The Media Is Not Your Friend (long)

[Troutman]

It is only recently I have made a truly solid connection between once paranoid theories and everyday realities. Take note of some observations I have made about the 'food chain' of society with 1) the common man getting screwed from all angles, 2) the media manipulating his emotions to serve the purposes of 3) the government which in turn is there to serve 4) the corporations. Take these real-world examples as a case in point.

 

1) Melbourne G8 Summit Protests

This was a few months back now; a normally peaceful Melbourne devolved into chaos when anti-globalisation 'humanitarian' protesters turned violent, attacking police vehicles and officers amongst other damage. This disgrace was of course on the front page of the papers. The country fumed at the appauling behaviour of the protesters.

 

What was quietly covered over was the report that the violent protesters were not actually Australian (one Turk, for example, was arrested). Rumour has it these psychos were purposefully asked to initiate violence to discredit the regular, peaceful protesters, thus turn society against them and help the G8 on its path to further profiting from the evils of society without obstruction.

 

I recall seeing some drunk-looking guy with a newspaper in his hand, fuming with rage and ranting about how we should kill all the protesters. With his emotions manipulated so cleverly, that's exactly what they want him to say.

 

2) Melbourne Siemens train braking failures

As a worker in the field of Melbourne's public transport, this debacle was all the more sickening as I knew the facts before reading what the papers had to say. The operator of the privatised Melbourne railway network is a French company called Connex. They inherited responsibility for newest trains in the fleet, made by Siemens, when a previous operator pulled out altogether. Siemens trains got huge media coverage across the city recently when a series of braking failures caused a handful of trains to fail to pull into stations. In turn it became a huge Connex-bagging media fest over none too reliable service for Melbourne commuters in general.

 

What really happened was simple: for 10 days, Connex scheduled train cancellations due to a lack of rolling stock until they had found the computer glitch causing the Siemens braking issues and brought the trains back into service. But the media dramatised the situation grossly in that time, to the point where I knew something more was going on. They labelled the Siemens trains 'lemons' (as if any new vehicle of any sort doesn't have teething problems!), they speculated it were possible to a train to fail to brake and crash into a train in front, they cursed Connex even though Connex had merely inherited the trains.

 

The truth is this: some railway infrastructure is very old in Melbourne, including some signals dating from the 1930s. The government owns and operates this infrastructure and it ultimately requires billions be spent. Connex is effectively paid by the government to be a 'whipping boy' to take the blame for government failings. The media helps by taking angry commuters' frustrations and turning it on Connex. And it worked - the anti-Connex sentiment is huge, yet based on lies. The media turns people away from truth, Connex get money, the government saves money, and the commuter gets completely screwed.

 

3) John Howard's so-called "War on Terror"

For the sake of argument, terrorism is defined as violent anti-West sentiment, whereas violent anti-Islamic sentiment is "freedom fighting". The unbiased media at its finest. Very cleverly, the media has portrayed itself as unbiased by not holding back from allowing anti-Howard voices to speak their facts. However, they know that the emotion of fear is far more powerful than any facts, such as the fact that the "War on Terror" breeds much greater anti-West sentiment in the middle east than it solves, or the fact that the war has been declared illegal by the United Nations but with no further action taken.

 

The reality is more clear than ever: a correctly-interpreted Islam is a peace-loving religion. There is a minority of violent psychos with a 'kill 'em all' attitude, just as there is a minority of Christian white supremacists throughout the Western world. What the media has done is give front page coverage to every violent Islamic moron speaking against western society. Every protest by the extremists becomes almost front page news overnight.

 

The logical balance, of giving any coverage to the neo-Nazi community, is not there. Protests by the Muslim moderates are given almost zero exposure. The end result is a media which professes to be unbiased with its criticisms of Howard, yet where it is most beneficial to inspire people's fear, they send a clear and repeated message that Islam equals terrorism. And it works. Don't be surprised if an equivalent mob in the Middle East is brainwashing local Arabs with the view that the West is out to bomb and destroy them and they must use violence against civilians here.

 

Who is profiting from Islamic-West violence or other pro-government propoganda? How do they successfully exert such calculated and clever manipulation of the irrational emotions of the masses with a stranglehold of the media? Regardless, I give them full marks for ingenuity.

 

4) Whoredom in the Media

Just maybe this is the most clever of all. As distraction, desensitisation or escapism, the plague of "sex sells" advertising found everywhere brings out the most shallow side of human nature, and turns men away from greater issues. A certain gender can often be kept occupied just by having regular news updates on Britney Spears' latest haircut. This is very much in the interests of the government to help distract them, and hide from them criminal acts being committed on a regular basis for the benefit of the corporations.

 

Whoredom is an ingenius base level. When presented with images of half-naked non-males, there are several possible reactions by viewers, all of which benefit government/corporation at the common man's expense:

* Ranting with hatred at the un-Christian, un-feminist, pro-promiscuity issue which in turn is connected with unwated pregnancy, 13 year old girls feeling they 'have to' have sex, abortion, anti-intellectualism and apathy to world issues and so on. Even though the core cause goes so much deeper than mere marketing.

* Being deeply ingrained with the view that a given product or image is "sexy", thus putting a halo over it to help inspire capitalist consumerism, shop-aholicism, or people searching eternally for fulfilment at a shopping centre.

* Depression at the helpless task of the average person wanting to be as "sexy" or "popular" as the images portrayed by the media. This works by putting people in their own world of misery and again prevents them from standing against evils by those up the food chain. Depression is also summoned with a bias towards violent and heart-wrenching news in the press (where excellent news like new scientific discoveries go unnoticed), which again has the same benefits.

* Inspiring deep-rooted fantasies or sexual frustration has the effect of making people's lives more chaotic, therefore more irrational decisions will be made (such as getting into huge debt to keep up with Joneses), the ramifications cause further chaos, and yet again it is a huge distraction from the government and corporations.

 

All of this can be likened to idling a deafening jet aircraft to drown out the voice of a Troutman speaking the truth. And it clearly works. Unfortunately the only solution is thinking and criticising before being spoonfed their heartless lies of whoredom.

[Troutman]

I would like to request this be locked for the archives.

[mts]

Done and DONE