“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the
power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and
that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
―
Malcolm X
How much of what we 'know' comes directly from traditional media - a lot more than most imagine! While the power of the printed word has been known for a long time, the awesome power of televised images supported by a trusted newscaster (like Walter Cronkite who was an early creator of the mold) to shape and direct public opinion - valuable in any society, but absolutely crucial within a democracy - became understood quite early by those in government, who have utilized every possible means to control the mass media including threats, infiltration and co-opting key elements via patriotic fervor, embedding in wartime and off-the-record confidences - while punishing any who fail to 'toe the line' by refusing to grant access for 'plum' interviews or otherwise blackballing any non-compliant outlets!
But, even as the establishment media has allowed itself to become a tool of manipulation and control for those in power by failing to live up to their 'watchdog' role, they have suffered a loss in credibility. It now sees newspaper readership collapsing as people turn to alternative news for truthful reporting. As nontraditional TV outlets like Russia Today and Press TV continue to make inroads by covering topics taboo for network giants, they too have begun to experience a decline in their historic ratings!
Worried about their loosening grip on what enters the public mind, the State now turns its attention to placing curbs on internet freedoms while ramping up its spying efforts both online and elsewhere! With draconian legislation now in place, those who write for or visit blogs need to be more cautious!
9/11 Questions -- The Five Minute Version
The American Dream
Waking People Up And Getting Them To Realize That The American Dream Is Quickly Becoming The American NightmareThe following are 10 reasons why nothing you do on the Internet will ever be private again....The Internet is rapidly being transformed into a Big Brother control grid where privacy rights are being systematically strangled to death. The control freaks that run things have become absolutely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and recording virtually everything that you do on the Internet. One thing that you can count on is that nothing you do on the Internet will ever be private again. In fact, if you are obsessed with privacy then the last place you want to be is on the Internet. Most Americans have absolutely no idea how far Internet surveillance has advanced in the past few years. At this point, it would be hard to imagine any place less private than the Internet. Do not ever put anything on the Internet that you would not want the authorities or your employer to hold you accountable for. Basically, the Internet is creating a permanent dossier on each one of us, and we contribute to this process by freely posting gigantic volumes of information about ourselves on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The Internet is the greatest tool for mass communication that the world has perhaps ever seen, and it gives average citizens the ability to communicate with each other like never before, but there is also a downside to using the Internet. Everything that we do on the Internet is being watched, monitored and recorded and there is no longer any such thing as Internet privacy. If you think that you still have any privacy on the Internet, then you are either ignorant of what is going on or you are being delusional.
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