Privatizing the Truth; Bush's War on Information

[beetbox]

Privatizing the Truth; Bush's war on information
Bush's lying is not a matter of human frailty or corruption, but a statement of administration policy


by Mike Whitney

A great deal of print has been wasted on President Bush's inability to tell the truth. In fact, it really makes little difference whether Bush is a pathological liar or not. What is meaningful however is that deception is the primary tool for the maintenance of the state. Transparency and candor are now seen as direct threats to the preservation of the status quo. This suggests that Bush's lying is not simply a matter of human frailty or corruption, but a clear statement of administration policy. This may seem like a minor point, but in fact the conduct of the Bush administration cannot be seriously evaluated without understanding that deceit is the cornerstone of their class-based world view.

Evidence of this is everywhere, right down to the language that is painstakingly minted in right-wing think tanks to conceal the real meaning of administration policy. "The war on terror", preemption", and "enemy combatant" are just three expressions that are intentionally designed to mislead the public. The real purpose of this language is to elicit support for unpopular policies that serve the exclusive interests of elites.

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At present, the American system of governance is so inherently corrupted that there is very little worth salvaging. The electoral system has been clumsily rigged with voting technology that maintains the appearance of democracy, but eliminates the real possibility of majority rule. Similarly, the US Military, now deeply imbedded into domestic affairs is directly involved in "Strategic Intelligence" operations that are almost exclusively designed to deceive the American people to sustain support for foreign interventions. Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch are classic examples of intentionally misleading Military information, but there are countless others related to the use of banned weapons, bombed wedding parties and fabricated civilian casualty-rates. Similar to the Bush administration, Pentagon deception is a matter of policy not simply a "cover-up". Nothing they say should be taken at face value.

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This means that the internet, which is perhaps the last outpost of democracy in America today, is undoubtedly part of the broader government strategy for controlling information. The internet is seen as "command and control" for the disparate leftist and liberal groups that foment resistance against the political establishment. There should be back-up plans to protect this vital resource. The Bush administration has already demonstrated its penchant for toppling regimes through "decapitation" or removal of the leadership. As the nexus for leftist organization, the internet is a logical target for this type of government disruption. Any attack on the system would be catastrophic for the antiwar and anti-imperial movements as well as a serious body-blow to personal freedom. Be forewarned.

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WHI20050825&articleId=863

[madeline_con]

1. How does one filter it?

Meaning, in this instance, the info and Democratic "chatter" being filtered from internet commerce?


Would not an interruption deal a hell of a blow to the economy, if it were done to stop the "chatter"?

Just a thought...

[stillcool]

2. I either read, saw, or heard....

recently about how the internet will be contained. ISP's will conglomerate as the news, and when purchasing service it will be tiered as Cable. For X amount of money you get access to A, For Z you get access for A + B, etc.

[wli]

3. any URL's? n/t

[wli]

4. yes, Bushler's moving to castrate the internet

It's been ongoing for a while now. It takes quite some effort already to host one's own website (in fact, to even get a static IP address which is usable for numerous other purposes besides webhosting), and hosting-for-hire services already squash content their corporate masters disagree with. Netnanny software is already in prevalent use under the aegis of spamfiltering.

All it really takes is some ISP consolidation and no one can self-host anymore. Then all content is censored.