A.hull We can probably all agree that the left and right are in the midst of a propaganda war with the media as their battlefield and politicians, pundits, non-profits, scientific bodies as their warriors. Cries of racism and militancy are just as much fear mongering as the right’s cries of abortion “baby killers” and a large, highly sophisticated and evil hoard of Muslims out to destroy America. I understand why the assumption is made, because it reinforces our core beliefs and helps us feel that we have clear purpose in our lives- “They are evil and we are virtuous.”
We HAVE TO see through this propaganda war and realize that the only effect it has is to divide both groups, cause them to hate each other and render them more or less powerless to the REAL solutions. My curiosity to explore multiple viewpoints has led me to read into this “patriot group” arena pretty extensively and I’ve got to say that the vast majority of these people have educated themselves about the REAL history of our country, are tired of being routinely deceived and are concerned for their own survival.
Other nations sometimes see us in a negative light because we TRULY do horrible things to other populations. The actions of the CIA alone are responsible for the deaths of countless men, women, and children in the Middle East, Africa, and Central America. Can we honestly say, after Watergate and the Nixon administration, after countless documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, after J Edgar Hoover’s control by threat of blackmail of anyone who threatened his agenda, after the drugs that were pumped into the African-American communities to fund our “Black Ops”, that we don’t believe it’s possible that we are currently being used and deceived? The good news is that we can recover from this legacy through grassroots efforts to forward the careers of honest politicians who actually consider their job a public service instead of a game for personal advance and notoriety.
Former CIA Director William Casey once bragged: “We own everyone of any consequence in the media.” This comment is used most commonly by the more paranoid among us. That said, if there were even the tiniest possibility of truth to the implications of that comment, then shouldn’t we ALL be critical of the direction and content of the news, even if only to keep the corporate-minded news gatherers in touch with reality? Should we be giving credit to articles with little or NO evidence cited or should we be asking what motivates a person or group to release such an article? We’re sailing the high seas, in the middle of a war of information, man! And it’s getting pretty dicey.
