Noted journalist and filmmaker John Pilger’s collection of work has been archived by the British Library, but deep-rooted problems of Western media create an increasingly difficult landscape for ethical journalism, as Pilger explained in an interview with Dennis Bernstein and Randy Credico.
By Dennis J Bernstein and Randy Credico
Emmy award-winning filmmaker John Pilger is among the most important political filmmakers of the 20th and 21st century. From Vietnam to Palestine to atomic war, Pilger’s work has been on the cutting edge, and his stinging critique of western media has always be revelatory. And, no doubt, his biting analysis is more relevant and important now than ever. His latest film, “The Coming War on China” powerfully presages the growing potential for war between the US and China.
Journalist John Pilger (Wikipedia)
Randy Credico and Dennis J Bernstein spoke with Pilger on January 18 about the multiple failures of the corporate press in fanning the phony flames of Russiagate, and turning its back on Julian Assange–acting more like prosecutors than journalists, whose responsibility it is to monitor the centers of power and report back to the people.
They also spoke with Pilger about the recent decision by the British Library to acquire his substantial works and invaluable archives and make them readily available to a much wider audience
Dennis Bernstein: Congratulations, John. Your work has now been made a part of the collection at the British Library.
John Pilger: To see all my written work over the years go onto a single hard drive was a sobering experience. I am pleased, however, because now in the digital age people can access all of my work and I myself can access information I may have forgotten.
Dennis Bernstein: I would like to read a little of what they said on the record when they welcomed your material into the library. They write, “Throughout his career, John Pilger has demonstrated the power and significance of investigative journalism in uncovering stories of people who have been ignored by the mainstream media or left otherwise without voice. His groundbreaking work in Cambodia revealed the devastation caused by the Khmer Rouge and his film Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia has subsequently been described as one of the ten most influential documentaries of the twentieth century.”
I would like to read now a little of the statement that you sent to the World’s Socialist Conference where they were discussing the deep nature of censorship. You wrote, “Something has changed. Although the media was always a loose extension of capital power, it is now almost fully integrated. Dissent, once tolerated in the mainstream, has now regressed to a metaphoric underground as liberal capitalism moves toward a form of corporate dictatorship.” And it is getting worse at an exponential rate, wouldn’t you say?
John Pilger: Yes. Chris Hedges is an example of that. He was right in the mainstream at The New York Times and now finds himself outside it. Another example is America’s most celebrated investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, who it appears now can only get published in Germany. Hersh has effectively been ejected from the mainstream in the United States.
In my own case, I navigated my way through the mainstream. My films are still shown on commercial TV in Britain. My written journalism, however, is no longer welcome. Its last home was The Guardian, which three years ago got rid of people like me and others in a kind of purge of those who were saying what The Guardian no longer says anymore.
That has happened right across the liberal media. The Washington Post–which is at the moment going through a period of self-aggrandizement with the release of the film The Post–is also the notorious source of a site which listed some of the most distinguished dissenting sites in the United States, including Consortiumnews, Black Agenda Report, Counterpunch and others, as sources of Russian propaganda. It is forcing all of us into this margin, when really the mainstream is in the margin and the margin is in the mainstream.
Dennis Bernstein: Could you talk about the work of Julian Assange in the context of this corporate censorship machine?
John Pilger: Julian Assange has personally borne the brunt of much of this historic shift. He and Wikileaks have exposed so much, and that is unforgivable. There is no doubt that what Wikileaks has done is the most important disclosure journalism of my lifetime. Around the world, politicians who have been deceiving the public have been caught out by the revelations of Wikileaks. It is quite an epic achievement.
WikiLeaks logo
Anger has been directed at Julian by people in the media who have been shamed by Wikileaks. Because Wikileaks did the job that journalists ought to have been doing for many years. Wikileaks has done it across such a spectrum and put to shame those who are paid to keep the record straight. That has been Assange’s crime.
Dennis Bernstein: It has come to the point where to tell the truth is to commit professional suicide.
Randy Credico: At the recent World Socialist Conference, Julian Assange warned of what he called the “super states” on the internet and how much power they have–the Facebooks and Googles, etc.
John Pilger: He raised the whole specter of artificial intelligence and how it can be abused by the undemocratic forces that control so much of the world. I think what he had to say was very interesting and extremely timely. It is important to remember that Assange is a refugee and that the refugee is almost a symbol of our times. There are those who try to cross the Mediterranean and don’t make it or who cross deserts to get work to support their families.
Julian is a political refugee who is trying to inform us of something we either don’t know about or are unwilling to talk about. The United Nations has recognized that he is being detained unlawfully. It is interesting to hear what he says but we also have to keep an eye on his welfare. His situation should be a burning issue for journalists everywhere. If it can happen to him, it can happen to any of us.
Randy Credico: A lot of mainstream journalists complain when Trump refers to them as the enemy of the people, but they have shown themselves to be very unwilling to circle the wagons around Assange. What is the upshot for journalists of Assange being taken down?
John Pilger: Trump knows which nerves to touch. His campaign against the mainstream media may even help to get him re-elected, because most people don’t trust the mainstream media anymore.
In my experience as a journalist, the public have always been ahead of the media. And yet, in many news outlets there has always been a kind of veiled contempt for the public. You find young journalists affecting a false cynicism that they think ordains them as journalists. The cynicism is not about the people at the top, it’s about the people at the bottom, the people that Hillary Clinton dismissed as “irredeemable.”
CNN and NBC and the rest of the networks have been the voices of power and have been the source of distorted news for such a long time. They are not circling the wagons because the wagons are on the wrong side. These people in the mainstream have been an extension of the power that has corrupted so much of our body politic. They have been the sources of so many myths.
This latest film about The Post neglects to mention that The Washington Post was a passionate supporter of the Vietnam War before it decided to have a moral crisis about whether to publish the Pentagon Papers. Today, The Washington Post has a $600 million deal with the CIA to supply them with information.
Media in the West is now an extension of imperial power. It is no longer a loose extension, it is a direct extension. Whether or not it has fallen out with Donald Trump is completely irrelevant. It is lined up with all the forces that want to get rid of Donald Trump. He is not the one they want in the White House, they wanted Hillary Clinton, who is safer and more reliable.
Dennis J Bernstein is a host of “Flashpoints” on the Pacifica radio network and the author of Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net.
