March 14, 2011
Today’s American political crisis has many facets, but a key one is narrative – how the history and ideals of the United States are understood by the public. The strategic importance of narrative is why the Right has invested so much in building media to redirect and control the national storylines.
3 comments:
Hey Bob,
I haven't been here in years, in fact, not since you back Obamahood for dictator. I was just wondering how that was working out for ya?
Your radical, Green pal,
Ernest
THOUGHT CONTROL
A structural approach to many of
the areas upon which you touch
is an in-depth consideration of
THOUGHT CONTROL in a "democratic"
society.
Noam Chomsky has analyzed in depth
thought control. Among the
works in the Chomsky cannon of
particular note are:
DETERRING DEMOCRACY
NECESSARY ILLUSIONS
(with E.S. Herman) MANUFACTURING
CONSENT
I am certain there are others such as FOR REASONS OF
STATE.
On the fronticepiece of FOR REASONS OF STATE is the following quotation:
"...to offend, to oppress, to
despoil, to plunder, to assasinate
or enslave is ordinarily regarded
as a crime. In public life, on the
other hand, from the standpoint
of patriotism, when things are
done for the greater glory of the
State, for the preservation or the
extension of its power, it is all
transformed into duty and virtue.."
---Michael Bakunin
It remains in the structure of
the media and its relationship to
power in democratic societies that Chomsky hits home with penetrating
force.
email: peterloeb@yahoo.com
BANG BANG, YOU'RE DEAD!
It is usually counterproductive
to set up a rogue's gallery
of convenient targets selected
exclusively from an opposing
party or group.
Doing so is following a carefully
designed script for us by the
powerful (the State, the Media and
the Wealthy) leading to our
destruction. The intention
is to leave us squirming and
screaming in utter helplessness
as victims of our own vitriol.
In addition, it is a game we can
never "win".
Essential too is that this approach
is not supported by the facts or
by history.
Convenient as it may appear to be
to join in attacking those enemies
being selected for us by our friends, (to paraphrase Shakes-
peare) "nothing can come of
nothing" (King Lear")
Closer examination reveals
blatant racism in the Wilson
administration, official thought
control (the Committee on Public
Information, "the Creel Commis
sion". And more.
Reagan and Bush I and Bush II
may well be what we remember
most clearly.
And what of Barack Obama? A man
for the poor, for the "working
man", for the Wealthy, for the
powerful, for increasing foreign
wars, for voting against the rest
of the UN Security Council on
February 18, 2011, and thereby
blocking any condemnation of the
State of Israel for its actions,
for increasing tax breaks for the
Wealthy? And what for the evicted?
And more.
email:peterloeb@yahoo.com
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