Maybe I am the only one disturbed by the growing media-ocracy and cult like following of superficial and "reason bashing" celebrities. People like Paris Hilton and Micheal Jackson, or better yet, antics of OJ Simpson capture the nations population with countless American hours spent in the vicious cycle of being in on the "know" of the likes of whom there is little to know about.
This is my assault on this superficiality that is being created by mass media, the internet and gossip mags that utilize technology, psychology and marketing to assault reason. This is our biggest threat- the threat to democracy is this assault on HUMAN reason and ability to create a society that is enlightened, connected and informed. This assault on reason stems from high tech propaganda.
Did you know that since Rupert Murdoch bought out MySpace.com that all alternative sources of media- links, you tube video's, discussion boards- that are not Murdoch owned and operated have been shut down, people shut out or totally wiped out. Murdoch has also taken an assault on all queer chat rooms, musicians, organizations and discussion boards. He has taken off all criticism of Murdoch and parodies or alternative and anti-marketing campaigns from MySpace.com. Any form of rallying around this issue has resulted in people being locked out.
Remember this is they that runs FOX News- Fresh off Xantac News- the news source that is "Spin Free" and upholding our Democratic principles. This is the state of our Union. Where people follow and are entrapped in the happening of washed out has beens like OJ Simpson and continue to believe that Saddam Hussain is responsible for 9/11 (over half the Untied States believes this). All the while the nations policy makers take some of the most disastrous steps in an Immoral and Unjust war.
While the Senate votes to dismember a nation, remember that we observe the upcoming shopping season of Christmas. I recall seeing the picture from a Marine lounge area in Iraq where a marine walks past a message scrawled out on the wall:
America is not at war. The marine corps is at war; America is at the mall.
And we continue to buy the latest gadgets that keep us connected, and yet we are so disconnected from the reality that is. We are faced with a great threat and that is the loss of our Democracy. A citizen not informed is as good as a citizen who lacks the right to vote and participate.
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1 comment:
When I read this, I remembered a short paragraph Virilio wrote in a book on Kosovo and the Balkan Wars, discussing intersections between technology and war. I looked around and hamdillah found it -
"Significantly, in the era of the 'information revolution,' the same process is now affecting disinformation: where as in the past it was lack of information and censorship which characterized the denial of democracy by the totalitarian state, the opposite is now the case. Disinformation is achieved by flooding TV viewers with information...The truth of the facts is censured by over-information...Now more is less. And in some cases, less than nothing. Deliberate manipulation and unintentional accidents have become indistinguishable." (1999:48)
Your absolutely right, in my opinion, about it being specifically 'high tech propaganda.' It's no surprise that with US involvement in wars since World War II, there has been a much smaller presence of Four Minute Men and Committee on Public Information. It seems as though Old Ghost's rhyme is a little timely - "This goes back to Woodrow Wilson and the creation of the Creel Commission / you control a population when you tell em what they vision is." Not so much though, as we're still seeing what I guess we can refer to as 'visionary machines' starting with television, schools, MySpace as you mentioned.
What to do, though?
Jazakallahu khair for the great post.
Ma'asalama,
Amer
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