First, apologies for the gap. Much going on. Now to the plot.
There is a noteworthy trend in contemporary politics: the leaders have not adapted to the new technological age. They still believe that it is 1950, where what you say behind closed doors stays there. Or that there is no way to factcheck, in real time, their often false claims. For them, the ability to lie to achieve their goals is still the order of the day. They have not adapted to the technological reality: every person has a video camera and a microphone in their hands and can use it to provide a record of what you actually say. The public can use this evidence to question or refute claims you make. Your response is often to blame the source, an illegitimate tactic. As the evolutionary imperative says, adapt or go extinct.
A Political Generation Gap: AOC vs Trump
In another place, I wrote about AOC’s use of social media to promote herself and more importantly her policies. Since she is a millennial (she is 29), and has grown up with social media, AOC is aware of its power, as both a communication tool and more importantly as an archive. Social media is an archive of what an individual has posted online. Their very words can be used to refute current claims, and no amount of screeching fake news or ‘media bias’ is going to change that. To paraphrase Keith Olbermann, quoting your own words back to you is not a cheap shot, nor is it media bias. AOC knows the archival power of social media. The current President does not.
There are a plethora of Trump tweets that have not aged well. Whether it was his claim that the electoral college was ‘a disaster for democracy’ when it looked like he would lose in that vote, to praising the electoral college as ‘actually genius’ when he won. Or his claim that Mr Obama would ‘start a war with Iran’ because he was ‘desperate’ to now seriously escalating towards his own war with that country. Now you might argue Trump’s stream of consciousness approach disregards hypocrisy. Maybe. But the wider society (excluding the MAGA cultists) does not. They have the opportunity to look at the evidence and see his thousand-and-one backflips, hypocrisies and outright lies. Trump’s 1984-style ‘we have always been at war with Eurasia’ approach might work on the older generation, but the social media generation is better informed than any before them. This will not work on them.
Tonkin to Hormuz: Some Suspicious Events
Governments have often taken advantage of the lack of information available to the people. It was long suspected that the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to US involvement in the Vietnam War, was a false flag incident to justify yet another foreign war. Recently, declassified documents proved that this was the case. Times have changed and so has the nature of available evidence. In the 1960s it was not so easy to challenge the government narrative. If they said something happened, counter-evidence was not usually ready to hand. The government narrative was usually the only version of events available.
More recently, however, the nature of the available evidence has shifted to the point where it is possible to create counter-narratives to the official position. This often takes place in the field of independent media (frequently on YouTube), since corporations own establishment media and so the coverage tows the line on the latest foreign adventure. Examples of such counter-narratives include Jimmy Dore and The Real News Network. The use of social media as a means to get actual facts out there to counter the government propaganda is noteworthy.
This brings us to the recent attack on two oil tankers in the straits of Hormuz off the coast of Iran. The Trump Administration seems eager to turn this incident into another Gulf of Tonkin to justify going to war. The politics of this are complex, with the Iran Nuclear Deal signed under Mr. Obama subject to violation and ultimate scrapping by Trump and his goons. However, after the recent incident in Hormuz, a counter-narrative came forth disputing the Trump Administration’s claim that ‘Eye-Ran done it’. Great independent media reporting from Kim Iversen on YouTube seriously calls into question the government narrative, and I encourage you to check it out.
Bringing It Home: Australia
This very network is an example of independent media running facts counter to the outright lies our government pedals. Morrison and his regime do not have good relations with the facts, so printing facts provokes their ire. The go to case here is Emma Alberici’s searing critique of the great lie that is corporate tax cuts are good for the wider economy. Greg Jericho aptly responded in The Guardian, skewering the government for its attack on Ms. Alberici. These pseudo-fascists forced the ABC to pull the piece and publish a ‘revamped’ version of it. He who controls the past, controls the future; he who controls the present, controls the past.
Conclusion: The Role of Independent Media
Governments’ reactions to critical coverage clearly shows that it hits a nerve. Whether Spud screams media bias, or Trump screeches ‘fake news’, this should encourage us. We should continue to speak truth to power. They know they are losing the war and so they screech louder. Forward, my friends. Let us show these dinosaur politicians the true power of the information age.
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The forces which create the false flags are the writers of the cue cards for the politicians. The politicians are bribed, blackmailed, beaten up or bumped off, if they step out of line.
Excellent, Tim. 👍
The problem is getting the attention of the electorate. Interesting analysis has emerged that the Coalition victory came from less-educated voters. Those that actually read about politics, or have the ability to do a bit of their own research, knew that the Coalition was talking crap and that Labor’s policies were much better, just as they were in 2013. The truth is out there – the challenge is making it interesting enough for people to listen. They seem to prefer Dutton’s African gang and pedophile asylum seeker fantasies.
A fine piece of work!
