American media has a plethora of films depicting authoritarian states, dystopian societies and Orwellian narratives. I remember when V for Vendetta was released to the theaters in 2005, many of my friends told me that I should really see it. I had read the graphic novel and found that the film held to the original spirit of the comic while relating to the relevant world of today. While it may seem like watching such films raises general awareness about the types of propaganda that influence us, I see it having a counter effect. Derek Sivers once did a short TED presentation on goals in which he said the following:
Nov 15, 2015
Map of France by NuclearVacuum (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The recent shootings and bombings in France have left over a hundred dead. This was immediately labeled as a terrorist attack by ever major news feed. Within less than a day, blame was attributed to ISIS and such evidence emerged as suicide bombers being found with passports on them. France declared a state of emergency and the world suddenly declared solidarity in a story that feels downright unbelievable, and may very well be.
Nov 6, 2015
MetroJet EI-ETJ by Sergey Korovkin (CC BY-SA 4.0)
On November 4th, 2015, an Allied Services AN-12B cargo plane crashed while making a flight from Juba to Paloich. Police reported that 41 people were killed in the crash. I found it interesting that many news and media outlets mentioned it was a “Russian cargo plane” even though neither the transport company nor the countries it was flying between had anything to do with Russia. If a 737 crashes, news articles don’t immediately read that an American made jet crashed. If an Airbus crashes, news articles don’t mention a French made jet crashed. They cite the origin country of the airline. Then another plane incident occurred. Metrojet (Kogalymavia) flight 9268 crashes and the United States immediately blames it on an ISIS bombing, a claim Egypt says is premature. What we are seeing is propaganda in the making.
Oct 27, 2015
Sky over Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 30 June 2015
When I visited Amsterdam, I watched the sky fill with long streaks extending for hundreds of kilometers behind air traffic as they carried passengers to the furthers parts of the Earth. I had seen documentaries such as What in the World are they Spraying with interest and discernment. In my own research, I traveled the spectrum of belief and unbelief. I analyzed the arguments and came to my own conclusions. What bothered me most during this journey was the polarizing debates and ad-homonen arguments used to frame the people with beliefs on one side or the other, rather than addressing the facts. Terms like debunking serve no purpose except to discredit the intelligence of a person who makes an argument, simply because one believes he or she is wrong has a predisposition to one’s accepted view of what is true.
I rarely watch mainstream news, but it’s been on at hostels I’ve been traveling through and I am amazed by how much attention is being paid to refugees leaving Syria and entering Europe and how little coverage is given to the actual war. Meanwhile, Obama is echoing calls of his predecessor in regards to Saddam, asking Assad to step down. However, not one mainstream source is asking the question that needs to be asked: how do we stop America, the UK and Europe from funding the terrorism in Syria that is driving people from their homelands?
If you watch the news today, you’ll be told that Muslims are protesting around the world about some movie. This contradicts other accounts that state the original protest in Egypt was not about the film, but a rally to free Omar Abdel-Rahman, also know as “The Blind Sheik,” from a US prison; something President-elect Morsi of Egypt pledged to seek. Libya’s President Magariaf states that the recent attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi were carried out entirely by foreigners and not people from Libya, a similar situation with the Australian protesters in Sydney where many of them were not citizens. The movie itself was not even its original form with much of its dialogue dubbed over and there is considerable suspicion that people may have been paid to be at some of these worldwide protests.
Meanwhile there hasn’t been nearly as much coverage at the protests in China against the Japanese people over Japan’s purchase of the Diaoyu Islands. The islands were privately held by Japanese citizens and the act only seemed to infuriate existing racial tensions. The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce condemned the act. It’s very interesting to note that only a week earlier, China announced that it would allow trading of oil in its own currency instead of the US Dollar.
Two weeks ago a new health care bill, H.R. 3962, passed the House. Many prominent democrats voted it down saying it did too little while health insurance companies denounced it claiming it did too much. Between this mess includes several awkward provisions and amendments which include removing funding for abortions from publicly subsidized plans while allowing medical reimbursements for prayer services.
There has been considerable media attention given to the amazing job of Captain Sullenberger in his ability to safely land a US Airways Airbus A320 into the Hudson River in New Your City. The response of the New York ferry service and emergency response crew insured that there were no fatalities with the only major injuries involving hypothermia. Still the media coverage of this events seems to have overshadowed the still ongoing bloody conflict in Gaza, and ever further, the nomination herrings of Eric Holder for the position of attorney general.
During his confirmation hearing, Holder unequivocally held that the interrogation technique of “waterboarding” is illegal. Furthermore, Holder refused to accept the premise that torture could be acceptable if there is an impending attack (known as the “Ticking Time Bomb” scenario). Holder is also against the policy of “rendition,” the practice of handing detainees over to countries where they could be subject to torture.
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