Not P but Disinformation ?

[da kid]

    I don't know about that Seynour Hersch Syria story. He has apparently done great work in the past but his report is based off of one single source that he says is a military adviser. His story is contradicted by all the UN chemical weapons inspector's reports too. Although, again on RT, I read that the UN inspector's did not follow the normal protocol and their escort was a rebel sympathizer or something. So I don't know what to believe. Hersch's story seems less reliable though
________________________________
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org <owner-pynchon-l at waste.org> on behalf of Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2017 11:11:05 AM
To: Laura; pynchon -l
Subject: Re: Not P but Disinformation ?



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