We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, October 18, 2010

How propaganda is disseminated: WikiLeaks Edition

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon

The author dissects the ways that the Empire fights back against media sources that reveals its secrets, that is, information that is not reported to Americans by corporate media. Using WikiLeaks as the latest example, the author illustrates how the Empire manages media by use of disinformation, smears, and innuendo to ward off any sources of counter-information.
If our established media is governed by any overarching principle, it's this: when the U.S. military speaks, its pronouncements -- especially in the beginning -- are to be respected, believed and repeated without question or challenge no matter how many times that deference proves to be unwarranted.
Well, of course! The media is a major component of the Empire. It provides all the propaganda needed to "manage the consent" of working people.