THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Fourth Estate or Fifth Column?
Edmund Burke is credited with first referring to the media as the “Fourth Estate.” The British government consisted of three estates including the King, the Lords and the Commons. Burke pointed to the editors in the gallery and claimed they were also an estate, a major power broker. He speculated that the media were the most powerful of all the estates.
The term “fifth column” derived from the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The rebel Fascists, led by Francisco Franco, were marching on Madrid, the Spanish capital. Franco’s forces were divided into four columns, which descended on the city from four directions. Many Fascist sympathizers allegedly resided inside the city and did everything they could to undermine the Spanish Republic. They became known as the “fifth column.”
The Spanish Republic was one of the most free and democratic governments ever to rule a large nation. Alas, freedom and democracy seem to be unnatural to the majority of human beings. Hitler and Mussolini openly supported the Spanish Fascists to the point of supplying arms and flying strafing and bombing missions. Thousands of idealistic Americans went to Spain to fight for the Republic. The U.S. government claimed to be neutral. In reality, its actions indicated it preferred to have the Fascists in power.
What role does the U.S. media play today? Is it a “fourth estate” with high democratic ideals as Burke imagined, or is it a traitorous “fifth column” of subversives undermining the nation’s principles, values and ideals?
The mainstream media often refer to themselves as liberal. In reality, they are owned mostly by conservatives and funded mainly by conservative corporate advertisers, many of whom will withdraw their advertising dollars if they disapprove of programming content. Conservative plus conservative does not add up to liberal.
In the U.S. the media pass themselves off as the fourth estate and as liberal to lull ordinary people into believing that they have a watchdog keeping an eye on the repositories of power. This deception is crucial for a small, undemocratic oligarchy to rule the nation. The media claim that the people are sovereign while secretly helping the oligarchy consolidate its power.
The media follow the rules of propaganda. They repeat lies and deceptions over and over until they are widely believed. They omit critical facts that would change the meaning or impact of an event or action. They never admit that the oligarchy exists. They are the obedient servants of the oligarchy.
The success of the modern ruling oligarchy can be attributed to its ability to remain inconspicuous. Ordinary people don’t suspect its existence. Members of the oligarchy will surface in cases of ominous threats to their power or wealth. Oligarch Richard Mellon Scaife surfaced to combat the Bill Clinton threat. For example, the 1992 election went wrong. George H.W. Bush should have been a shoo-in. Bush’s missteps and a third-party challenge by billionaire maverick H. Ross Perot—not a member of the oligarchy--produced a surprise outcome. Scaife funneled millions of dollars into organizations to neutralize Clinton. The federal courts, by and large obedient servants of the oligarchy, cooperated fully. Clinton, pummeled from all directions, was kept off balance. He was left unable to do any harm to the oligarchy such as pass his healthcare reform program and convert military spending into mass transit upgrades and expansions.
Another oligarch surfaced when George W. Bush lost the 2000 election in spite of extensive election rigging. James Baker intervened with the local governments and the U.S. Supreme Court and got the election turned around.
In both cases, the media covered up or distorted most of the illegal actions allowing the oligarchy to prevail and leaving the people baffled, stupefied and silent.
The oligarchy’s successes at the end of the 20th Century encouraged it to reach for greater power in the 21st Century. The people showed no sign of higher awareness even though they had access to far more information. The primitive instinct to follow a macho man no matter how low his intelligence still was strong. The bearing of a leader is far more important than his brain. George W. Bush has what British Member of Parliament George Galloway termed “A simian swagger.” Bush’s political handler, Karl Rove, noticed Bush’s swagger in the 1980s and reportedly bragged to some Texas friends that he could make that man president of the U.S.
Now, in the 21st Century, the world finds itself facing a nation with weapons capable of destroying that world being led by a man whose brain spent most of its existence cooking on drugs or pickled in alcohol. There are 21st Century weapons in the hands of First Century men.
Manipulating everything is a power-hungry, amoral oligarchy. The oligarchy holds the beliefs held by the kings, Feudal lords and aristocrats who preceded it. Ethically, the oligarchy believes morals are meaningless. Morals are tools to be used to pacify the masses, which, left on there own, would turn the world into lawless disorder and chaos. For their own good, the masses must have laws and morals imposed on them, harshly if necessary. Lying to impose an ethical system not only is not wrong, but it is noble to do, the oligarchs believe.
Those laws and morals don’t apply to members of the oligarchy. When an oligarch is exposed for violating one of the rules, he is given a slap on the wrist. No matter how hideous an atrocity an oligarch commits, he will never suffer the harshest punishment. An oligarch has never been executed in the U.S., the world’s second biggest practitioner of capital punishment after dictatorial China.
The media’s job is to cover up the hypocrisies and contradictions and spin the evidence to be harsh on common people and soft on rich oligarchs. The U.S. mainstream media has mastered the art of deception. It isn’t what it appears to be. What it says usually is untrue. It lies first, and tells the truth only if forced to do so.
