*And word of mouth is suspect. It is either tainted on purpose or inadvertently due to the human condition of "perception".
Let me begin by stating that all in the world is not as you have been told. The old saying that "truth is stranger than fiction"couldn't be more accurate, for we have been deceived on such a grand scale that most would have a difficult time in comprehending the full extent.
The behind the scenes machinations of big money and politics are so well hidden from most of the population, that if people actually knew how things were really run, we would quite literally have a second revolution overnight. Henry Ford knew this well when he said, "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
Most people who read this might have a hard time fathoming how an entire nation could be so well deceived, but it's really not that hard when you understand the inner workings and hierarchy of an overly revered media in which we place our blind trust.
The truth is not as you know it. Our faith in the media myth has been our Achilles heel.
Many have realized long ago that our politicians will lie to us at the drop of a hat, but most have no clue that our news media lies and deceives us just as much, if not more so.
We have been deceived by our media to such an extent, mostly because people are too trusting of our news system. They very naively believe that broadcasters and journalists would never lie to us. This trust has worked against us with devastating consequences which are unknown to most.
To understand how badly you have been misled, you first need to learn about how our news organizations have been infiltrated. Once you learn this undeniable historical fact, it is far easier to understand that life is not as you know it.
The First Attack On The Media, Through Money
If you've never seen the 1976 movie "Network" you've missed one of the best Oscar nominated films on the power of the media over people. The media is supposed to be the watchdog over the American republic and our democracy, but few know or realize that it was usurped nearly 100 years ago and has been completely stolen from us in the last thirty years since the advent of Reagan deregulation.
Don't believe it? Put down the TV remote and do some research on your own for once, instead of being spoon-fed your news, or disinformation, as it truly is.
Consider this quote from John Swinton, former Chief of Staff for the New York Times in an address to the New York Press club.
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." John Swinton, former Chief of Staff, The New York Times.
In 1917, Congressman Oscar Callaway documented in the official Congressional record that multi-millionaire JP Morgan had infiltrated the U.S. media for the sole purpose of exploiting and controlling it. Morgan hired twelve of the top news managers to help him determine the most influential newspapers in America. The idea was to find the primary key news institutions that other news outlets looked to and were thus influenced by. (This is documented in the official U.S. Record, volume 54, dated February 9, 1917.)
Once the editors arrived at a consensus, Morgan then bought or infiltrated the top 25 news organizations reported to him by his task force of news managers. An editor was assigned to run each paper, making sure that all news stories were controlled and that the watchdog for freedom was officially neutered.
This was a key step towards total information and news control in the United States, giving birth to censorship, disinformation and propaganda. The guardian of our forefather's dream of Constitutional freedom had been deeply wounded.
The Second Attack On The Media, Through Covert Intel
As if that wasn't bad enough, the CIA made its own foray into news control in the 1940s with a program to infiltrate the media, with the idea to have select journalists parrot the official government line under the guise of national patriotism. Some news members were simply duped, naively thinking that they were helping America by disseminating important news. Others were simply unscrupulous and morally deficient in their professional trade and were easily enough bought out, spewing whatever disinformation and propaganda that they could cash in on.
This project was known as "Operation Mockingbird," the name alone was suggestive of the mission's objective, total control of the U.S. media system. Many might naively scoff at such an idea, until perhaps they hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
According to former CIA Director William Colby, "The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
If that quote alone isn’t enough to raise a “Spock eyebrow” for some, then please consider this gem from another former CIA Director, William Casey, “We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
One thing the CIA understands well is that information is as good as gold, and he who controls information can use that data for political gain, power and wealth.
Through the years Operation Mockingbird lured such venerable broadcast icons as Walter Lippmann, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite, to name but just a few elite out of hundreds of broadcasters and noted journalists involved in the program.
According to released Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents, a great many of our hallowed media outlets were alleged to be involved with the Mockingbird project, including over 400 journalists who were used for numerous assignments, not to mention many publishing institutions which were also rumored to be involved
Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein was reportedly once told, "One journalist is worth twenty agents."
The CIA policy is to use and manipulate these “assets” in order to plant disinformation in the U.S., the same way they have done for years overseas through their Office of Strategic Influence. The problem is, it is apparently sanctioned by Congress for them to do so abroad, but expressly illegal to do so domestically.
Over the years, it became increasingly apparent to many observers of the CIA's effort to control the media throughOperation Mockingbird. The biggest blow to the project came in 1974 when two ex-CIA agents, John D. Marks and Victor Marchetti published a book entitled "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" (ISBN 0440203368). The book opened the door for many questions following the tell-all expose on Project Mockingbird. Public scrutiny of the CIA hit a new high and drew a concerned response from many in the U.S., including quite a few people on Capitol Hill.
