LeftExchange
The Search for Truth
A task for detectives, analysts and sceptics!
by
We live in an age where there is no lack of media that relay to us a constant river of words and pictures that give us news from all corners of the world, tell us which things we should buy in order to be happy and contended and entertain us, letting the daily soap or talk show wrap us up in unthinking bliss. We also live in an age where, because of this mass of “information”, the possibilities to manipulate the thinking and acting of the recievers of the messages are very good. Can we trust that the messages are brought to us undistorted, omitting no relevant facts and without underlying motives?
Let us be very clear about one thing in today´s media world. Commercial media´s role is NOT, repeat NOT, to inform us, educate us or invite us to the democratic process. It is:
TO DELIVER US IN OUR CAPACITY OF CONSUMERS to the buyers of advertising!!!
Non-commercial media have other roles but may, depending on who owns and runs it and under what conditions, want to influence us in different ways. With very few exceptions this is the sad standing of things. The day of the independent little newspaper run and owned by an individual driven by a passion for truth and democracy is gone, if it ever was there in the first place. The overwhelming majority of news consumed by readers and watchers in today´s world is delivered by outlets with one all important dedication:
This does NOT mean that the news should automatically be seen as false or that journalists working in the media palaces should be seen as lying. We must, however, be aware that when the truth-telling runs into conflict with money-earning, there is very likely some compromise or “adjusting” taking place in order to protect the latter requirement. We should know that if a journalist wants to run a true (but nasty) story of how Corporation X used blackmail to achieve certain results, there is a possibility that the story will be either held back, diluted or “corrected” to suit Corp X, if this corporation is one of the main advertisers in the paper or channel. If some of the main owners of the paper/channel also own large stock in Corp X the chances grow into a probability.
There are journalists with high enough moral and ethical standards to risk their job rather than to compromise those standards but in general it is easier to be persuaded to “adjust” and “accomodate”. There are editors with long and dedicated careers who are given great freedom to write and say more or less what they want as their work is deemed so valuable that in general it outweighs those times when it produces “uncomfortable” results. There are also journalists, editors and columnists of good standing who very harshly have been kicked into unemployment for having aired “wrong” opinions or published unwanted facts.
There are things we can take more or less at face value. If two cars are reported to have crashed and left five dead, then it most often is two cars involved and not six and the number of dead in all probability are five or thereabouts. If the surviving driver of the car that caused the accident was a very drunk cabinet member we must understand that there will be forces that try to suppress at least the fact of the low concentration of blood in his alcohol! Sometimes with sucess. The most commonly used tactic in desinformation is not the outright lie, but the omitting of pertinent facts. Facts might be checked and lies can, as soon as more than a very limited number of people are involved, be disproved. The quiet “forgetting” to mention some fact can easily be explained away if pointed out by critics.
When political/big money interests are involved we should be extra careful before swallowing what we are told. Bear in mind that even if, unlike the kings and noblemen of yesteryear who rode first with their soldiers into battle, today´s leaders of states and conglomerates are far from battles and bloodshed in their bunkers or guarded mansions, they still have powerful agencies at their service, they still are seeking more power and riches, they still are not above human weaknesses! And, today they know how to really manipulate!
Let us be very clear about one thing in the political/big business world. The actions of states and corporations are NOT, repeat NOT, taken for the sake of benevolence, justice or principles, even if it might appear like that sometimes if the ulterior motives are not clear. The actions are taken in order to:
INCREASE NATIONAL WEALTH and power!!! (states)
DELIVER MAXIMUM PROFIT TO OWNERS!!! (corporations)
(If anyone hears about a state that unilaterally and without being forced has conceeded wealth or power or a corporation willing to lose money I´d be happy to hear about it).
In times of “National Distress” or emergency new and more sinister meanings of “adjust”, “forget”, “accomodate” and “conform” come into play.
Here we can learn much from history and we have to, for the true facts in such times have a tendency to be muddled or simply disappear for the sake of “national security” if the ruling classes consider them “not suitable” for public consumption. The media often have a tendency to censor itself when the flag-waving starts but if there ever were times when true and unbiased reporting, giving all the facts to the people, could have prevented disaster it has been those times when the calls for revenge on the “evil enemy”, “justice”, “defending our great nation” echoed the strongest. When “God”, “Freedom”, “The Nation” or “the evil/ infidel/ dangerous/ cowardly enemy” are invoked by leaders media fail us, is the unavoidable conclusion we have make looking at the past! The truth usually, but not always, emerges many years later when an old general writes his memoars or offical papers get declassified. Or the county is defeated in a war and archives are made public (to the point where they might embarrass the victors).
