How to Reboot a NeoCon — Part I
For the first time in many, many years the deep, frozen tundra of mass media in hibernation — a state of being that has been the hallmark of the major media networks under the Bush Administration (and during the bitter, partisan bludgeoning of the Clintons’ latter years) – producers, editors, anchors and reporters all across the nation have begun to awaken from their forced slumber. As they shoudk, many of them have lots and lots of hard, difficult questions for those whose Kool-Aid it turns out they’ve not only been drinking, but effectively force-fed as the entire picture of the Bush/Cheney Propaganda machine begins to resolve…
First (stretching the term, hard to tell where the “original” sin actually was) it was the revelation that, beginning in 2002, the Pentagon had actively maintained and deployed a systematic, taxpayer funded program in which retired military officials (“Message Force Multipliers”, a jarheadism meaning “paid stooges”) were recruited, trained and cultivated to push the Bush war agenda by regurgitating Adminstration talking points, propaganda, and other one-sided information across all the major media networks (mostly FOX, of course).
What began as the Pentagon Military Analyist Campaign, soon became yet another scandal in a blur of Bush scandals that stretches back to the “election” drama of 2000 (or as we like to call it, the Original Sin). This corps of trained Pentagon parrots were integral to the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld attack strategy; the generals posed as “expert analysts”, thereby lending the appearance of credibile, 3rd party legitimacy to what was essentially a campaign of misinformation.
the vanguards of moderate media (read, “every network but FOX and Clear Channel”)
have begun a subdued yet seething offensive bound to result in many more ugly truths about the Bush years being dug up, dissected and hung out do dry.
You know that that thing that “conservative types” do when they argue their point? Actually it’s not called arguing at all, it’s more like shouting people down with meaningless “power” words like “terror” or “liberal” or “freedom”, “America” and all that, but you know what I mean?
Like, you say something like, “Well, there’s more than one side to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict!” and then before a good debate can be had, they say “You just hate America!” or “You’re helping our Enemies!” or some other, loud and simple and patent falsehood.
Well Bill Moyers wants you and me to know that that thing has a name… that strategy of redirecting words with other words that do nothing but confuse, anger and frustrate all logic… is called LYING, and apparently, he and many other of media professionals (and their bosses) have had enough of it.
At the National Conference for Media Reform 2008, Bill Moyers had this beautiful, evil-crushing run-in with , one of Rupert Murdoch and Bill O’Reilly’s souless reporter-drones:
O HOW I PRAISE THEE, O TRUTH! THANK YOU BILL MOYERS, you sent the little man packing like a true gentleman. Your pity and concern for him and his plight as one of Fox News’ many truly wreckless and unworthy standards of broadcasting really struck a blow for us all.
Back on May 15th, Chris Mathews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-uptake/fox-ambushes-bill-moyers_b_106047.html
Take the venerable Bill Moyer, hardly
a left wing activist (unless you call PBS extreme), know for a taking I’ve seen (outside of Kieith Olberman/MSNBC and the Bill Maher HBO that is),
Leave a Reply