Tyranny, Press Whores, and the Slaughter of Millions — Harry Goslin

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Tyranny, Press Whores, and the Slaughter of Millions — Harry Goslin

Tyranny, Press Whores, and the Slaughter of Millions — Harry Goslin
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=44878;title=APFN
Harry Goslin
Tyranny, Press Whores, and the Slaughter of Millions
Mon Sep 29 22:04:15 2003
64.140.158.149
Tyranny, Press Whores, and the Slaughter of Millions
by Harry Goslin
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/goslin/goslin5.html
Censorship is a necessary component of every “successful” war. As General
William Westmoreland observed during the Vietnam War, “without censorship,
things can get terribly confused in the public mind.” So long as government
controls the flow of information and images to the folks back home, it can
maintain the slaughter and oppression of thousands half a world away
indefinitely. Essential to wartime deception is a compliant media. Nothing does
more to elevate a government’s campaign of mass murder and tyranny to a struggle
of good versus evil than a press willing to prostitute itself.
A “free” press serves an important purpose in a free society: keep an eye on
government and its petty tyrants who seek to plunder the liberties and property
of the people, and expose transgressions to the public in a timely manner. This
should hold true whether the press is covering failed foreign imperial
adventures or local scandals involving elected or appointed officials.
Misinformation that trumpets the failed policies and malfeasances of government
only paves the way for further corruption and thievery by elected officials.
When the media cooperates with government against the best interests of a
supposedly free people, expensive and disastrous policies are given a sense of
legitimacy they do not deserve. The failed occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan
provide two glaring examples.
President Bush’s recent request for $87 billion to continue “reconstruction”
efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan is tacit admission that the U.S. occupation
there is nothing more than a money pit for American taxpayers and a growing
treasure trove for U.S. corporate interests closely tied to the White House.
Once token Congressional resistance to the president’s request is complete, the
Federal Reserve will wave its magic wand and create more money for the world
monopoly board’s elite players. It will be hailed as a “show of support for the
troops” and democracy, rather than as the prolific waste of resources that it
is.
Should the media allow the Bush administration to repeat its favored worn out
imperial cliché without question--that continued funding of the occupations of
Iraq and Afghanistan are vital to U.S. and world security, and that failure to
follow through on “reconstruction” efforts in Iraq sends a dangerous signal to
terrorists the world over--it will simply be a continuation of the media’s
policy of giving President Bush’s imperial ventures a free pass by not
subjecting his justification and motives for war and occupation to criticism and
scrutiny.
President Bush and his close circle of advisors are extraordinary liars, but
they would not have gotten this country into the military and financial mess we
face without the help of the media. As Eric Margolis recently pointed out, Bush’
s foreign policy disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan are directly attributable to
one of the “key organs of democracy--an independent, inquiring media,”
completely failing in its primary function--as the watchdog of government. Once
going out of its way to “rock the boat,” the “free” press in this country is now
contented with embedding itself in the executive branch as the Ministry of
Information.
September 11, 2001, elevated lying by the executive branch from an art to an
in-your-face daily activity calculated to exact fear, uncertainty, and
unquestioning loyalty from the American people. Carol Norris, writing in
Counterpunch magazine, identifies “Remember 911!” as the Bush administration’s
“catch-all response” to a media and American people in danger of awakening from
their self-induced intellectual slumber. As Norris argues, that phrase, relayed
endlessly by the media for over two years now, has freed the president and his
advisors of “any obligation to account for their actions. It is the cozy,
protective cloak that has made the Bush administration all but impervious to
questioning and doubt.”
The brazen actions of the Bush administration--facilitation and manipulation
of a crisis for maximum political gain--are nothing new among Twentieth Century
chief executives. It has been the foundation of government growth and power for
the last hundred years. As General Douglas MacArthur said, “The powers in charge
keep us in a perpetual state of fear: Keep us in a continuous stampede of
patriotic fervor with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been
some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind” their
cause. In the words of H. L. Mencken, the powers that be have created “an
endless series of hobgoblins” to heighten our fears and boost our trust in
government.
Increasingly, the media’s assault on the flow of information critical of
government policy has been helped along by “concerned citizens” and special
interest groups whose economic success is directly linked to government abuse of
power. Wrapping themselves in a veil of patriotism, these individuals and groups
harass and intimidate the remaining vestiges of dissent and criticism into
silence or compliance. Of this ilk of people, William E. Borah said, “I look
upon those who would deny others the right to urge and argue their position,
however irksome and pernicious they may seem, as intellectual and moral
cowards.” More precisely, they who seek to silence criticism of government and
its Napoleons, Caesars, and Hitlers are best suited to make their views known by
using crayons, scissors, construction paper, and Elmer’s Glue.
The press is never held in high esteem by public officials and their
associated leeches that suck the public treasury dry. A “free” press best serves
the people when it is critically examining every move government makes, not
touting the destruction, havoc, and chaos of government militarism abroad or
regulatory strangulation at home.
NPR’s Bob Edwards recently commented: “We are to hold public officials to
account . . . If pointed questions make public officials squirm--well, that just
goes with their job, and they’re supposed to take it. That’s the price that
comes with the privilege of serving the people.” If the press caves to
intimidation by misguided crackpots, the numbers physically slaughtered abroad
will pale in comparison to the numbers intellectually slaughtered here at home.
September 29, 2003
======================
"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be
bought and sold are legislators." ~ P.J. O'Rourke

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