Hitler´s decieving his people to “defend” the German nation by attacking Poland was made by making them believe that Polish soldiers had attacked and killed German border guards. With compliant media the lie was easy to sell and, presto, you had young men lining up at the recruitment centers and WW2 was under way. Milosevic told his people that the Serbs, proud orthodox catholics, got their babies slaughtered and churches burnt by the Bosnian Moslems and soon criminal Arkan, sought by Swedish and Belgian police for robbery and murder, was allowed to run amok with his terror-militia. Saddam Hussein invoked “Allah” in every second sentence to drive his soldiers to war. Bush Sr had good help in getting the Americans to approve the Gulf war by reports planted by PR consultants of how Iraqi soldiers threw babies out of incubators in Kuwait. Stories about German soldiers dismembering babies were spread in Britain in WW1 to really make the soldiers nice and bloodthirsty. Most wars in modern times have started and were kept rolling by leaders telling their people they are under threat or attack, babies killed by “savages”, women raped and/or their faith and culture being undermined.
Human beings, with very few exceptions, are not willing to kill other human beings. To make them do it leaders have to arouse their fear, hate, greed or whatever strong feeling that can drive them from the thinking and feeling beings they have evolved into and back to the stage of the primitive apes they once were (and still share the basic instincts and genetic equipment with). For this reason we owe ourselves, our families and our fellow human beings all over the world not to let us be decieved into the wrong wars for the wrong reasons. We MUST learn the truth whichever way it is possible! We must turn into detectives and analyze all available facts and clues! We have to take every piece of information that has the potential to reduce us to the instinctively reacting stage of the ape, and find out if and where it fits in any logical pattern or if it is a new baby/incubator-hoax designed to make us reach for our guns prepared to behave like savages.
So, CAN we do it? HOW do we do it?
* * *
Even with the help of the most sophisticated instruments available to the public we can never be 100 % certain that we have reached the truth. Documents can be falsified, witnesses may lie, honourable officials may be persuaded to “bend” facts in the interest of “national security” and the old human weaknesses of greed and the unwillingness to admit mistakes make the task more difficult but we still can arrive at probable conclusions that might differ from the official ones provided we approach the problem without blinkers and colored glasses.
All of us have different possibilities to obtain information from various sources. Access to PC and internet gives a vast advantage as one can then go far beyond national borders, thus eliminating or diminishing the danger of narrow patriotism and locally influenced bias. (It´s, btw, notable that it is reported lately that the internet-editions of the British papers Guardian and Independent have had a few million more American visitors than earlier. A clear indication that NY Times and Washington Post are lacking “something”?)! Most of us can apply logic to the reasoning and all of us can (and should) be aware of the most common ways of manipulation of the masses that time and again have been clearly demonstrated.
We have to be aware of the dangers of our logic being influenced and distorted by the sheer size of an event. The number of deaths, the nationality of the victims, the locality where it takes place, the time scale, the airtime of footage and the level of drama all this affect us. All this tend to have a strong impact on our capacity to reason and instead tend to bring out the most basic instincts. To evaluate correctly we have to really try to keep a calm head.
The following most truth-seekers already know but in case someone might have missed a point here are some things to remember.
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How to do it...
Look for sources that contradict the official spin. Look for sources that risk their job or career by telling us their story. Usually those refusing to toe the line have a strong case for what they tell since it is easier and more profitable to go along with the pack. The old saying “the one who pays the piper calls the tune” is still valid, so try to find out by all means possible if a message comes from a source that might have a vested interest one way or another. Be open to all possibilities! What we have been told sitting on granny´s knee is not always the complete truth and the history books have a tendency to “forget” unsuitable facts.
Be aware that since Vietnam military around the world have learnt some lessons. Journalists known to be “difficult” are not allowed to take part in briefings from High Commands and are not allowed into “sensitive areas” in wars. Many press conferences, notably in Pentagon and the White House, are very free from dissenting or difficult questions. Watch out!!!! Which are the questions NOT allowed?
Don´t be too impressed with the guys in uniform wearing awesome lots of ribbons on their chests. Some of those ribbons can be awarded for things as simple as taking part in a parade or having flown a desk in an Omaha canteen.
Always apply a bit of common sense. How likely or unlikely are the things we are supposed to belive? What is the probability that Oliver North´s criminal dealings in the Iran-Contras affair were not approved by people mucher higher in the hierarchy (without written orders, of course)? When King Henry II wanted archbishop Thomas Beckett killed he didn´t give orders! He said "who will rid me of this turbulent priest" and four loyal henchmen knigths just "happened" to hear and obey. That is the essence of the word "deniability". (Btw, IF North´s superiors were so prone to memory loss, how could they reach such high positions? That is another mystery never explained). What does the president´s pardoning of him tell us??