In reply to Kay Lee, I see a great part of the problem as the control of the media, as Tim points out here and in other pieces. Until we find a way to reign in Murdoch and his ilk, it’s very much an uphill battle.
Even those who know just how evil he is continue to share News Corpse articles without disclaimer because now that the most recent election is over they have swung back to a more honest form of journalism. They do it time and time again – and we, the people, forget how much they lied and swindled just recently.
Cull Murdoch!
My question now is if we can identify blatant lies to deceive the public more effectively than ever before and at the time, why do these malevolent dinosaurs of politicians, PMs and Presidents survive their own lies; when once upon a time not so long ago you were required to resign, face dismissal or impeachment? Why do we have to wait for the next election only for the propaganda and lies to be rolled out again to destroy truth, honesty and democracy? We have a constitution, a legal system, and a capitalist system which is excellent at suing the innocent and guilty alike, not to mention investigative and legal authorities such as Federal police and the courts. Has society and its public institutions lost its apparatus, its nerve and its integrity?
Russell,
Alan Austin did a great piece at IA showing just how manipulative the Murdoch press is.
Headlines from The Australian Business Review before the election:
Shorten divides to conquer in class attacks
Labor’s magic pudding
Labor stoops to new low
Don’t have a bar of Labor
Trade surplus tops forecasts
165 steps to national destruction (Labor’s policy website)
ALP in $32bn property hit
Labor is making no sense
ASX rises as trade fears ease
It’s still the economy, stupid, as rates hold
Labor’s $1bn hit on insurers
Headlines in the same publication after the election:
Economy weaker than RBA says
A world of risks for Australia
Earning woes a reality check
Sluggish growth triggers reform calls
Telstra cuts 10,000 jobs
Reserve Bank cuts rates to new record low
Property slump ‘has another year’
Stagnant growth a threat
ASX has worst day in 5 months
Retirees hit as term deposit rates tumble
Disaster started years ago
Sadly, it’s not just Murdoch. As Austin points out….
“The exception to this pattern of flipping to honesty straight after the poll is ABC News. No discernible difference here. Before the election, the economy was discussed on the Coalition’s terms with little effective critique of the disastrous policy settings. No change after.”
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/newsrooms-tell-the-truth-about-the-economy–after-the-election,12811
When the smugometer hits maximum you know that they’ve somehow managed to legislate a full suite of legal immunities for themselves … a word here, a phrase there, a punctuation mark, or a miniscule deletion that alters meaning … plus new laws masquerading as national security … and a stacked judiciary. I don’t see fear in their eyes, or in their lies. I do see full-on smug strutting on the public stage though.
Excellent piece about the media. With one exception. There is nothing complex about the current situation in Iran. Israel will not allow Iran to get the bomb. Simple. The latest cancellation of military action was called off by Trump because for mine, he is being blackmailed by Putin. I don’t doubt for a second, the Russians have a film of Trump frolicking around on a Queen sized bed and getting ‘ Golden Showers ‘ from those lovely blonde Russian prostitute,s in full living colour. We have heard the rumours, he is a sexual predator writ large. Trump is compromised and he will soon be gone. Not because he is a letch and a philandering shithouse but, because the people that really run the US can’t get on with their job of destroying the planet.
That’s about the sum of it, Kaye.
Trump is the best example I can think of. He says he’s going to do something, does nothing, and then tells everyone he’s done it. Problem fixed. And the dumbass base cheer gleefully. But then, they don’t know he’s lying. Says a lot about them.
Who is “AOC” please?
Gilly, ‘AOC’ is the popular name for U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured with Trump in the above image).
Why do Australian citizens vote for the Liarbral Nat$ when had experience over long periods demonstrates conclusively that the Liarbral Nat$ politicians are involved for personal pecuniary interests and pandering to foreign owned multinational corporations that pay little or no taxation in Australia to benefit Australian citizens.
Dutton has now come out with his latest bit of nonsense but there are some out there who believe him.
He is saying (on Sky without being questioned) that detainees on Nauru and Manus are declining resettlement in the USA in preference to medical evacuation to Australia even though, if they did get approval for medivac they would go to Christmas Island initially and once they had received medical treatment they would go straight back to Manus/Nauru.
You may have noticed that he has also claimed that women raped on Nauru are ‘trying it on’ by asking to come to Australia for terminations as a ploy to stay here.
He is of course telling lies just to support his push to repeal the medivac laws but the Murdoch media outlets are reporting what he says without blinking and , need it be said, Dutton refuses to appear on the ABC.
I believe some are saying no. Have been doing so for a long time. Not getting good feedback from those who have gone. Being loaded with debt by having to pay airfare. Not being able to reunite with families. Yes, Dutton has made the excise as cruel as possible.
Dutton is still determined they will be only heading one way. Back to whence they came.
As for the attacks on the refugees, especially women, that is old news.