Manipulation of the Media

[IRONxMortlock]

It simply blows my mind that anyone would WANT to have the truth replaced by government sunshine and lollipops stories. Oh well, at least you'll have some "information" with which you can further rationalise your support of an illegal and immoral war.

Anyway, I had said everything I needed to say so I was going to leave this thread be. However there are a few things that need to be corrected.

Firstly the issue of a non-US citizen commenting on US domestic policy:
I can’t stand the arrogant and condescending tone some people have demonstrated about this. Sorry mighty lords for even daring to think about discussing US domestic policy! I notice that hasn’t stopped many American’s chiming in on topics relevant only to other countries’ domestic laws etc. (not blaming Americans for doing so BTW, it doesn’t bother me at all if American’s talk about what happens in my neck of the woods. In fact, I believe it’s great to get an outside perspective). I've already answered why I feel compelled to comment and concern myself with some US domestic policy.
1. I don't want to see US citizens living in a dictatorship.
2. I don't want the world to have to deal with the danger of a US dictatorship.
I don't believe the dictatorship is here yet but it isn't going to happen in one big jump, it will come with the acceptance of many "little" issues. A little loss of habeas corpus here, a bit of biometric information imprinted on compulsory ID cards there, the military allowed to police civilians, a bit of military propaganda under the guise of news, a growing divide between rich and poor. Each a step closer to despotism. One more major terrorist attack and ta-dah – dictatorship. But once again I digress.

Specifically relating to this thread however, I believe this is also a matter of US foreign policy. I'm sure this new propaganda will also be aimed at foreign news sources. Globalisation has created a fairly interlinked media network and plenty of this new "news" will end up in my face. In fact, I believe this may be one of the primary reasons for creating this new "media correction unit"; to improve America's global image and "manage the perceptions" of world opinion. After all, if we don't agree with the official line then we need to be "corrected" don’t we?

There's skeletons in every countries closet, but at least at guantonimo because of the military commisions act they will recieve trials.

Lol, yeah I'm sure they will receive and fair "trial" and be shot at dawn. In using this comparison it’s good to see that you also consider the concentration camps in Gitmo a war crime. However I think you’ve missed the point about the media being manipulated. I used that picture to show an example of doublespeak (and yes CR, I am aware that the US base and its slogan in Cuba has a longer history than the current gulags there). Tex, Your picture doesn’t seem relevant to the discussion at all. Rather it appears to be a vulgar attempt to stifle debate by depicting the despicable actions of an empire which expired more than 60 years ago. I guess it was inevitable for the “you can’t talk because your country does/did x” line of arguments to appear. There are two such arguments in this thread alone! Even if I was Japanese, which I am not (my work brought me to Japan), I fail to see how what I didn’t have anything to do with 60 years ago would somehow destroy my arguments about present day topics.