As word leaked out concerning the Mockingbird program and concern began to spread over the possible infiltration of the CIA into the U.S. media, the Senate began an investigation under the Church Committee, the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities.
The Church Committee in 1975 revealed Operation Mockingbird.Senator Frank Church (D-ID) testified that the overall expense of disinformation had cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year. That number has grown exponentially since the 70s.
The Church Report found that “over a thousand books were produced, subsidized or sponsored by the CIA before the end of 1967”.
For all that was uncovered, the commission was stopped in its tracks by none other than CIA Directors William Colby (73-76) and George HW Bush (76-77). The report from Frank Church's committee was said to have been deliberately buried.
Despite its exposure, Mockingbird apparently did not die. FOIA documents were eventually uncovered that showed CIA agents openly bragging through interoffice memos that the agency still had in place "important assets" within every major news organization in the U.S. In 1982, the CIA admitted to having reporters on their payroll.
The American media facilitates the agenda of Operation Mockingbird by simply avoiding stories altogether that are meant to be kept from the public, or else by mixing some truth with blatant misinformation, to purposefully muddy the water and obfuscate the real facts behind the story.
Make no mistake about it, Operation Mockingbird, or a derivation of it, is still alive and operating as our media continues to mislead the public on everything and anything that those pulling the strings wish their paid media puppets to sell to us. Whether it be the numerous unreported incongruities of 9/11, the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the orchestrated economic collapse, or the diversion of the gulf oil spill, the media has not told us anything close to the truth.
As the X-Files was famous for pointing out, “The truth is out there.” All we need to do is look.
The Third Attack On The Media, Once Again Through Money
The new form of media control became simply enough, buy into it, or just buy it out. Government deregulation in the 1980s made it possible for the conversion of our media into the complicit, homogenized, neutered, spineless industry that it is today. Once deregulation was enacted, the watchdog of democracy, our hallowed and formerly esteemed press, became easy pickings in a hostile takeover for control.
The current media of the United States is controlled by a mere half dozen owners and CEOs. Those six individuals have total control over what you see and how your news and information in the world is shaped and presented to you. See for yourself in the following table.
| U.S. MEDIA OWNERSHIP |
GE / Comcast – NBC
Jeffrey Immelt / Brian Roberts | CBS Corporation - CBS
Les Moonves | NewsCorp – FOX
Rupert Murdoch |
Disney – ABC
Robert Iger | Time Warner-CNN Jeffrey Bewkes | Viacom – UPN
Philippe Dauman |
Each of these corporate giants have other vast numerous media holdings, through cable, radio, internet, magazines and newspapers. These six corporations alone account for the major bulk of our entire media.
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"The gathering of more and more outlets under one owner clearly can be an impediment to a free and independent press." Former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite
With six people in charge of our current media, it is now all too easy to propagandize and manipulate the people through the press. Until people give up their longstanding, naive faith in our controlled corporate news media, they will never find their way out of disillusionment, nor ever know the real truth.
THE EIGHT YEAR TAKEOVER OF THE US MEDIA
All it took to seize total US media control was money and 8 years time.
From 50 large media companies, we shrunk to just 6 in eight years.
(The Viacom and CBS split gives us six corporations since this printing.)Graph courtesy of the Corporate Accountability Projectwww.corporations.org/media
With the media unified now under a consolidated corporate ownership, literally in lock-step with each other, it’s much easier to propagandize with disinformation, such as the infamous 9/11 link to Iraq, or non-existent weapons of mass destruction to encourage our entry into an oil war.
To quote the fictitious character Howard Beal from the 1976 movie Network… “We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear.”
“The only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole... an entire generation, that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers; this tube is the most awesome goddam force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people."
"And when the 12th largest company in the world controls the most awesome goddam propaganda force in the whole godless world who knows what shit we'll be pedaling for truth on this network. So you listen to me, listen to me...television is not the truth. Television is a goddamned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom killing business. So if you want the truth, go to God. Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves. But man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear. We'll lie like hell."
"We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in illusions man. None of it is true. But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds, we're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to believe your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube. You eat like the tube. You raise your children like the tube. You even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God's name, you people are the real thing, we are the illusion. So turn off your television set. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence that I'm speaking to you now. Turn them off!”
Wise words indeed.