Get realistic! The thought : "Other countries may do such things, but not mine" is naive. We know that when power, money and prestige are involved human beings can shed their humanity and principles very swiftly. Even if they are presidents or prime-ministers. Remember that a lot of western nations have a very nasty record of empire-building and enslaving foreign people.
Be very suspicious when phrases like “is linked to”, “is thought to” and “may have” are used to indicate guilt of officially declared enemies. Or even worse “may have links to”!! Anyone!! Any person in the world “may have links to” anyone else!! This statement is a waste of breath!! If “links to” is an indication of guilt then the majority of CIA operatives should be put in the slammer for having links to a variety of terrorists, drug-smugglers and other criminals.
If we are told that other people or religions hate us for one reason or other, remember that hate can be (mis-) directed and (mis-) used but is most times created by the hated ones or their representatives. If leaders say that others hate our freedom, democracy or prosperity, be very much on your guard!! What others might hate is themselves or their peoples being denied that freedom, democracy and prosperity! With the exception of fanatics the only ones that often hate when others enjoy freedom, democracy and prosperity are some leaders of corporations and representatives of the moneyed aristocracy. Many a time we´ve heard and read big industrialists having expressed the wish for a “bit of fascism”!!!
Watch out when leaders start talking in very simple sentences, using highly emotionally loaded adjectives and epithets and invoking the “holy” words like “god” and “the nation”. When we are told WE are “great”, “freedom-loving”, “civilized” and on a “just cause” and THEY are “cowardly”, “evildoers” and “fiends” then remember that the most loved and used trick in the book in order to increase the leaders popularity rating and divert unwelcome dissent elsewhere is to create or declare an external enemy who can be given such attributes and epithets.
Be very wary when there is the slightest possibility of the existence of a hidden agenda that might benefit people high up. The goals of the commoner is never the same as the emperor´s, but it is the commoner who has to bear the burdens.
Look for contradictory statements that don´t make sense:
Remember the statements we were fed a few years earlier!! How can “the Good Guys” suddenly happen to be “the Bad Guys”? Where is the logical explanation to that change, and why did it happen without our cloak and dagger guys detecting it? And when “the Bad Guys” again are “the Good Guys”, what the hell IS taking place???
It can be a good idea to tape what many leaders say when speaking to the nation. After listening a few times one can often notice contradictions and the fact that nothing is really said but cliche´s.
And...... Always remember the old, but still more valid than ever, saying:
(but be aware that fear and lust for power can be close 2nds)
* * *
Having used the space above trying to explain some of the desinformation that we may encounter and how to deal with it, I will leave you with the reassuring thought that the share notations from the world´s stock markets are usually to be believed without reservation. The price of the shares may have been manipulated to arrive at those notations but the figures can normally be accepted as true and factual. Why? Because those notations are there for many people to observe firsthand and IF any manipulation has taken place behind the scenes, then the whole point of the exercise is to have the end results broadcasted as widely as possible to facilitate either to buy undervalued stock cheap or to sell overvalued ditto with a good profit.
On the other hand the notations will change as soon as the markets open again!
Brave new world, here we come....
Jerre Skog
Most of us have understood that when a fellow in a white coat on the screen tells us in an authoritative voice that we should use a certain brand of tooth paste for certain reasons, it is not necessarily quite true and he may not be a real dentist and the pursuasive arguments might very well have some flaws when examined by scientists. We may be influenced by the views of the famous actor on the talk show but we don´t take his words as gospel truth. When it comes to news, however, we have a tendency to accept them more or less as just that. Truth! Basing our facts and conclusions on them without proper examination. When it comes to prime-ministers and presidents adressing the public it seems we are even less uncritical, at least when issues concerning the nation and its role in world affairs are on the agenda.
(Or as voters, when the buyer has a political agenda!!)
To make money for its owners!!!
Finding the facts by being a sceptic.
If “they” are “evildoers” when they kill our innocent civilians, how can we be “just and civilized” when we kill their innocent civilians?
How can terrorists who give their lives for their cause be “cowardly” while our military, mass- bombing a defenceless enemy from unreachable heights, is “brave and courageous”?
(If we are told that WTO trade agreements are such a good thing for developing nations, and us of course, why is it that US and the rich countries are the ones pressing hardest for new proposals and not Sri Lanka and Peru?
If we are told that trade barriers are evil why do Europe protect their agriculture and US their steel production with high import duties?)
MONEY (lack of, or search for more) IS THE ROOT OF MOST EVIL!!!
... and for all we know it might all be a big bubble about to burst!
