Mostly with cartoons from mainstream media, Carley illustrates the Empire's use of their powerful propaganda organs to disseminate themes that serve their interests of global domination. President Putin of Russia, like anyone that pursues an independent course of action, has long since become a target for Empire attacks and ridicule.
Because Empire media has enjoyed so many years of success in distorting reality for ordinary Americans by hiding ruling class war crimes behind "humanitarian" causes, by supporting whatever stories emanating from government officials, whether named or not, they continue to do what they do best--the manufacturing of consent to Empire policies and actions.
American fascists (if you are not sure what fascism is, see my commentaries here, here, here, and here)
have long recognized the value of managing the minds of ordinary
Americans instead of resorting to the brutal use of force of classic
fascism. This orientation probably dates from WWI when American ruling
class directors saw the necessity of preparing ordinary Americans to
enter the European war because they feared that their allies, Britain
and France, to whom they had lent so much money, might very well
lose the war. They launched a massive propaganda campaign that used the
grossest forms of negative propaganda portraying Germans as sadistic animals on the prowl to
devour all good people. The success of this propaganda to turn American minds around from being against participation into support for US entry into the war was beyond their wildest dreams. This lesson has stayed with them ever since.In the 1930s when all capitalist ruling classes were split down the middle on the issue of supporting German fascism, American fascists used a cover of isolationism to impede all efforts to come to the aid of all nations trying to defend themselves from fascist invasions. (There were genuine anti-war people (among opinion leaders), but the serious ones made up no more than 10% of isolationists.) The ruling capitalist class once again used their mainstream media to turn people, but this time it was against war or any effort to prevent Nazis from having their way. They used the media to portray the spread of fascism across Europe as only a problem for Europe, and later Asia. Many ordinary Americans swallowed their lies whole.
The first fascist victum was Spain that had elected a left-wing republican government in 1931. All major liberal capitalist nations remained neutral while German and Italian fascist regimes starting in 1936 tore the country to pieces and installed the fascist Franco regime. Because of the split in the European capitalist countries, Nazi Germany easily overran one country after another. Only when when the Nazis posed a threat to the British Empire did American fascists (aka "isolationists") give their grudging support for US aid to Britain. But it took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a military base in Hawaii, to bring the US into the war against fascism.
While recently reading the letters of FDR, I learned of the strong opposition in American mainstream media to aiding any of the Allies of WWII. FDR remarked on this frequently. He saw from 85-90% of mainstream media fitting into this virulent "isolationist" opposition. In addition this extremely popular president was opposed by the same crowd on nearly all of his New Deal programs which provided some relief to poverty stricken ordinary Americans during the Great Depression. He was so stymied from getting his views out that he had to resort to using radio, known as Fireside Chats, to communicate directly to Americans.
The US capitalist class's use of media, education, and entertainment to shape consent to their policies and actions is grossly misunderstood and underestimated. I believe that it is absolutely imperative that a dedicated effort must be made to establish alternative media as a major part of a strategy to take power away from this class and establish a true rule of, by, and for the people.