John Pilger’s comments here echo my own profound foreboding of the abandonment of real integrity by much of the MSM, especially the BBC, and its seduction by, and absorption into the neo-liberal establishment, paying only lip service to genuinely independent and penetrating journalism, putting at serious risk the public’s need to know information about the machinations and self serving ambitions of corporations and other powerful lobbies and their wielding of excessive influence on governments at all levels A genuinely honest, courageous and independent press, whether print, broadcast, social media etc. is the ONLY bastion the wider public has to inform and uphold genuine political freedom the advancement and preservation of individual and community human rights.
Anon
January 24, 2018 at 8:12 pm
A good example of the one-sided sensationalism that Pilger reviles in this article.
###
one-sided sensationalism is news feeds of massive Destruction, Death and Displacement of civilians at the hands of U S made weapons and ordinance.
Film of rubble from U S bombs – entire cities reduced to waste and rotting Flesh&Bone and Hopelessness.
You want to talk “one-sided sensationalism”? You cannot! -until you walk a couple-of-blocks thru American Made Devastation and Death in MULTIPLE American Combat Zones.
Begin, if you will with our own Slavery War – then the Genocidal American Indian War.
Then, fast forward past Hiroshima/Nagasaki and the TOTALLY UNNECESSARY atomic bombings and perhaps you’ll perceive an inkling of the malevolent power wielded by This Well-Armed United States Military Government.
Sensationalism? Are can not be serious, Anon. Never mind reading newspapers — JUST LOOK AT THE PICTURES OF BLOWN-UP VILLAGES AND THE TENT ENCAMPMENTS THEY ENGENDER– brought to you through the Power&Might of The Condemnation and “benediction” of The United States’ Unequivocal Power To Inflict unconscionable mass destruction At Their Will, upon ANY People At Any Time.
—— To my mind, that Evil Power is the Active Sensationalism that courses through the pulse of life-blood in America where death by gun violence is # ONE in all the world.
Sensationalism? America leads the world in numbers of prisoners/ we are a Violent people.
Opioids are taking lives by multiple Thousands, yet it’s manufacturers contribute $$ MILLIONS to political candidates who take office TO PROTECT THEM!- how does that smell, Anon? Does it smell of DEATH, to you!??
Sensationalism? WHAT ABOUT THE GUTTING OF US ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES! ??? —
I surmise you approve of that “Wealth Creating” mutilation as a “sensational” directive from “Chairman” Trump.
Those Administrative Agencies and Administrative Law were introduced to “oversee” our executive branch of gov’t.
Chairman Trump has seen fit to eviscerate that legitimate Overseeing Body in favor of Robber Baron appointees which seek personal enrichment over and above the protection of “we the people” —–!
That right there is audacious “sensationalism” — if, and only if you could see the MASSIVE DETRIMENT to We The People in Trump’s scheme TO ENRICH THE RICH while affecting and assaulting the Vast Millions of we-the-people who exist in daily lives of simple existence.
“Sensationalism” may effect you when the price of fresh produce triples by reason of a Trump reduced labor force of farm workers.
— There will be exponential outcry and desperation over the unheard of increase in fresh food prices — as well as the increase in gas and electric bills — so called normal-life will be disrupted and many will be forced to “step-down” from their “normal life” —
— Police presence will increase as ‘normal’ life-in-the-street morphs into Homeless Patrol overseeing the drug addicted population
who’ve lost all hope and’ve been Beaten Down by “The System”.
“Sensationalism” is the backwards entry into acceptance into Huxley’s Brave New World, Anon. Especially if you consider the Egotistical Maniac Trump as some sort of ‘savior’ for and in America and/or the American Political Structure.
Sensationalism is, actually, the sensational ignorance of some Americans whose chosen blindness ought to inspire the simple question, ‘how the hell did you graduate out of High School’? — but then, you may be among the MILLIONS who favor the IRA/
so-called gun rights patriots and fellow “citizen soldiers” which RELIGIOUSLY Believe in Butt-Hole “laws”
like ‘stand-your-ground’ and “legally defensible” Cold-Blodded Murder.
I don’t have the time or space to adequately disembowel your “sensationalism” remark, Anon.
I’ll just say, the deaths of americans by americans speak volumes = ad to that the deaths of peoples in the World By American CIA and Military Power = A DEATH FORCE OF DESPICABLE AUTHENTICITY OF A DEATH CREED that could only be originated by a Sensational Force of Prevalent Evil — which is venally present now in the person of Donald Trump.
If you don’t feel it now, you will,if he continues… .
From a conception of dreams as
‘an inspiration from the divine’,
man had arrived at a scientific view
that they were simply the result of
‘sensory excitation’/Oedipus Complex,
the Distortion of Self – Absorption/from
“Commander-in-Chief” to Oedipus Rex;
self-destruction of a maladroit Resident.
The United States’ 45th President
Is a miserable joke-of-a-Pretender,
Dream Awakener 4 separatists/bigots
whose past is present under Mr.Trump.
Whose “Make America Great Again”
is the Rebel America dog whistle for
Palin’s, “Let’s Take Our Country Back”
shoutout to Nationalist Militant Bigots.
Las Vagas was A Display of their
Over-Abundant Firepower where
“It is the Absolute Right of the State to
Supervise the Formation of Public Opinion.”
I was a big fan of Assange and Snowden and still am of Snowden but Assange became partisan in the last election and lost my respect. I believe he thought he could get Trump to help him but found out that Trump only helps Trump.
New revealing posts on Holly wood deception and western government support for terrorists in Syria from Vanessa Beeley at 21st Century Wire and Clarity of Signal
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO: Al Qaeda Presented as ‘White Helmets’ for the Annual Terrorist ‘Oscar’Nomination
https://twitter.com/VanessaBeeley/status/957594598754406400
http://21stcenturywire.com/2018/01/28/last-men-aleppo-al-qaeda-presented-white-helmets-annual-terrorist-oscarnomination/
Exposing “The Last Men in Aleppo” – FSA Terrorist Psyop and Oscar Nominated Propaganda Campaign
I, too respect Julian Assange for his honesty and his tech abilities. I’ve thought about his refugee status and thought he could actually be helpful to the U.S. but not now, with Donald Trump as President. I still rely on MSNBC, Wash. Post, and NYT for my information and I am grateful for their strength. They need it against this president. Got to go. It’s AM Joy.
