We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Media Lies, Corporate Ties, and Truth Dies? … Don’t Count on It!

Click here to access article by Andrew Gavin Marshall from his blog. 
Our media is a melting-pot of misinformation, bought and owned by billionaires and oligarchs, whether it is public, private, or foundation-funded. Information is integral, propaganda is power, and media is money. Control of the media leads directly to control of the minds of those who consume it, and like all patterns of consumption, it is sustained by profit, but its purpose is much deeper, more pervasive and permanent: social control.
God, I needed this after viewing some of the worst TV ever over breakfast. The "news" coverage seemed worse than ever before: filled with sex scandals, the new Microsoft electronic gadget that everyone in the media is going gaga over, and more gun violence in Seattle. It's the same coverage across all the stations. It is as if there were a ministry of propaganda somewhere that was feeding news items to all TV stations. I wanted to scream! Then I read this article and my sanity was restored.

We simply must find a way to support alternative journalists like the Canadian Andrew Gavin Marshall.