The Proof Is Available, But You Have To Look
If you don't believe you've been lied to by our politicians and the media, do a search for the following... Jekyll Island and the Federal Reserve System... Smedley D. Butler and the attempted fascist coup on FDR and the U.S. by ultra-wealthy Americans... look at any of our wars, including the false Gulf of Tonkin incident that led us into Viet Nam... the ridiculous "magic bullet" theory and the assassination of JFK... or more recently, the false Iraq tie to the 9/11 attacks, or the blatantly false weapons of mass destruction.
While you're at it, look into the 9/11 event and read about WTC building 7, or the military grade thermate that was found in the residual dust from the buildings. Look into the 9/11 Commission sworn testimony of Norman Mineta who was in the White House bunker with Dick Cheney on 9/11 and testified that Cheney tracked the incoming Pentagon attack from over 80 miles out, yet did not have the attacking craft shot down. Research the U.S. anthrax attacks and learn how fast that story went away once they discovered the anthrax was military grade and was tracked to Ft. Detrick. Take a look into the 7/7 attacks in Britain.
These are but just a few of the many things provable that you have been lied to about by our elected politicians and our complicit and corrupt media system.
As a media member for a quarter century, first as a broadcaster, then as a Program Director, and finally a consultant, I learned firsthand how easy it is to manipulate our media, for it runs like most organizations, in a hierarchy that ends with the wealthy ownership. Those who would errantly claim our media is not controlled are tragically mistaken or ignorant fools. This isn't to say that we do not have good journalists and broadcasters, but if you want to keep your cushy media job, you do as you are told.
In print, your stories are scrutinized by an editor before publishing. If you are a radio broadcaster you are subject to direction from the Program Director, consultant or station manager. If you are a talking head in TV news, your stories are scripted and fed via teleprompter, all of which is once again subject to editing to meet company policy. Don't be fooled about the obvious. Our media is very much controlled and deceives you on a daily basis. Like it or not, that is a fact.
In broadcast school and journalism we were taught two basic fundamentals:
1) Seek out and follow the truth, because it is the story.
2) Do not become involved in entangling alliances that prevent you from adhering to rule number one.
That's pretty simple.
Today, many of our major network news anchors willfully break this code.
NBC's Brian Williams is a member of the CFR, the Council on Foreign Relations. So is CBS's Katie Couric, ABC's Diane Sawyer, and MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski. Former anchors Dan Rather (CBS) and Tom Brokaw (NBC) are also members. Other media members include Bob Schieffer (CBS), Barbara Walters(ABC), Judy Woodruff (CNN), Paula Zahn (CNN), Lesley Stahl(CBS 60-Minutes), George R. Stephanopoulos (ABC), Jim Lehrer(PBS), David R. Gergen, (CNN), Fareed Zakaria (CNN), Terry Moran (ABC), Charlie Rose (PBS), Erin Burnett (CNN), Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp/FOX), Bernard Kalb (CNN), Morton Kondracke (The McLaughlin Group/Roll Call), Garrick Utley(NBC/CNN), and Monica Crowley (Talk-Radio).
Print journalists and columnists include Katrina vanden Heuvel(The Nation), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal), David Schlesinger (Reuters), Judith Miller (NY Times), Gene Lyons(Salon), Charles Krauthammer (columnist), Marc A. Thiessen(columnist), David E. Sanger (NY Times), David Remnick (The New Yorker), Jack Rosenthal (NY Times), P.J. O'Rourke(columnist), James L. McGregor (journalist), Jon Meacham(Newsweek/PBS), Daniel P. Henninger (Wall Street Journal/FOX), Jim Hoagland (Washington Post), David B. Ensor(journalist), Sidney S. Blumenthal (Salon), and Mark Helprin(Time), to name but a few.
This is just a cursory glance at the CFR roster. There are indeedmore media members, not to mention other noted dignitaries, including politicians, district judges, and even a Supreme Court judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!
And here's blatant proof positive that even the local media reads from the same "script."
Conan O'Brien has proof of media control at the local level: Video 1 | Video 2
By now, I certainly hope you get the point about the CFR fraternity of influence, most especially in our controlled corporate media.
Truth in broadcasting and journalism is indeed an elusive thing in today's much over-heralded technological media empire. Don't trust the media messenger.
Not all stories are fabricated or hidden, but when it comes to matters that affect the "powers that be" you can bet the message is hidden, manufactured, or steered in such a way as to benefit them, while keeping you in the dark. They clearly have the media ownership on their side, as well as the personnel connections to accomplish this.
Hopefully by now you have a much clearer idea of how our media works against us in not telling us the whole truth, or by spinning disinformation, deferring instead to the corporate culture, a corrupt government and the mega-wealthy billionaires who bankroll an abhorrent political system.