A must read: The American Empire and its Media:
https://swprs.org/the-american-empire-and-its-media/
Excellent illustrations showing that mainstream media is indeed fully integrated with imperial power, as John said.
John Pilger , Robert Parry and Dennis Bernstein! To have one’s name mentioned with these three giants on the same page is an honor beyond description. It is also Beyond description the vast contribution these 3 bold and courageous men have made to the world of Journalism.. we can only hope that their work inspires others down the road. Their work has enriched my understanding of the sad realities of the world inwhich we live
Randy, you do great work, and rightly deserve to be mentioned with them. Thanks. Lets all keep fighting the good fight.
yesterday (looking back) leads to the realities of today – which we ignore, by choice, by reason of the advancement of time
however, the past we leave behind doth inform us of our chosen path into a future controlled by the murderous robber barons
as of yesterday…
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-illegal-overthrow-of-patrice-lumumbas-government-the-congo-and-the-elimination-of-patrice-lumumba-revisited/5603247?utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles
Those who have pointed out that it is Amazon – not the Washington Post – that has a $600 million deal with the CIA are correct, and I should have made this clear. That said, the Post’s owner, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has left us in no doubt that the Post is a product of the same vast factory.
Sure, the Post is just the propaganda wing of his vast empire, which is far more than a mere financial empire. The man has his own space program, life extension projects and designs on changing the human condition through AI-brain interfaces. He wants to become a cyborg that will live forever.
(Okay, without the citations which got my reply “moderated.”)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/03/silicon-valleys-quest-to-live-forever
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/jeff-bezos-explains-amazons-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-strategy/
I look upon the New York Times, and the Washington Post, as their being simply ‘Company News Bulletins’. Neither of these news outlets are of the quality of objectiveness, nor opinion, that seems to stay the course to independent news reporting. This is a loss of journalistic integrity, and the sooner the reading public realizes this fact, the better off the public will be.
Keep up the fantastic work Mr Pilger, you are a valued journalist found among a field of journalist who shouldn’t even have a laptop or computer keyboard to write their filthy lies upon. These deceivers of the news when it comes to their reporting the honest factual news, are nowhere to be found, but then there is you Mr Pilger. Joe
I’ve known and deeply respected you, John Pilger, through your writing for many years — you’ve been, for me, on the correct side of analysis of events as they unfold. That said, How Are We to Analyze (dissect) the intent of Trump’s “shit-hole countries” Proclamation in light of the MONUMENTAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION and/or the NUMBER OF WEAPONS AND CASH WE PROVIDE TO THE GOVERNMENT LEADERS OF THESE “shit-hole countries???
to wit:
The atrocities in Congo sound far-off and barbaric, and we want to believe that they have nothing to do with us. But we carry the ongoing Congo conflict with us every day, in the form of our smartphones and laptops. Approximately 30% of the world’s supply of the mineral coltan, essential for the miniaturization of electronic devices, comes from Congo, as does 60% of the world’s cobalt, used in lithium-ion batteries. Warlords frequently capture the mines and use the proceeds to fund their militias and their raids. According to news reports, children make up 40% of the mining workforce.
( http://www.latimes.com/op-ed/la-oe-thorpe-refugee-policy-201801-story.html )
—————————————–
The CIA (under Dulles & Eisenhower) that orchestrated the viciously violent murder of citizen elected President Patrice Lamumba — and OPENED MARKETS to European extraction of rare earth minerals, gold, oil, diamonds and all the wealth of African resources, and provided weapons to U S/Euro Divided Factions that propagated the civilian territorial wars THAT CONTINUE TO THIS DAY.
Whom the Arrogantly Ignorant Trump looks down upon as “shit-hole” people.
Trump is a Pox on the world. The CIA has been, for decades, the strong arm of US subversive destructive prevarication in the world. , Bezos the latest to climb-the-ladder of ‘buyers-in’ to the Club-of-Rome — Wealth Above All — members of The Club of “controllers” —
Who, What, Where, Why, How are we-the-people to read and believe?
The President is a consummate Liar which has No Respect for truth…
Are we to lie down and allow him to trample over the human dignity that still exists?
This ignorant, pompous man from the grimy streets of New York City…?
I grew up in NYC/ I rode the multi-cultural rush hour subways
as well as the weekend subway – thru all the boroughs/years
Langston Hughes,Fernando Lorca, Allen Ginsberg, H Rap Brown
living/seeing NYC and the at large world thru their eyes/words
Yet never seeing any person as from a “shit-hole” countries
All i see is the acceptance of DEATH as “america” Prospers
and a Bogus “president” is allowed to Call the Shots on the
Funeral Procession of all human life in the non-white world.
Jeff Bezos and the World of HUMANITY
vs.
United States President Trump & shit-hole people
WHO THE F! DO YOU THINK I STAND WITH !!!! ?
Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
Global Warming is a pseudo science. 30 min speech.
http://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/videos/31259/the-strange-case-of-global-warming-2012
A close friend who is a believer in the cult says that “they” sill always pay someone to debunk what the cult believes, like this guy.
He sends me the NASA hockey stick spike chart in temperature not understanding that NASA, like all government agencies dependent on government funding, will, like all agencies tell the client providing the money what it wants to hear to keep the money flowing
I submit that all have a fresh review of Joseph Campbell’s brilliant work on myth creation.
A friend of mine, who is totally critical of the Western politics and MIC/neocon domination, completely swallowed a big Australian media campaign against the Chinese female swimmers that they were taking drugs. This was long before the US/Canadian attack on all Russian sports people. The highlight of the campaign was a video of a leading Chinese female swimmer taken by placing a camera at the corner of a swimming pool. As the Chinese lady swimmer walked and turned the corner her mascular back quickly filled the screen to 100% and gave a truly impressive effect, supposedly proof that she was taking drugs. It took me a while to convince my friend that this was only a skillful media manipulation, no proof of anything.
Similarly, we cannot blame the honest believers in AGW/climate change, such as John Pilger, Annie and most commenters here. Even the most Cartesian sceptics, such is my friend, will fall for the lies of the highly professional manipulators. There are professionals whose job is lying and they always have an upper hand over their amateur audience. Those are the professionals that 1% hire to manipulate the 99% and do things opposite to their own interest.
