Nearly a decade after the dawn of the 21st century, the U.S. finds itself in the midst of unprecedented challenges. Traumatized by two wars, natural disaster and economic turmoil, America is undoubtedly at a critical juncture.
Before the election of Barack Obama, many Americans had slipped into a haze of hopelessness. Dissatisfaction with economic circumstances, dysfunctional health care and a foreign policy that has garnered the anger and ill will of much of the world had led the American people to question our very identity in light of our ideals and role in the world.
With the election of a new administration that seems more pragmatic, Americans are more hopeful of a new way forward. With a desire to re-examine long held policies and return America to its honorable constitutional ideals, it's almost as if the American people wish to pick up the pieces of a disastrous decade and seek a new beginning.
Our current predicament requires that we examine just why we are where here. Why is our political system so dysfunctional? Why are our troops fighting in wars that most oppose? Why are the interests of society's elite protected and promoted, while the needs and wants of the majority go unheard?
One of the main factors is the media machine. Corporate media has become the central mouthpiece of corporate dictated policies through the misinformation, manipulation and brainwashing of the American public.
No serious individual would dispute the fact that, if it weren't for the barrage of propaganda and exploitation of our ignorance post-Sept. 11, the chance of Iraq's being invaded would have been smaller. The very fact that, prior to the invasion, half or more Americans thought Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, perhaps the most media-covered event in our history, stands as a horrific indictment of U.S. media today. Even the so-called liberal bastion of U.S. media, The New York Times, was fully on board in its advocacy of illegal aggression.
Thomas Freidman, best selling author of "The World is Flat," is considered by many to be part of the modern liberal intellectual movement of pragmatic, global-minded individuals. Yet Freidman was an open advocate for the invasion of Iraq while covering foreign affairs for The New York Times.
"This is not about oil," he told a sell-out crowd at MIT. "This is about something really noble, crazy noble. It is the first attempt in the modern history of the Arab world for Arabs in their own country to forge their own social contract, their own constitution."
Freidman's advocacy of war crimes stands as merely one of many similar assertions by reputable columnists and journalists in the lead up to the invasion.
Political activist and MIT professor Noam Chomsky asserts that, in dictatorships, gaining public acceptance of government policies is a matter of brute force, instilling fear and coercion. In a democracy, the main vehicle is propaganda: a more subtle and sophisticated method of misleading the public and creating a state of apathetic acquiescence.
In fact, prior to Germany's invasion of Poland during World War II, The Nazi media machine had promoted the idea that Poland was poised to attack Germany, an absurd idea in light of what we know today. Did our leaders, while being parroted by news commentators who dominated the airwaves, not make the comparable arguments with regards to Iraq?
A vital step in rebuilding our faltering democracy is taking the media out of the clutches of corporate control. We can start taking such steps today if we want. A very encouraging development as of late has been the emergence of countless independent news sources. Next time you want to find out in-depth information about an event, instead of asking CNN what they think, try an independent news source like "Democracy Now" or "The Real News Network."
And as Jeff Cohen, a former MSNBC and Fox News contributor, insightfully put it,
"Media is like the central nervous system of a democracy. If it's not functioning well, the democracy can't function."
Be the first to comment on this article!