The Orwell Era
Almost any political scientist or English professor will tell you how to recognize the work of George Orwell, especially the classic tales "1984" and "Animal Farm", among others. In Orwell's universe, lies are told deliberately to people by the government, except the lies are known as "Newspeak". Anything painful and torturous is good because pain builds character and torture helps one to love the person who is doing the torturing. Finally, the people in power are indistinguishable from the people out of power because they use the same tactics: they rule with an iron fist once they acquire power.
I am a former journalist, yet I have not read any news since Jan. 20, 2005. I used to subscribe to Time Magazine and the New York Times. I no longer do so. Yet, I also teach political science. How can I teach students about politics if I do not know what is going on around me? It's simple: almost everything that is being reported as news, especially if it involves politics, is based on lies, and these lies are repeated over and over again by the media, which is largely owned by corporations who donate heavily to Republican candidates.
What are the lies? Here are a few.
1. The Democrats have a problem with morality, and the Republicans are benefiting from that problem.
This is a lie because this story is based on the exit polls from Nov. 2, 2004, that were revised to match the official result from electronic voting machines that did not match the earlier exit polls. The earlier exit polls were accurate, the revised polls are inaccurate because they were reformulated to match electronic voting results that had also been tinkered with. The true exit polls were taken until 7 pm. After that, all of the polling formulas were revised to match the "official" result. The American people voted against Bush and the Republicans because they perceived the Orwellian behavior of Bush and the Republicans over the previous four years. Thus, the problem isn't with the Democrats not understanding morality; the problem is with the Republicans taking morality too seriously. This has produced absurd news, such as Time Magazine's report on the top 25 Evangelicals. Evangelicals were not a significant part of the electorate in 2004, and yet they are being treated as the vanguard of American society. That is a lie.
2. Social Security is in trouble.
This is a lie because the administrators of the Social Security program have repeatedly said that social security is not in trouble, that it is viable for another half century.
3. There is a war on terrorism.
This is a lie because it is impossible to have a war on terrorism. Terrorism is very much like crime, and crime does not end, whereas all wars end. Now, we can think of terrorism as a chronic condition, exacerbated by extreme circumstances. Thus, a war on terrorism would fit right in with the war on drugs, the war on crime, and the war on poverty. Yet, the U.S. is committing thousands of troops abroad to actually fight a war of our own creation, not a metaphorical war.
These are just the three most prominent lies. The problem is that no one is pointing them out as lies, largely because the Orwell Effect has taken over the Republican and Democratic Parties. The Republican Party tells lies and acts in criminal ways, while the Democratic Party believes those lies and lets the Republican Party act in criminal ways. However, let's clarify. The Democratic Base does not believe the lies of the Republican Base and Leadership, but the Democratic Leadership does believe those lies.
So, the mainstream news is almost entirely based on either half or full lies, with the Republicans telling them and the Democratic leadership accepting them. The only place to get authentic news, unfortunately, is on the web, and especially from weblogs, like mine. That is why many mainstream news organizations have started to cover the information provided in web logs, since the web loggers are today's true journalists. The mainstream media have shifted into the industry of packaging the news instead of reporting and verifying the accuracy of the news.
When the mainstream news organizations start producing verifiable facts, I will pay attention once again.
I am a former journalist, yet I have not read any news since Jan. 20, 2005. I used to subscribe to Time Magazine and the New York Times. I no longer do so. Yet, I also teach political science. How can I teach students about politics if I do not know what is going on around me? It's simple: almost everything that is being reported as news, especially if it involves politics, is based on lies, and these lies are repeated over and over again by the media, which is largely owned by corporations who donate heavily to Republican candidates.
What are the lies? Here are a few.
1. The Democrats have a problem with morality, and the Republicans are benefiting from that problem.
This is a lie because this story is based on the exit polls from Nov. 2, 2004, that were revised to match the official result from electronic voting machines that did not match the earlier exit polls. The earlier exit polls were accurate, the revised polls are inaccurate because they were reformulated to match electronic voting results that had also been tinkered with. The true exit polls were taken until 7 pm. After that, all of the polling formulas were revised to match the "official" result. The American people voted against Bush and the Republicans because they perceived the Orwellian behavior of Bush and the Republicans over the previous four years. Thus, the problem isn't with the Democrats not understanding morality; the problem is with the Republicans taking morality too seriously. This has produced absurd news, such as Time Magazine's report on the top 25 Evangelicals. Evangelicals were not a significant part of the electorate in 2004, and yet they are being treated as the vanguard of American society. That is a lie.
2. Social Security is in trouble.
This is a lie because the administrators of the Social Security program have repeatedly said that social security is not in trouble, that it is viable for another half century.
3. There is a war on terrorism.
This is a lie because it is impossible to have a war on terrorism. Terrorism is very much like crime, and crime does not end, whereas all wars end. Now, we can think of terrorism as a chronic condition, exacerbated by extreme circumstances. Thus, a war on terrorism would fit right in with the war on drugs, the war on crime, and the war on poverty. Yet, the U.S. is committing thousands of troops abroad to actually fight a war of our own creation, not a metaphorical war.
These are just the three most prominent lies. The problem is that no one is pointing them out as lies, largely because the Orwell Effect has taken over the Republican and Democratic Parties. The Republican Party tells lies and acts in criminal ways, while the Democratic Party believes those lies and lets the Republican Party act in criminal ways. However, let's clarify. The Democratic Base does not believe the lies of the Republican Base and Leadership, but the Democratic Leadership does believe those lies.
So, the mainstream news is almost entirely based on either half or full lies, with the Republicans telling them and the Democratic leadership accepting them. The only place to get authentic news, unfortunately, is on the web, and especially from weblogs, like mine. That is why many mainstream news organizations have started to cover the information provided in web logs, since the web loggers are today's true journalists. The mainstream media have shifted into the industry of packaging the news instead of reporting and verifying the accuracy of the news.
When the mainstream news organizations start producing verifiable facts, I will pay attention once again.
posted by Marriah @ 2:35 PM
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