The term “fifth column” derived from the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The rebel Fascists, led by Francisco Franco, were marching on Madrid, the Spanish capital. Franco’s forces were divided into four columns, which descended on the city from four directions. Many Fascist sympathizers allegedly resided inside the city and did everything they could to undermine the Spanish Republic. They became known as the “fifth column.”
The Spanish Republic was one of the most free and democratic governments ever to rule a large nation. Alas, freedom and democracy seem to be unnatural to the majority of human beings. Hitler and Mussolini openly supported the Spanish Fascists to the point of supplying arms and flying strafing and bombing missions. Thousands of idealistic Americans went to Spain to fight for the Republic. The U.S. government claimed to be neutral. In reality, its actions indicated it preferred to have the Fascists in power.
What role does the U.S. media play today? Is it a “fourth estate” with high democratic ideals as Burke imagined, or is it a traitorous “fifth column” of subversives undermining the nation’s principles, values and ideals?
The mainstream media often refer to themselves as liberal. In reality, they are owned mostly by conservatives and funded mainly by conservative corporate advertisers, many of whom will withdraw their advertising dollars if they disapprove of programming content. Conservative plus conservative does not add up to liberal.
In the U.S. the media pass themselves off as the fourth estate and as liberal to lull ordinary people into believing that they have a watchdog keeping an eye on the repositories of power. This deception is crucial for a small, undemocratic oligarchy to rule the nation. The media claim that the people are sovereign while secretly helping the oligarchy consolidate its power.
The media follow the rules of propaganda. They repeat lies and deceptions over and over until they are widely believed. They omit critical facts that would change the meaning or impact of an event or action. They never admit that the oligarchy exists. They are the obedient servants of the oligarchy.
The success of the modern ruling oligarchy can be attributed to its ability to remain inconspicuous. Ordinary people don’t suspect its existence. Members of the oligarchy will surface in cases of ominous threats to their power or wealth. Oligarch Richard Mellon Scaife surfaced to combat the Bill Clinton threat. For example, the 1992 election went wrong. George H.W. Bush should have been a shoo-in. Bush’s missteps and a third-party challenge by billionaire maverick H. Ross Perot—not a member of the oligarchy--produced a surprise outcome. Scaife funneled millions of dollars into organizations to neutralize Clinton. The federal courts, by and large obedient servants of the oligarchy, cooperated fully. Clinton, pummeled from all directions, was kept off balance. He was left unable to do any harm to the oligarchy such as pass his healthcare reform program and convert military spending into mass transit upgrades and expansions.
Another oligarch surfaced when George W. Bush lost the 2000 election in spite of extensive election rigging. James Baker intervened with the local governments and the U.S. Supreme Court and got the election turned around.
In both cases, the media covered up or distorted most of the illegal actions allowing the oligarchy to prevail and leaving the people baffled, stupefied and silent.
The oligarchy’s successes at the end of the 20th Century encouraged it to reach for greater power in the 21st Century. The people showed no sign of higher awareness even though they had access to far more information. The primitive instinct to follow a macho man no matter how low his intelligence still was strong. The bearing of a leader is far more important than his brain. George W. Bush has what British Member of Parliament George Galloway termed “A simian swagger.” Bush’s political handler, Karl Rove, noticed Bush’s swagger in the 1980s and reportedly bragged to some Texas friends that he could make that man president of the U.S.
Now, in the 21st Century, the world finds itself facing a nation with weapons capable of destroying that world being led by a man whose brain spent most of its existence cooking on drugs or pickled in alcohol. There are 21st Century weapons in the hands of First Century men.
Manipulating everything is a power-hungry, amoral oligarchy. The oligarchy holds the beliefs held by the kings, Feudal lords and aristocrats who preceded it. Ethically, the oligarchy believes morals are meaningless. Morals are tools to be used to pacify the masses, which, left on there own, would turn the world into lawless disorder and chaos. For their own good, the masses must have laws and morals imposed on them, harshly if necessary. Lying to impose an ethical system not only is not wrong, but it is noble to do, the oligarchs believe.
Those laws and morals don’t apply to members of the oligarchy. When an oligarch is exposed for violating one of the rules, he is given a slap on the wrist. No matter how hideous an atrocity an oligarch commits, he will never suffer the harshest punishment. An oligarch has never been executed in the U.S., the world’s second biggest practitioner of capital punishment after dictatorial China.
The media’s job is to cover up the hypocrisies and contradictions and spin the evidence to be harsh on common people and soft on rich oligarchs. The U.S. mainstream media has mastered the art of deception. It isn’t what it appears to be. What it says usually is untrue. It lies first, and tells the truth only if forced to do so.
posted by Unknown at 10:11 PM
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