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

Friday, June 15, 2012

Till Death Do Them Part: NATO, Imperialism And The Mainstream Media

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from CounterCurrents.

Of course, his comments applies to almost all Western mainstream media. What we now have are "ministries of truth" that feed their publics with carefully formulated messages to manage their consent to policies and actions that are steadily leading us down the slope to barbarism. At times these ministries offer up "news" about sex scandals, celebrities, Queen celebrations, phony elections and other mind-numbing infotainment to distract us; while at other times they package reports of their war crimes as "humanitarian missions".  I have over a half century perspective on mainstream media reporting, and I have seen it deteriorate decade after decade along with the growth of the Empire that is slowly wrecking devastation on many parts of the world.

What's to be done? We, the 99 Percent, simply must establish our own media, and we must support those who, like Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, take enormous risks to reveal the hidden crimes of the Empire. Most importantly, we must work to slowly--or maybe quickly--dismantle the system that feeds these warmongers, economy wreckers, and ecosystem destroyers.
at
Labels: ,