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

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Saturday, October 16, 2021

  • What Happens When Doctors Buck Government Narrative on COVID? from Children's Health Defense. (Note: A synopsis says the following: "On the latest episode of “Doctors and Scientists,” host Brian Hooker interviews Dr. Alvin Moss, director of the West Virginia University Center for Health Ethics and Law, on the threats medical professionals and scientists face when they stray from the mainstream narrative on COVID and vaccines.")
Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower that mainstream media is fawning over, stands to earn millions of dollars for picking the 'right' side of the political establishment
  • Open mind more valuable than mere diploma, a cartoon and article published in Global Times, a major Chinese news publication. My reaction: Like my professor used to say, "you shouldn't have an open mind such that your brains fall out." I interpreted this to mean, based on his other statements, that he wanted us to question fundamental assumptions supporting any opinions.
  • The New American Leadership: Biden Tells the World What He Wants It to Know by Philip Giraldi from Strategic Culture Foundation. 💥My brief commentary follows: 
     
    I disagree with the conclusion of his article as expressed in the last paragraph:
     
    So, the myth of America trudges on with some new labels attached but otherwise pretty much the same. Many would argue that it is time for a reboot, to return to constitutionalism, small government and an end to pointless foreign wars and interventions. But to do that would pit individuals and small groups against some very powerful interests, i.e. the defense industry, big pharma, and government itself, which sees its natural role as one of growth. It is an unbalanced struggle, but it must be won if the United States of America is to survive with some basic freedoms intact into the 22nd century.
     
    It is in the nature of capitalism to grow small businesses into giant monopolies, and to evolve into imperialist nations like the formerly "Great" Britain, Nazi Germany, Italy, Japan, and the new de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire. Giraldi is reluctant to acknowledge this inherent historical tendency, but he seems to imply this fact in the second to the last sentence in this paragraph. However, in the following sentence he reaffirms his loyalty to capitalism and essentially negates the observation contained in the preceding sentence. The only antidote to the illness of capitalism is socialism.

    Perhaps the reason why the Strategic Culture Foundation publishes this article and a similar one is that their website is based in Russia and they have opted (like China) for historic and/or strategic reasons to have a mixed economy consisting of both private and public ownership of economic enterprises.
The following post is selected by Brad Fredricks (and any of his reactions and commentaries for this website):
Long ago I ran global marketing for VICE. While you won't read much about my brief period there, many of the modern portions of VICE came from my plans and strategy. VICE News, for instance, was the result of discovering that Wikipedia, at the time the largest free web traffic driver online, would only use VICE stories as reference links if VICE was a news media outlet.

Previous to this, I had been chatting about a news show with Trace Crutchfield, our infield reporter who was every-bit American Anchorman, about his ideas around creating a daily news show roundup, as well, it seemed like a great way to report on untold stories.

Moving forwards, VICE wholeheartedly embraced the direction when they realized the financial windfall to come of free web traffic by being a media reference source on Wikipedia. Previously, I had to pay for web traffic.

All of this to say, I decided to leave VICE after I sat in an editorial meeting with the now Chief Creative Officer, Eddy Moretti. In the meeting Eddy let it be known that we had to edit out comments from one of the shows due to it potentially offending a sponsor. One could understand not biting the hand that feeds them, but this was also a giant red flag.

VICE has a department called Virtue, founded by Spencer Baim, now VICE's Chief Brand Officer. Spencers department, Virtue, was tasked with taking the commercial wants of VICE advertisers and turning them into content. This was no big issue as VICE was not a news outlet at the time, just an influential magazine for irreverent youth (male skateboarders-bro types).

When you work in a media outlet you begin to see the relationship between the editorial department, marketing, and sales. The subtext should be clear, there is no magazine without the advertisers, who genuinely influenced the news and information released.

Knowing my history, it seems more than likely to me that CNN is engaged in undeclared brand-sponsored advertising hidden as news. It happens. It is how companies like VICE, and probably CNN, make money.

Fundamentally these are the same behaviors in two different media outlets, except that at least VICE was not slinging propaganda for a dictator, at least that I know of.
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