Hearts & Minds / 2
Saturated in propaganda Even the rich think the system has failed, writes Graham Vanbergen
N
oam Chomsky once said, “All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” Chomsky, like so many others, is of course, right. Today, more than ever our world view is totally distorted by the saturation of information masquerading as news, in reality just propaganda. And rarely does anyone even partially question the status quo other than to acknowledge its existence. Strange then that around 80 percent of the population of Britain and most of Europe and the USA mistrust their political representatives. Why they buy into their vision of the future is still a mystery – logic would tell you the masses should have done something about this by now, if nothing else, to protect the sanctity of democracy. Mass media propagandists are the main drivers to what we believe is going on in our world. Everything from historical accounts such as “our part” in the major wars of the 29th-century, to what we are to think about major events unfolding in front of us such as climate change. We are lied to on both sides of the debate, which is deliberately confusing. People always have an opinion though, but there’s always a “but.” Everyone, without exception, knows there’s something wrong. The truth is, the truth is absent, or at least become so vague even the definition of the word truth
is a tool of propaganda” “truth – a fact or belief that is accepted as true.” The salient word being “accepted.” Our system of defining and communicating the truth lies in what can now only be described as the fog of war – an information war. The functionality of the system has been centralised in recent years and fallen almost exclusively into to the hands of a few billionaires whose incentives to keep the crumbling ‘establishment’ narrative intact because the status quo ensures you live in an ideologically ridden world, that deprives the vast majority of what could be achieved, whilst they live like royalty irrespective of the consequences. A prime example is the recent growth of news regarding extreme left- and right-wing political activists. All over the West we are now witnessing civil society involved in battles not just in the streets of our capitals but on social media and the web. Increasingly, billionaires are funding groups, activists and think tanks. Their purpose is to confuse and divide the majority – an age old political guideline to divide and rule. This is officially defined as, “the policy of maintaining control over one’s subordinates or opponents by encouraging dissent between them, thereby preventing them from uniting in opposition.” You know that this is happening right now don’t you? A substantial part of the propaganda model is, of course, corporate censorship. The system is such that reporters and especially edi-
Increasingly, billionaires are funding groups, activists and think tanks. Their purpose is to confuse and divide the majority – an age old political guideline to divide and rule
www.coldtype.net | October 2017 | ColdType
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