Pop Quiz:
What economist made this observation: “If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”?
What world leader said: “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”?
What foreign politician said: “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated
are confident they are acting on their own free will.”?
What author wrote: “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”?
What President said: “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”?
What playwright said: “All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.”?
Answers at the end of the post.
What happens when the power of the press becomes the abuse of power by the press?
Richard Nixon was the target of negative coverage when he defeated Helen Gahagan Douglas in a California Senate election in 1950. His campaign identification of her as “The Pink Lady” (think communism) was seen as dirty politics. His selection as Eisenhower’s running mate in 1952 shocked most political observers. He lost the 1960 Presidential election to JFK and then lost in the 1962 gubernatorial election to Pat Brown, father of Jerry Brown. He threw a tantrum after the 1962 defeat saying to the press: “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore”.
Nixon was caught up in the 1973 Watergate break in case and learned the same lesson that Martha Stewart later learned…the coverup is worse than the crime itself. The festering dislike of Nixon finally boiled to the surface.
When Woodward, Bernstein and Deep Throat (FBI agent Mark Felt) took Richard Nixon down in 1974 the press was forever changed. That change has been exacerbated by the plethora of “news” shows proliferating on cable TV. The Cable News Network (better known as CNN) was the brain?child of Ted Turner, main squeeze of Jane “The Brain” Fonda for a decade. The channel debuted on the national scene in 1980.
The no longer neutral media began to take sides in news stories affecting political figures, Journalism schools, infested by Leftist professors, who were children of the 1960’s revolution, became incubators of politically brainwashed students. These new “journalists” were launched into the national media itching to “make a difference”.
The Reagan years were relatively quiescent because, according to the press, he had a protective Teflon coating rendering him immune from criticism. He might also have been protected by his very successful economic policies. This quiescence ended in 1992 when the relatively unknown William Jefferson Blythe Clinton became the Democrat presidential nominee.
The press became an unpaid part of Clinton’s campaign team. George H. W. Bush was an ineffective President and a clueless arrogant elitist. The press pounced when he was mystified by the price scanner at a grocery store. The story line was that our President was “out of touch” with everyday people. Could he be trusted with the nuclear football?
The real story of 1992 was the cone of silence (Maxwell Smart call your office) that descended to protect Clinton from the mounting evidence that Slick Willie was a serial womanizer. Like all good wives Hilliary took charge of the “bimbo eruption” suppression team for the campaign. This was based on Tammy Wynette’s advice to …Stand By Your Man. The media looked like the Green Bay offensive line protecting their QB/candidate.
In 1996 Fox News came on the scene. This event completely disequilibrated the media mavens on the Left. Any suggestion that news folks from Fox be part of the presidential debates or given a seat at panel discussions was met with claims that commentators should not be partisan and that was not possible for anyone who worked, directly or indirectly, for Rupert Murdoch. The talking heads from CNN, MSDNC, CBS, NBC and ABC become positively indignant at any suggestion that they were even capable of bias.
In 2000 Dan Rather mortgaged his soul and forsook “honesty and trustworthiness” when he falsely besmirched George W. Bush, Republican candidate for the Presidency. He confected a story about candidate Bush shirking his duties in the Air National Guard during the Viet Nam War. The point he was making, however obliquely, was that poor, uneducated draftees were sent to Viet Nam to die in Bush’s place. This was an overt effort to influence an election.
When Bush won the election against Al Gore the media raised a hue and cry that Bush was selected rather than elected. This was a reference to the Supreme Court being called upon to settle the disputed voting results in Florida. For the next eight years Bush was regularly described as an intellectual lightweight…the full Dan Quayle treatment. The press ignored stories about Gore and John Kerry, both manifestly unqualified candidates. It was clear the media was working to ensure an ignorant electorate would vote “properly” rather than focusing on the issues.
In 2008 and 2012 the press was somnambulent about the experiential and intellectual weaknesses of candidate Obama. David Brooks was positively orgasmic about the crease of Obama’s trousers. Chris Matthews admitted to feeling a “thrill up his leg” when he heard Obama speak. He later dated Obama’s teleprompter. The deflector shields protecting Obama from serious questions were being operated 24/7 in newsrooms across the country.
Perhaps there is a pattern here. Any Leftist candidate, i.e. Democrat, was fluffed by the press and negative stories were spiked. The Republican, in contrast, had to endure aggressive press scrutiny. This became crystal clear to anyone who tuned in to presidential debates since Watergate. The panelists were fact checking anything said by the Republican candidate in real time and challenging what they saw as false or misleading statements. When the Democrat candidate engaged in flights of fantasy the moderators ignored it or, worse yet, pushed back if the Republican attempted to set the record straight. Overt election interference.
So how does this intrusive political bias relate to a Fifth Column?
The press appears to be actively engaged in undermining the government of the United States. This became clear beginning in 2015 with the nomination of Donald Trump and the growth of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
We have been told repeatedly that you can’t make America great again because it was never great in the first place. We have been subjected to endless accusations that have no basis in reality…Trump voters are deplorable, racist, white supremacist, transphobic, Islamaphobic, Nazi and Fascist to name but a few of the favored press pejoratives. White supremacy has become systemic white supremacy which is impossible to define. There are No Kings protests. ICE agents are compared to the Gestapo. Censorship is rampant because the press is unable make rational counterarguments to the ideas they oppose.
The media are incapable of letting go of the events of January 6, 2021…they are a Pavlovian Greek chorus on the topic. Team Biden was reminding us of the six Capitol policemen that were murdered that day. The actual number was zero. A CNN commentator told mind numbed robotic viewers (hat tip to El Rushbo) that Blacks have never had it worse in America than the present…please disregard the two centuries of slavery that was the lifeblood of the Southern Democrat economy. There are still references to the so-called Russian collusion between Team Trump and Putin and we are still waiting for the walls to close in on Orange Man as foretold by Adam Schiff for brains. Covid gave us a glimpse of what life would be under an authoritarian/totalitarian Leftist government and Mamdani is working hard to create a case study in New York City. The Epstein case has become a very bad SNL skit. Can you say insurrection?
And what is the reaction to these doings from the somnambulent press. No critical investigative journalism. No unbiased reportage. The death of media curiosity. Blame Trump for everything. Members of the press have once again become the nattering nabobs of negativism…negative about any effort to deal with real issues. The Fourth Estate has become a Fifth Column. They are modern Neros fiddling and delivering verbal accelerants while America burns.
Real investigative journalism is being practiced by the likes of James O’Keefe, Andy Ngo and Nick Shirley. Their good work is marginalized by the the establishment press without showing any level of curiosity about the issues they have raised…with receipts. Where is the clarion call for accountability?
They are flirting with the Ralph Waldo Emerson admonition…”When you strike at a king, you must kill him.”
Answers to the pop quiz:
What economist made this observation: “If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”? The irreplaceable Thomas Sowell
What world leader said: “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”? Adolf Schicklgruber
What foreign politician said: “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated
are confident they are acting on their own free will.”? Al Sharpton’s pal Joseph Gurgles
What author wrote: “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”? Eric Blair
What President said: “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”? Harry “The buck stops here” Truman, in contrast to Jimmy “The buck never gets this far” Carter
What playwright said: “All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.”? George Bernard Shaw, author of Pygmalion, aka My Fair Lady