"And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested." (1984)
"It's difficult to point to the problems with the coverage of ideas about alternative economic orders in the US because there is almost no such coverage. So, perhaps this part of the US ideology has been most evident the past year in corporate media coverage of other countries where the debate goes on, such as Venezuela. Despite the fact that President Hugo Chavez was democratically elected and is more popular in his country than President Bush is in the US, Chavez is routinely referred to in the US media as a "strong-man" or "autocrat". This likely is because journalists cannot conceive of a leader who speaks of "socialism for the twenty-first century" as anything but a Soviet-style dictator. The barely concealed hostility to Chavez in the US press would be laughable if it weren't so deadly serious; the possibility of US military action against Venezuela is real, and part of the process of creating public support for such actions is demonizing foreign leaders, with the help of the news media." (Censored)
-Historical Revisionism (Ministry of Truth):
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." (1984)
"That demonization process is possible in large part because of the second ideological assumption about the inherent benevolence of the US in its dealing around the world. In that worldview, US actions are presumed to be morally justified. If the effects of US policy end up being not so benevolent, any unpleasant consequences are written off as the result of well-intentioned policies that were flawed either because of inadequate planning or poor execution. For example, the US attack on Vietnam that left 3-4 million dead was portrayed by corporate journalists primarily as the unintended result of naivete and honest mistakes, not a vicious campaign to destroy a nation attempting to break out of the US sphere of influence. The more plausible explanation - that the administration officials manipulated intelligence to justify the war they had long planned to fight." (Censored)
-Psychological Manipulation (Doublethink):
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy."(1984)
"Corporate journalists agree that they should serve as watchdogs on power but bristle, of course, at the suggestion that they fail to do that. Herman pointed out that another powerful force shaping contemporary corporate journalism is the ideological limits within which journalists work. In other words, one of the most important things to remember about American journalists is that they are Americans - educated and socialized into a certain set of beliefs that are widely accepted in the halls of power and the intellectual institutions that serve power in the United States. There are three core ideas that are like the water we swim in - claims taken to be obvious and beyond question, unless one makes a concerted effort to analyze and challenge this "conventional wisdom".
1. capitalism is the natural way to organize an economy and therefore inevitable
2. the US, unique among nations, is inherently benevolent in its foreign and military policy, and
3. any political solutions that are "viable" and hence worthy of consideration, are defined by the platforms of the Democrats and Republican parties" (Censored)
-Fear and Order (Ministry of Love):
"Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." (1984)
"Most corporate journalists either have internalized these ideological statements or are not willing to contest them. Social control is achieved primarily by manipulation of public opinion, with coercion and violence used sparingly. Anyone who has worked within these institutions knows there is some freedom to resist, but that the system of rewards and punishments for intellectual workers keeps the vast majority in line." (Censored)
(pre-war countries are portrayed as beautiful women in media. when war is declared countries are viewed as children or animals that need to be taught.)
No comments:
Post a Comment