As a point of clarification, the discussion in which Chris Hedges participated, and which received support from John Pilger and Julian Assange, was hosted by the World Socialist Web Site — wsws.org
The full discussion can be viewed here https://www.wsws.org/endcensorship/
with an edited transcript available here: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/01/25/webi-j25.html
Wow! An interview to share widely, if we can get out groupthink friends to read it. Thank you both, interviewer and interviewee.
The vertical and horizontal integration along with the consolidation of media into fewer and fewer hands is one of two major dangers in our society, the other the way we elect our representatives. Interestingly, the two feed on each other, the media welcoming the circus called elections, where each year more millions are poured into the process to the delight of its main beneficiary, big media. Referring to the author’s mention of circling the wagons, the media and our elected representatives have effectively circled the wagons and reforming either is met by opposition of those who control both.
It is heartening to see the wisdom of the British Library to make what Pilger has done part of the historical record. That is a hopeful occurrence.
For a deservedly scathing review of “The Post,” the latest Washington Post/CIA propaganda effort, see:
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/01/22/the-post-and-the-pentagon-papers/
Fake news rules the sleeping sheeple. The ordinary mind is putty in the shaping hands of the Rulers of society. Awakening is difficult for oneself, even more difficult to engender and nourish in others. It is nevertheless the only way out of our accelerating deathspiral………………….
Hi Mike-
I was in front of a TV yesterday that had Ellen DeGeneres on it, and apparently Trump Jr. accused her of being part of the “Deep State”. She made it into a big joke, and said she didn’t even know what the Deep State was. I doubt she’s really that ignorant, but I suppose it’s possible. My point is she did her job as a propaganda tool very well by poo-pooing the concept, and getting all the sleeping sheeple who watch her show to go right along. Trump bad, Hillary good. No reason to think any further.
Skip, that’s very alert! That’s exactly what she is, a propaganda tool. Very grateful that you shared that. Thank you.
John Pilger should think himself lucky to have his important work memorialized in the British museum. There are plenty of other good journalists out there who’s work will disappear as the years go by. The trouble with work like Pilger and others, it doesn’t really get into the MSM enough. We only see a one time showing which is missed by the majority of the population. The BBC programmes are insipid and banal and if you can stomach it, watching the news with a stupid man and woman each smiling and nodding at each other, pretending to look serious, with that oh so sickening patronizing expression is enough to make one vomit. Between this and endless cooking shows its the best that the BBC can offer apart from a rare documentary. I now only watch RT news which is the best thing out there. I’m afraid Pilgers fine work is like a small bottle of pure water in an ocean of raw sewage.
What the last bastion of an independent, unbiased, reality-based media, including a few rare, talented, and brave investigative writers like John Pilger, Robert Parry, Sy Hersh and a few others, has been doing since about the turn of the century is chronicling America’s descent into warmongering, militant, neoliberal fascism as bad or worse (when the nukes start to fly) than Hilter’s 3rd Reich. One hopes their words survive to a degree that is understandable and informative to whatever survivors may find them in the wreckage of civilisation so the same mistakes are not made yet again during the next slow and laborious turning of history’s great wheel. Unless the cavemen who emerge from the ruins after the next iteration of a protracted dark age have completely lost the tradition of formal learning and the ability to read and write, the works of these and similar individuals will be essential to re-creating civilisation in the aftermath of a protracted nuclear armageddon. By all means, our survivors should avoid acting in any way like we did.
I’m not trying to be an hysterical alarmist here, but just read about the latest proclamations by the Council on Foreign Affairs and the analytical discussion of them by Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor on the Nation’s website:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-american-bipartisan-policy-establishment-declares-its-second-cold-war-vs-russia-after-years-of-denying-it/
This is extremely scary stuff. It would seem that a hot war with Russia is being deliberately set in motion as we speak. Each of the past few years has felt like it could be the end, with the escalating tensions directed out of Washington at Russia, but the words of these supposed deep thinkers in the CFR sounds like nothing but a call to war. Soon, Mr. Pilger’s mission in life will be over, as will most life on the planet.
Realist, As I understand it, the CFR is a part of the One World Order, the Global elitist, the Illuminati. Yes, they are surely gearing for a war with Russia. Putin is almost all that stands in the way of their achieving their goal, and he has made it clear that he wishes to leave as his legacy the over throw of the Illuminati. (I listened to one of his speeches in which he said that.) Now John Wilson will discourage your “looking down that rabbit hole,” but with all my heart I encourage that research and study. Appalling! but we need to know what is going on, the mind control, the wicked promises and indoctrination. We know on the surface; we need to know below.
I fear Realist that in Washington there are those that believe we must strike Russia while, or if, the U.S. has at this moment the superior power that the U.S. is is suspected to maintain. If my hunch is right, then this is a dangerous mindset indeed to have. This striking while the iron is hot analogy is an analogy only held by the very foolish, who may also believe that a nuclear war is easily survivable. Bad science, and over ambitious politicians, is a bad mix, and we are the canon fodder of their insane dreams. Joe
If that is their thinking, the US is led by a bunch of paranoid sociopaths completely out of touch with reality and having no concern for their fellow human beings. Of course, Washington has military superiority over Russia, and it is increasing greatly as we speak. Putin has conceded the point himself and wants no part of an arms race. He has called Washington THE world’s only “super power,” likely to remain so into the indefinite future, with no designs by Russia to supplant or even challenge the US. He merely demands independence, respect and a voice for Russia, not world hegemony. How many times has he called the US his partner while we call him and his country our enemy? When Putin said that, Russia was outspent yearly on military expenditures 10-fold by Washington. The latest figure I read just yesterday–after the hefty increase in the military budget by Trump–was 14-to-1. It’s way more one-sided if you include all the other NATO countries on the American side of the ledger. While America has been increasing its prolific waste of capital on armaments, Russia has actually been cutting its budget and disassembling it arsenal. The supporting facts are in the news if anyone would care to notice. For example, Russia has decided to disassemble two of its three large Typhoon-class missile-carrying submarines–the only ones that carry 20 mirved ICBMs each with 10 warheads. That’s 400 fewer nuclear bombs aimed at the United States. So, while Washington targets more Russian assets, the Russians are aiming less firepower at the US. Yet, according to the histrionic pols, spooks and generals running the show in America, Russia is a dangerous aggressor that must be stopped in its tracks yesterday. Their thinking sounds like total insanity to me and can easily lead to the extinction of life on earth, whether by design or by accident.
Who am I to question a MacKinder mindset, or a Churchillian attitude, when it comes to Russia.
