Mainstream Media… AKA, the Elite Propaganda Machine
Today, my lunchtime reading included some articles about technical flaws with the new iPhone (and the apologist media like Engadget who dismiss them out of excessive fanboyism… and healthy product placement deals or outright payola) as well as some finaincial news.
I came across an article which confirms (as if it needed any more confirmation) that when it comes to mainstream media (free media, commercial media, or whatever you want to call it), their function is not to provide individuals with information but, instead, simply exist so that powerful interests in society can push propaganda and disinformation on the public. Here is the article and the title pretty well sums it up:
Mike Shedlock, “Inane Thoughts of the Day: CNNMoney Article says ‘Housing Shortage is Coming’; Coldwell Banker CEO says Now is the ‘Absolute Best Time’ to Buy a Home,” June 25, 2010. http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/06/inane-thoughts-of-day-cnnmoney-article.html.
The author, Mike Shedlock (or ‘Mish’) does a very good job of picking apart such outright propaganda but I wonder just how many poor saps are sitting in front of CNN and hear this and think they are somehow getting the ‘inside dope.’ (For me, one of the truly confounding effects of mass media is that some people evidently think that the mass mediated messages they hear on, say, radio or television are in some way insider information.)
This process of mass communication is nothing new but surely does explain why we find ourselves in the global mess that we do financially. For the past decade, the mainstream media have been letting loose a constant stream of financial koolaid, filling people’s minds with huge expectations and the belief that money somehow grows on trees (or on the magical equity in houses*). And the questionable reliablility of the mainstream media is something that we should pay moer attention to. If you look at your local news, it is probably filled with people who went to journalism school, are decent human beings, but are probably overworked and oiverly worried about the everyday worries that come with employment (career, office politics, etc.). If they say something like “And this could just be another sign that the global recession is a thing of the past…,” what should we make of it? More often than not, this is not a statement that comes from any empirical analysis or a wealth of knwoeldge or experience. Instead, it is likely one part cliche (repeating what they hear around them, sometimes coming from the ‘experts’ they interview) and another part fear (they don’t want to rock the boat-full of advertisers and elites who depend upon the status quo). Now, if you look at national news, things might be a little different but probably only in that the amount of influence that powerful interests and elites play is that much more prominent. Most newscasters, especially on the mainstream news, are there because they are good looking and because they are willing to play within the rules of the system in order to achieve that position. (Note that this does not mean they are lacking skills as journalists or newscasters.) This explains why those people (and there were many) who warned of bubbles and fraud in the housing/mortgage/finance markets were mocked and belittled by the many journalists/pundits/experts who are attached to mainstream news.
Like so many things in life, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn’t. With the media, if it is free, there is a good chance that it is simply to good to be true.
*This reminds me of a commercial from a few years back which depicts two small children, one of whom is on his hands and knees, with a flashlight or magnifying glass in his hands, inspecting the floor. The other kid asks him what he is doing. To which the first child replies: “Wooking for ekwidee… Dad says da howse is full of ekwidee and dat makes us vewee wich.” I have to find that commerical as it pretty well sums up the naivety of the last decade (… or half century for that matter).
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A culture on the brink
Chris Hedges, one of my favorite journalists/writers, has written an article summarizing some of the ideas from his latest book about the ‘unreality’ of modern culture. There are many interesting sections, but here is a good excerpt:
The childish idea that we can always prevail, that reality is never an impediment to what we want, is the central motif of illusion peddled on popular talk shows, by the Christian Right, by Hollywood, in corporate retreats, by the news industry and by self-help gurus. Reality can always be overcome. The future will always be glorious. And held out to keep us amused and entertained are spectacles and celebrities who have become idealized versions of ourselves and who, we are assured, we can all one day become.
The cultural embrace of illusion, and the celebrity culture that has risen up around it, have accompanied the awful hollowing out of the state. We have shifted from a culture of production to a culture of consumption. We have been sold a system of casino capitalism, with its complicated and unregulated deals of turning debt into magical assets, to create fictional wealth for us and vast wealth for our elite. We have internalized the awful ethic of corporatism — one built around the cult of the self and consumption as an inner compulsion — to believe that living is about our own advancement and our own happiness at the expense of others. Corporations, behind the smoke screen, have ruthlessly dismantled and destroyed our manufacturing base and impoverished our working class. The free market became our god and government was taken hostage by corporations, the same corporations that entice us daily with illusions though the mass media, the entertainment industry and popular culture.
After yet another summer of watching mainstream media ignore actual issues or complex stories to endlessly twitter (on and on and on and on) about dead celebrites, Facebook, live celebrties, beer gate, celebrities who we wish were dead, and then go on to just recite government or corporate press releases, it is not hard to agree with Hedges. But, of course, it goes well beyond that as there is always the other side… the audience. I don’t think that audiences are well understood or well-served by major media conglomerates today despite all the market research. These media companies target only a few demographics and feed them little more than corporate marketing. Still, the system relies on consumers demanding little more than spectacle or light entertainment and I can’t help but agree with Hedges in conecting this to a sliding North American culture.
The rest of the article presents an excerpt from Hedge’s book about the ‘gonzo’ porn industry and the language can get a little graphic. But there are some very interesting tidbits too: who knew that General Motors was in the porn distribution business?
The article is located at AlterNet: Chris Hedges, “The Rise of Gonzo Porn is the Latest Sign of America’s Cultural Apocalypse”
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Sometimes I marvel at the world
I recently went looking for a quote I had read some years ago. I suspected it was from an essay in either Harper’s Magazine or the Atlantic Magazine. The quotation came from a young American woman who told the author of the essay that she always assumed Jesus was an American. After a quick web search (I was a little astounded how many results for “Jesus was an American” came up), I quickly located it:
Some years ago, at the University of California, San Diego, a young woman raised her hand in the middle of a seminar I was then teaching on the first century of Rome and the dawn of the Christian Era. She seemed genuinely disturbed by something. “I know you’re all going to think this is crazy,” she said, “but I always thought Jesus was an American.”
A lovely moment. What she had articulated, as succinctly as I had ever heard it articulated, was the spirit behind three and a half centuries of American history: America as an elect nation, the world-redeeming ark of Christ, chosen, above all the nations of the world, for a special dispensation. What she had expressed, with an almost poetic compaction, was the core myth of America.
Mark Slouka, “A Year Later: Notes on America’s intimations of mortality,” Harper’s Magazine, Sept. 2002, p. 36.
At my age, I have come to realize that I surely do not understand much about this earth and its people. The fact that a young college student would honestly believe that the historical figure of Jesus was an American says a lot I guess about the ‘world’s only superpower’ and its myth-making, its education system, its sense of inherent exceptionalism, and its overall culture. I am still dumbfounded by this quote and still am not sure just what to make of it… but thought I should share.
Fabricating Niger evidence?
This is a very interesting story… I cannot comment on its veracity at all but it is very intriguing (and disturbing). It all makes me think that the Bush?Cheney era was one of the worst in U.S. history.