Your Part--Speaking Up
Now that you are aware of the mechanism that is in place to deceive you, what are you going to do about it? The gist of this piece is not just to inform you, but to pose this question to you.
The one thing that I hear the most is, "Well if things are this bad, what can I possibly do about it?"
In a nutshell, TALK! Speak up! Don't be silent. Have the courage to spread the truth.
America and the world need heroes in this disinformation and propaganda war for your mind. Be someone who can make a difference.
Start a website, create a blog, develop an email distribution list, post flyers, get active in local community access TV, call in to talk radio shows, write editorials to newspapers, call your local media and call them out on stories they're missing, or those that they have entirely wrong. Write your elected representatives, or better yet, run for office yourself. Create a podcast, make YouTube videos, start a local discussion group with scheduled public meetings.
There are things that you can do to affect change. You just have to make the effort.
Never be afraid to fight for what is right, but be afraid if you lose, or don't even try.
The point is, don't just take this bullshit sitting down any longer. Do something!
We outnumber the "powers that be" a million to one! They know it more than you do. If everyone had the courage to make a stand, the rats would jump ship and start turning on each other faster than you know. Self preservation is an inherent condition born to all of us, but you have to enact yours first in order to curtail theirs.
For "we the people," our best weapons are courage and the truth. Use them both wisely together and they are mightier than the sword.
Information and knowledge are two of the biggest assets you can have. Truth is one of the greatest powers in the universe, that is why there is such a concerted effort to shape it and control it. If they cannot do that, then they hide it.
In the marketing world there is an old adage that is held as gospel... "Perception is reality." That is so true in the mental sense, because if you truly believe something to be true, then that is your reality. Those that fight to control the news and information flow know this all too well and use this tactic to their advantage.
Again, if you know the real truth, be a true patriot... be a hero and speak up. Make a difference each and every day.
Talk to anyone who will listen. Educate your fellow man. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and more talk. Speak out!
Get rid of the corporate media in your life and start seeking alternative news sources that are not tied to the mega-billionaires who control this corrupt system of ours. A good site for finding alternative news sites is The American Truth Network. You will find many good links there to start your journey with.
Talk to your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, anyone who will listen. Just don't be silent. It is up to you, all of us, to educate those around us. If the media isn't going to tell us the truth, then it's up to each and every one of us to do their job for them.
Don't keep what you know to yourself. That is the worst thing that you can do.
The one thing that the "powers that be" fear the most is an informed and educated society. If people are wise to what is truly going on, it is much harder for the corrupt leading this world to pull off their secret deals and nefarious plots against humanity for their own selfish interests.
Secondly, give up on the left-right political trap that enslaves us in this finger-pointing cycle of lies and deception. The easiest way to conquer any open society is to divide it. That is exactly what has happened with our pathetic two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. This is a political system of design that pulls our nation apart. Truth is not left or right, Democrat or Republican. The truth only comes in one flavor.
I once met a very nice guy from Yugoslavia named Paulie, who told me the following,
"You Americans are so stupid, so very naive. You believe what you hear on the radio and what you see on TV. You are just a baby country of only two hundred-plus years. We have been around for centuries. We have been lied to so many times that we no longer trust our politicians and our media. We know better. When we hear things from our politicians, from our media, that is when we go to our backyard fences and we discuss with our neighbors. We put our heads together and we figure out the real story. You Americans are far too trusting. It is your own fault."
Like it or not, the man is absolutely correct. Just because we see it on "the TV" we believe it to be gospel. Nothing could be more dangerous to an open society.
We as a people need to realize that we have been deceived for many years. We need to learn to put the pieces of the puzzle together to see the complete picture, without the TV pundits and crooked politicians telling us what to believe or how to perceive the issues.
God gave you a brain of your own. Try using it for once, without a left-right political bias.
The next time you think to yourself, "But what can I do? I'm just one person," remember that the truth travels best by word of mouth. Don't be silent, because then you ensure that nothing will ever change.
If you are quiet about what you know, then you are helping those who are working to deceive us all.
Speak out now, while you still can. Whatever you do, don't be silent!
The real truth is what the "powers that be" fear the most. Otherwise they wouldn't have invested so much effort in keeping it from you.
It is up to all of us to be disciples for disseminating the truth.
As the old saying goes, truth spreads like wildfire, so start burning some ears and just maybe we will finally get the "change"that we were falsely promised and so desperately need in this world.
It may sound trite, but without the truth, all we have left is a big lie.
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Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government. -Thomas Jefferson
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