I’m glad you brought up Putin’s always reaching out to the U.S., and how the U.S. always slaps his extended hand away. A diplomatic dream, and America turns it into a nightmare. I mean what kind of diplomacy is that? Well, it’s one with a big head, and a big head with a worried future to it’s continued hegemony. The U.S. is living in fear of the growing world around it, and Russia is the old enemy with the most weapons, and the know how to use them…so Russia is first.
We Americans are being more or less distracted with the Russia-gate story, or something about Trump, Trump, and more Trump. But where is the news? War related stories are reported as almost as though the reporter ‘said, and oh by the way Assad used chemical weapons on his own people’. That kind of war reporting, is the only interruption to the all the time Trump reporting…Breaking News another Trump tweet.
Good stuff Realist. Joe
Thank you, Realist, for that information. Russia is an ally of the world, right now. Would that we could get on board! Putin is a remarkable leader whom we should seek out and emulate.
Wow, you are talking about a man who doesn’t allow free journalism and has opposition leaders killed and jailed.
Why don’t you gather some real facts rather than regurgitate neocon propaganda.
I do not know what it is, regarding my two post attempts, that keeps them in moderation. Get well Mr. Parry!
I heard this interview right after it took place. Mr. Pilger is a man always after my own heart. And Randy Credico deserves a lot of credit tearing down the propaganda (even though he can’t do it all himself), just like President Trump can’t fix it all himself. He needed our support in mending relations with Russia so poorly handled during the last administration.
One way to judge the truth of a media source is to research what it has reported about the Kennedy assassination over the years. If it claims that a “lone nut” shot the President from behind, you can be sure it is controlled by the CIA. With all the evidence that has been disclosed since that cruel tragedy, any source that clings to that obvious falsehood is not trying to report the truth.
Yes Beazley, but the Kennedy affair has nothing on 9-11 for staggering lies and evil.
It,(Kennedy) was just a warm up for things to come. The attacks of Sept 11 was a grand production that even Hollywood would be envious of.
I think for it’s time the JFK assassination was pretty well stacked with the right people, and agencies involved. Whereas 911 was more sophisticated with it’s use of more modern technology advances. The core difference of course was the difference of killing one sitting president up against killing close to 3000 victims. Although I will again stress how the only real difference between JFK’s murder, and the murder of nearly 3000 souls, is found in techniques used from one generation to the next, and not a scale down of implementation of either incident. At least that’s the way I compare the two. Look at Kennedy’s death campaign just as Ol’ Hippy said, it was a ‘warm up’ exercise for bigger things such as 911, that was yet to come.
Both are filled with conspiracy, and death.
I agree with John Pilgers comments about Julian Assange. Thank you Julian for your many timely revelations and astute observations. Much is owed to someone who has sacrificed so much to get the truth out. Memo to #10 Downing street: FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!
Mr Assange deserves to be free. As pointed out he’s a political prisoner as is Mr Snowden. Both deserve credit for their sacrifices to expose truths on empire. Others too, no less.
I think Pilger needs to clean up his facts about the Washington Post. His statement was sloppy: Amazon has a $600 million contract to provide cloud services to the CIA. Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon. Bezos purchased the Washington Post.
Yes, there is an implication that the WaPo and the CIA could be in cahoots.
Mr. Pilgar was indeed quite sloppy with his phrasing because the common link is Bezos – who is unmentioned. Bezos became Sugar Daddy for the all-in-for Wars For Israel WP, gained a nice annual tax write-off from those operations, and Big Intelligence upped the his reward by giving him the huge $600 megadollar deal. Buying the Post was important on account of it being the Third Leg of suppressing Edward Snowden’s information. The Brits took care of the UK Guardian by making them smash the hard drives and another billionaire named Pierre Omidyar seems to have bought out Greenwald’s part of the information. Thus 95% of what Snowden had will probably never be released.
I believe if you look into Operation Mockingbird it is readily apparent that the WaPo has been a CIA tool since long before Bezos. There is no “could be in cahoots” about it. I’m disappointed in Bezos because he is of my generation, and seems to be reasonably intelligent. He could have chosen to turn the WaPo into a watchdog, instead of the lap dog it has been for decades. His $600 million contract just shows that he’s willing to play for the wrong team. I will never purchase anything through Amazon again, and I urge others to boycott as well.
Thanks Skip Scott. I think most people are unfamiliar with the history of the Post so I would encourage them to read this Spartacus Education link. I think most will be surprised by the intrigue…
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKgrahamP.htm
Also, for those who have seen the movie, here is a link describing the “meetings” in Georgetown…
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKgeorgetown.htm
Good links Bob. Thanks.
With apologies to George Carlin, Skip, “it’s a big club…” and he’s in it. In fact, as the richest man in the world now, Bezos is probably at least the titular chairman of that club. He ain’t gonna cross the membership by lifting a finger to help the hoi polloi or doing anything that would cost his fellow patricians a plug nickel. “Democracy” is only for suckers and “freedom” is only for those who can afford it.
The CIA was behind Nixon’s fall. The Post reporters were fed info to hasten his demise about ‘corruption’ in the White House. The Pentagon Papers almost didn’t get published as the DOJ kept using court orders to halt the publication, Ellsberg outsmarted them by using multiple papers so info could get out on the government’s lies about the ‘Nam. The main papers have always, well recently anyway(70 yrs), had intelligence influence either directly or by ‘leaks’ for all sorts of propaganda and misinformation schemes.
If the silent majority of US people knew and understood even 10% of what the commenters here know and write then democracy would be a real and functioning system. Those who abuse democracy would have been swinging from lampposts since long ago.
But as Joe Tedesky and a few others discussed – many educated middle class US people do not want to read the alternative media and probably do not want to know the truth.
Nevertheless, it is good to know that a place such as CN exists so that those who want to know can. The rest may learn the hard way that it is better knowing than not knowing.
It’s always a pleasure to read your comments when you drop by Kiza. Joe
John Pilger: “Trump knows which nerves to touch. His campaign against the mainstream media may even help to get him re-elected, because most people don’t trust the mainstream media anymore.”
()
With Trump CONTROLLING THE MIKE, vis-a-vis “the media”, it appears the Simple Meaning of “news” or, “the news” is now promiscuous, corrupt and debauched.
The Carnival Barker / Flim-Flam Man President of the United States is a replica of that which described by The Lord in John 8:44.
