
> with real atrocities. But in the Syrian case fabricated
> news and one-sided reporting have taken over the news
> agenda to a degree probably not seen since the First World
> War."
>
> https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n03/patrick-cockburn/who-supplies-the-news
>
> "Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of
> the most shameful episodes in the history of the American
> press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of
> Aleppo is the latest reason why."
>
> https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/02/18/the-media-
> are-misleading-public-syria/8YB75otYirPzUCnlwaVtcK/story.html
>
> I am not in a position to know this first-hand but suspect that RT can
> hardly be worse.
>
>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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