Pilger describes the descent of journalism which corresponds in my view with the assent of the US-led transnational capitalist Empire after WWII. Now the imperialist Empire is not only using their media corporations and all institutions of Western societies to spread their propaganda, but is also starting down the road of outright censorship of alternative media that dares to challenge their propaganda. He concludes the article with this very insightful observation:
So much of the mainstream has descended to this level. Subjectivism is all; slogans and outrage are proof enough. What matters is the "perception".
When he was US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus declared what he called "a war of perception... conducted continuously using the news media". What really mattered was not the facts but the way the story played in the United States. The undeclared enemy was, as always, an informed and critical public at home.
Nothing has changed. In the 1970s, I met Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's film-maker, whose propaganda mesmerised the German public.
She told me the "messages" of her films were dependent not on "orders from above", but on the "submissive void" of an uninformed public.
"Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie?" I asked.
"Everyone," she said. "Propaganda always wins, if you allow it."