” You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own reasoning, for he was a liar and the father of it.”
The MAGA TOUR is a Force of Dissipation unfolding before our eyes via fabrication, circumvention, cunning craftiness, and with arrogant deceit.
Massive weapons sales to rich nations – – – bullets, bombs and refugee camps are unleashed upon innocent civilians – – – and we, the Americans, willingly accept / get on board with the brutality we initiate and cultivate as A Continuum of life through the ages.
My question is, with all sincerity, What Makes America Great? — as opposed to The Search for a Peaceful World?
You Trump supporters are a churlish lot.
churlish
1 : of, resembling, or characteristic of a churl : vulgar
2 : marked by a lack of civility or graciousness : surly
3 : difficult to work with or deal with : intractable churlish soil
A good example of the one-sided sensationalism that Pilger reviles in this article.
Thanks to John Pilger, Dennis J. Bernstein, and the CN eds who keep doing the job during Robert Parry’s absence …
… and a special salute to Randy Credico, who is also not giving up after the Russiagate hit job on him a couple of months ago. Being blindsided like that by Congress and the MSM can’t have been fun. Hopefully that cameo appearance is all there will be, and the bastards have already moved on.
In my idea of a perfect world John Pilger would have his own TV news information program, and Paul Craig Roberts and such people as Roberts would be his repeated guest. Robert Parry would also have his own information platform, as well. In fact a lot of journalist would be represented, that at this moment they are not.
You would think that with newspapers losing their subscribers, and TV news shows not being warmly received by the viewing audiences, that the MSM would want to change all of that. Well, in America apparently poor ratings, and declining paper sales, it doesn’t matter, when you are serving the benign Shadow Government/Deep State.
Here’s to Alternative Internet Websites….hooray!
Joe, I know many people who are educated, and computer literate yet they never go online to get alternative news as presented on this site, and many others, but tune into FOX or MSNBC, dependent on whether they are dems, or republicans. Most people in America I suspect, as I said above, are fairly ignorant of politics, and certainly history. I remember it being different years ago, where I saw my own parents more open to controversial ideas then I see now, and more interested in politics as well. What makes you think if such a program as you suggested would have a large audience? I would suspect that more then anything people liked to be entertained and that comes to politics as well. Facebook is very informative in that regard where controversial ideas deal with the trivial as well as the sensational, more then anything else.
We must know the same people.
What I would like is for our news media to simply report the news, as it comes off the wire. Just the news, and only the news, with a little bit of detail to characters and geographic locations will do. Years ago I would copy UPS and AP, and off the wire the news is very to the point, and a little bland. Then I would have diverse editorial pieces by qualified commentators. I would balance news article programs. Example; Pilger could offset someone opposite his journalistic reporting, like maybe the why of a news situation or something.
The other day Annie Realist and I pondered over to how the ‘breaking news story’ about the FBI colluding in the dark with the FISA court orders, would no doubt get watered down to become simply a left vs right divide campaign, well it seems to be coming together that way, or at least that’s the way Paul Craig Roberts sees it.
Read it…..
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/01/24/stupid-party-remains-stupid/
Stories like that are what the friends and family members you mentioned above Annie are always missing, and that is to sad. Joe
The internet alternative news may prevail, but readily permits readers to choose sites that echo their views and supply pseudo evidence and pseudo arguments. This appears to be leading to polarization based upon interests rather than philosophies.
We also have an advanced technology of propaganda journalism, which supplies the pseudo liberalism of the Dems and pseudo conservatism of the Reps. This permits oligarchy to dominate even the new media, dividing the liberals and feeding them fashion issues and identity politics, while recruiting the ignorant to the fake conservativism of the oligarchy.
But I do see increasing recognition that both Dems and Reps and mass media are in the pocket of scoundrels, which must at last lead to internet sources, and sources that people agree with. Very likely most will stay with entertaining sources as you suggest, making entertainment no more than a branch of propaganda, as it is today.
Man, Sam F., I’ll agree with that statement 100%. The common labels that we’ve become familiar with have been inverted by the disinformationalists so completely that they have become meaningless. All the more reason to establish a “forum” to reset America’s future…
Annie,
I was at the Women’s March a year ago in Washington DC, and went to the Women’s March in San Diego this year. There was a difference. 1) People were carrying sign advocating for the “blue wave” in the mid-term elections; i.e., encouraging others to go out to vote for Democrats. (If I’d known that was going to happen, I would have carried a sign advocating for a “green wave.” We could have had Jill Stein for president, but sheep don’t seek information.) 2) I saw a sign covered with hearts, thanking MSNBC. Hard to believe that Dems cling to that line of misinformation. Also, saw a sign blaming Putin as being Trump’s puppeteer. Propaganda works. My philosophy is “step back” to get perspective and objectiveness. When I step way back, I don’t have much hope that things will improve enough to divert the coming destruction of the earth and all life in it. Pity the poor babies being born today.
P.S. Yes, lots of men were there, too, in both marches.
TV is all about profit. The ads sell items for profit. The ads are the thing. The “news” fills in spaces between ads. TV will never have ‘real news’, it’s not profitable.
And the profit is the biggest problem. If I were able to I would install a C-Span style news media. A news media without commercials, and purely dedicated to providing the news, as it comes off the wire. I would also go to great lengths to avoid having this media owned, and operated by a huge conglomerate. Small would be the vehicle to drive the large mission this media would run on, as small is easier to regulate and to keep untouchable as is the only way to go. Take care Ol’ Hippy, always enjoy corresponding with you. Joe
Profit, yes–but even more so, propaganda.
It’s such a powerful medium for mind control; people are truly mesmerized.
They don’t call it the idiot box for nothing.
Nancy,
“They don’t call it the idiot box for nothing.” Certainly the truth behind that well-known phrase needs no explanation for readers of Consortium News, otherwise they wouldn’t have found their way here in the 1st place. A recent experience using the “previous” button on the TV remote might drive the point home for those still somehow not totally convinced that corporate media is, indeed, – as relates to “real” news – for idiots and the truly ignorant.
It was surreal to go back and forth the other morning between NBC and RT, where on NBC one saw Jenna Bush (“Dubya’s” daughter – of the Bush war criminal family dynasty) and her female co-host just laughing it up while doing a segment on … believe it or not … creamy versus crunchy peanut butter. Then one hits the “previous” button to RT and the discussion/analysis focuses on the recent use of chlorine in Syria, Tillerson’s immediate blaming of Russia no matter who was behind it, and the dangerous nature of one more false accusation of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government.
The contrast could not have been more extreme. So … of all the important, serious events, situations and circumstances occurring on this Earth presumably worthy of definition as news to choose from, one found NBC presenting Ms. Bush and her gal pal co-host comparing various forms of peanut butter. Of course, regular readers of Consortium News won’t be surprised to hear about such an experience regarding the media. The majority of CN’s readership has likely long ago given up on corporate media as the source of any truth whatsoever, only tuning in intermittently to corporate media to ascertain and assess the latest war propaganda.
At any rate, sharing that personal experience felt like a worthwhile action in light of the article’s focus – “Mainstream Media and Imperial Power” Perhaps Mr. Pilger, Mr. Credico and Mr. Bernstein will become forced, in light of Jenna Bush’s bold, controversial raising of the issue on U.S. national television, to weigh in on “The Great 2018 Peanut Butter Debate”. It might not be possible for mainstream corporate media to sink to any lower level of pathetic.
So it goes.
Peace.
Never underestimate the absurdity of the mainstream media!
I wake up with that crap on TV every morning.(I sleep with TV on, another story.) It’s mind numbingly inane. The Today Show”, NBC’s ‘news’ show has about 10 minutes of ‘news’ in 3 hours of programing. I usually listen to the ‘flavor du jour’ as I start reading real information on the net.
Jerry although I don’t always respond to your comments, I enjoy your freshness, and your clear eyed view of the world around us.
You make a good point, of how our news media has made itself into a vehicle for trite, and gossipy news, and how meaningless in many ways their reporting is. If it isn’t a gossip piece about a Trump tweet these days, then it ain’t in our news. On the other hand many, many, events going on elsewhere in the world go unreported. So, what does this tell you Jerry. It tells me of how a media can certainly aim towards dumbing it’s viewing audience down, and it speaks to a lack of keeping the masses well informed. I truly believe that this is no accident by our infamous MSM, but it is the mission statement of broadcasting to keep us citizens as uninformed as possible so as to keep us from seeing behind the ever popular curtain.
Your story Jerry makes me want a peanut butter Ritz cracker, but your explanation of trivial topics spoken about on our new channels goes to the heart of how bad our news information services have become. So Jerry, talking about real life experiences is sometimes better than quoting from book learned facts, or at least personal stories have a time and place to be told, and you did well with yours. Joe
During these times of such misinformation, confusion, deliberate obfuscation and outright suppression by the mainstream media and establishment press — and unfortunately in certain segments of what purports to be liberal-progressive thought — it’s refreshing beyond words to read the insightful, incredibly erudite and so very important missives, essays, interviews and articles by such invaluable luminaries as John Pilger, Robert Parry (wishing him a full and speedy recovery), Diana Johnstone, James Petras, Norman Solomon, Paul Street, Caitlin Johnstone, Michael Parenti, Glen Ford, Stephen Cohen, Chris Hedges and Glenn Greenwald.
Over the last two decades Russiagate, Russophobia and anti-Putin hysteria, along with pro-Israel zealotry, have run roughshod over much of our entire politico-economic-mass media spectrum. That we still have these brave and scholarly souls who refuse to punk out is a godsend for us all.
Yes, we are fortunate to have these sources as an alternative to the corrupt mass media.
Yes, and the mainstream media NEVER barks about the massive crimes and ongoing atrocities of Israel. That tells us DECISIVELY the source of the corruption that envelopes us. For new readers, a succinct account of background facts is at
“War Profiteers and the Roots of the War on Terror”
http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com
That is very true, unfortunately, and conspicuously absent from much discussion of mass media corruption. The US mass media are mostly controlled directly by zionists, and the balance are controlled indirectly by zionist ad agencies and corporate execs. The zionists tyrannize both Jews and others, and are pure opportunists following the promises of dollars or business rewards, who would have followed Hitler just as devoutly, and neither seek nor have facts or arguments. They attack anyone for money. This destruction of our formerly democratic institutions by economic and information power is caused by failure to protect them in our Constitution.
The increasing control of US mass media by secret agencies, and their mutual support of wars for Israel, leads toward the conclusion that the secret agencies are now controlled by zionists. There are many other indications, and this should be investigated by journalists, and exposed by whistleblowers. It is much easier to conceal massive corruption in the secret agencies than anywhere else.
You’re certainly correct Sam F, and it goes further back than I would have imagined. I received a copy of “Dope, Inc.” a 1978 edition that points out many of the same international problems we’re now facing as American Proxies. Definitely maddening.
A link to the book commentary page for those interested.
https://www.amazon.com/Dope-Inc-Drove-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0943235022/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516893749&sr=1-2&keywords=Dope%2C+Inc.#customerReviews
Drew Hunkins: You’re right on the mark! I love and respect the people you mentioned above as they are the bearers of Truth in reporting the facts of the matter. And may Robert Parry recover as quick as possible and be stronger and healthier than ever. We need him!
The Dem-o-rats are worse than the Repulsives on Russia bashing. And still, too many faux liberals/progressive goose-step to the whims of the Democratic Party. Annie and Ted nailed it, for sure.
I’ve always liked Mr. Pilger, and Mr. Parry, of course, and Hedges and so on… However in this statement made by Mr. Pilger, “Trump knows which nerves to touch. His campaign against the mainstream media may even help to get him re-elected, because most people don’t trust the mainstream media anymore.” I would really disagree based on my own personal experiences. I have found that those who voted for Clinton are very quick to swallow what mainstream media has to say, and those that voted for Trump, at this moment, hold the media in contempt, however they also very willingly accept Trump’s policies and his lies, like his climate change denial and his position on Iran. It’s more about taking sides then it is in being interested in the truth.
I would like to add, that In the US most of Americans are usually ignorant of politics and government. Many believe that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don’t see the point in learning much about the subject. So we have a country of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know.
You got that right Annie. In fact I know people who voted for Hillary, and they wake up every morning to turn on MSNBC or CNN only to hear what Trump tweeted, because they like getting pissed off at Trump, and get even more self induced angry when they don’t hear his impeachment being shouted out on the screen.
I forgive a lot of these types who don’t get into the news, because it just isn’t their thing…I guess, but I get even madder that we don’t have a diversified media enough to give people the complete story. I mean a brilliant media loud enough, and objective enough, to reach the mass uncaring community. We have talked about this before, about the MSM’s omission of the news, as to opposed just lying…they do that too, as you know Annie, and it’s a crime against a free press society. In fact, I not being a lawyer, would not be surprised that this defect in our news is not Constitutional.
Although, less and less people are watching the news, because they know it’s phony, have you noticed how political our Late Night Talk Show Host have become? Hmmm…boy, sometimes you have to give it to the Deep State because they sure know how to cover the market of dupes. To bad the CIA isn’t selling solar panels, or something beneficial like that, which could help our ailing world.
We are living in a Matrix of left vs right, liberal vs conservative, all of us are on the divide, and that’s the way it suppose to be. You know I don’t mean that, but that’s what the Deep State has done to us, for a lack of a better description of their evil unleashed upon the planet.
I like reading your thoughts, because you go kind of deep, and you come up with angles not thought of, well at least not by me…so forgive me if I reply to often. Joe
I know I keep referring to Facebook, but it really allows you to see how polarized people have become. Facebook posts political non issues, but nonetheless they will elicit comments that are downright hateful. Divide and conquer is something I often think when I view these comments. I rarely watch TV, but enough to see how TV Talk Show hosts have gotten into the act, and Trump supplies them with an endless source of material, not that their discussing core issues either.
I don’t remember whether I mentioned this before in a recent article on this site, but when a cousin posts a response to a comment I made about our militarism and how many millions have died as a result that all countries do sneaky and underhanded things, I can only think people don’t want to hear the truth either, and that’s why most are so vulnerable to our propaganda, which is we are the exceptional nation that can do no wrong. Those who are affluent want to maintain the status quo, and those that live pay check to pay check are vulnerable to Trump’s lies, and the lies of the Republican party whose interest lie with the top 1 percent.
Talking about lies you mention only Trump and the Republicans Annie. Is this because the Democrats are such party of criminals that you consider them worth mentioning only in the crime chronic not in the context of lies?
About that “Climate Change” religion of yours: how much does it make sense that people around US are freezing but TPTB still want to tax fossil fuels, the only one thing which can keep people warm? Does that not look to your left-wing mind as taking from the poor to give to the Green & Connected? Will a wind-turbine or a solar-panel keep you warm on a -50 degree day? I am yet to live to see one green-scheme which is not for the benefit of the Green & Connected, whilst this constant braying about global warming renamed into climate change is simply as annoying as the crimes of the Israelis hidden by the media (Did you see that photo of a 3-year old Palestinian child whose brain was splattered out by an Israeli sniper’s bullet? She must have been throwing stones or slapping Israeli soldiers, right?).
I am not a US voter and I do not care either way which color gang is running your horrible country, because it always turns out the same. But the blatant criminality of your Demoncrats is only surpassed by their humanitarian sleaze – they always bomb, kill and rape for the good of humanity or for the greenery or for some other touchy-feelly bull like that, which the left-wing stupidos can swallow.
Oh, Kiza, are you one of those people that patrol the internet for people who dare mention climate change? I have no intentions of changing your mind on the subject, even though my background is in environmental science with a Masters degree in the subject. I am not a registered democrat, but an independent and didn’t vote for Clinton, or Trump. I’m too much of a liberal. I’m very aware of the many faults of the democratic party, and you’re right about them. They abandoned their working class base decades ago and they pretty much shun liberals within their own party, and pander to the top 10 percent in this country. Yes, both parties proclaim their allegiance to their voting base, but both parties are lying, since in my opinion their base is the corporate world and that world pretty much controls their agenda, and both parties have embraced the neocons that push for war.
P. S. However being fair, the Republican base is the top 1 percent in this country.
Hello again Annie, thank you for your response. I must admit that your mention of climate change triggered an unhappy reaction in me, otherwise I do think that our views are not far from each other. Thank you for not trying to change my mind on climate change because you would not have succeeded no matter what your qualifications are. My life experience simply says – always follow the money and when I do I see a climate mafia similar to the MIC mafia. I did think that the very cold weather that gripped US would reduce the climate propaganda, but nothing can keep the climate mafia down any more – the high ranked need to pay for their yachts and private jets and the low ranks have to pay of their house mortgages. But I will never understand why the US lefties are so dumb – to be so easily taken to imperial wars and so easily convinced to tax the 99% for the benefit of 1% yet again. Where do you think the nasty fossil fuel producers will find the money to pay for the taxes to be or already imposed? Will they sacrifice their profits or pay the green taxes from higher prices?
Other than this, I honestly cannot see any difference between the so called Democrats and the so called Republicans (you say that the Republicans are for the 1%). Both have been scrapping the bottom of the same barrel for their candidates, thus the elections are always a contest between two disasters.
Good that you both see the bipartisan corruption and can table background issues.
Yeah Sam I was impressed by their conversation as well. Joe
I agree, an excellent thread plus a civil disagreement. In my experience, only at CN. Thanks to all of you.
I am with you, Annie, when you state that “They [the Democrats] abandoned their working class base decades ago and they pretty much shun liberals within their own party, and pander to the top 10 percent in this country.” And yet they are so glibly characterised as “liberal” by nearly everyone in the media (and, of course, by the Republicans). Even the Nate Silver group, whom I used to think was objective is propagating the drivel that Democrats have become inexorably more liberal–and to the extreme–in their latest soireé analysing the two parties:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-the-democratic-party-getting-more-extreme/
In reality, the Dems are only “liberal” in contrast to the hard right shift of the Republicans over the past 50-60 years. And what was “extreme” for both parties is being sold to the public as moderate and conventional by the corporate media. It’s almost funny seeing so much public policy being knee-jerk condemned as “leftist” when the American left became extinct decades ago.
Annie, it’s not just the Democrats who are bought and paid for.
Virginia, I didn’t say that only the democrats were bought and paid for, but said, ” …yes, both parties proclaim their allegiance to their voting base, but both parties are lying, since in my opinion their base is the corporate world and that world pretty much controls their agenda, and both parties have embraced the neocons that push for war.” I also mentioned that the republicans pander to the top 1 percent in this country.
And my reply was meant to say, …
It’s not just the Democrats who pander to the 1% who have bought and paid for them!
NeoCons and NeoLiberals — same thing!
Otherwise, yep!
Sorry about the typos