"Free Trade" And America's So-Called "Free Press"
Excerpts from
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000124.htm
The gap between what the American people have been told about their country's activities in the developing world, and what it actually has been
doing there, has become a yawning chasm. But woe to the person who tries to separate fact from fiction especially insofar as "Free Trade" - the
adhesive which holds the American Empire together - is concerned. He does so at the expense of becoming a very ugly target of those who are benefiting
from "Free Trade," specifically America's multinational corporate elites.
Even Ross Perot - as rich and powerful as he is - who tried so desperately to bring the truth about "Free Trade" (specifically, NAFTA) to average
Americans during the Presidential election of 1996 - has now been "marginalized" by America's elite-controlled press. By the time the elite media
finished with him, he had been savaged as few others in recent history have been, and made to look not only like an idiot, but an "unbalanced" one
as well. This is what happens to people who "fool around" with the issue of "Free Trade" and globalization in today's world. "Free Trade" is the
elite's ticket to extravagant wealth, and anyone who dares touch it is dealt with in the harshest possible terms.
Excerpts from
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000124.htm
It's the American elite media, a media which has been bought up "lock, stock, and barrel" precisely for this purpose by Corporate America.
Blatant government censorship is not the "American way!" It's not the way of the American oligarchy! It's not necessary for a plutocracy (i.e.,
government by the rich) to act in such a blatant fashion. All that's necessary for a plutocracy (which is exactly what the American oligarchy is)
to silence its enemies is to buy up the press, fire the offending editors, install those who will "toe the Corporate Line" and subtly "shape the
truth" to fit the corporate elite's world-view. And that's exactly what's happened in the United States over the last few decades.
If there exists "freedom of dissent" in the country, no matter how circumscribed, it is believed, ipso facto, that if America were really
terrorizing the world, the American people would know about it and object. But history teaches that that's not necessarily the case at all.
Just as slavery and institutionalized racism could be rationalized and reconciled with the idea of the United States as the land of liberty and
equality of opportunity (mainly by not looking at the real situation), so the ... (true and extremely vicious and corrupt nature of the American
Empire) can be reconciled with a United States keen on 'human rights' by a suitable combination of diversion, prevarication, and refusal to
contemplate. To achieve this result without explicit government censorship is the genius of the American way.
The cruel plundering of India, China, the East Indies, and Africa by the relatively liberal and open societies of Western Europe from the 17th
well into the 20th centuries also shows that internal freedom and long-term external viciousness are entirely compatible.
"More important, however, the neglect (by the American people and the American press) of the scope and significance of ... (American corporate
brutality in the world at large) is a testimonial to the greatly underrated capacities of what we may call 'brainwashing under freedom'. The
ability of the system (i.e., the American mass media in consort with its corporate sponsors) ... to reconstruct and shape the perspectives of
history and the interpretation of current events in accordance with their own interests is truly impressive.
The fact of the matter is, the reason that American multinationals are so rarely portrayed in the American media or in mainstream academic
scholarship as engaged in the naked and avaricious pursuit of their own predatory economic interests (at the expense of ordinary people throughout
the world) is because the media has been "bought out" by Corporate America. It's been merged with General Electric, Westinghouse, etc. and made to
serve the corporate interests of America's ruling plutocracy. [And for those who wish to believe that the only interest Westinghouse has in CBS and
that General Electric has in NBC, etc. is "diversification," then I have some swamp land I would like to sell them in Florida.]
And not only that, the media itself - under the business sponsorship of its new masters in Corporate America - has been "merged," and "partnered"
among its various parts (i.e., print, television, radio, etc.) into keritzu-like arrangements which has resulted in the development of what amounts
to as a single media MONOLITH . This is what government deregulation of the telecommunications industry was all about: the development of "media
harmony" and the presentation of truth which has been shaped in the interests of America's governing plutocracy - and this is exactly what has
happened: the development of a handful of multi-billion-dollar media conglomerates which tend to speak with one voice. Today, whenever you watch
television, whether from a local broadcasting station or via a cable or satellite dish; whenever you see a feature film in a theater or at home;
whenever you listen to the radio; whenever you read a newspaper, book, or magazine - it is very likely that the information you are receiving comes
from this MONOLITH. And be clear here, it's a MONOLITH dedicated to the interests of the corporate elite - and God help the person who oversteps
the "party line" the corporate elite has established for the media.
It's, therefore, not unfair to say today that while there may exist an appearance of "diversity" and "variety" in the mass media - that's all it
is: an appearance. There is no real dissent, no alternative source of facts or ideas accessible to the great mass of people which might allow them
to form opinions at odds with those of America's corporate elites who own the media. Indeed, for all practical purposes, the mass media has become
nothing more than a giant propaganda machine which functions in the service and at the behest of America's corporate plutocracy. Thus, the "Corporate
Line" concerning the benefits of "free trade" [which is the American elite's ticket to raping and savaging the rest of the world (and its own
citizens) economically. and the benevolence of the American Empire is the virtually uncontested portrayal of what America is up to in the rest
of the earth - and so successful has this endeavor been that people today have come naturally to adapt their opinions to it, vote in accord with
it, and shape their lives to fit it - AND NOT ONLY "ORDINARY PEOPLE," BUT THE AMERICAN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY AS WELL.
Three statements made by the U.S. Catholic Bishops - concerning America's elite raping and savaging our nation's citizens as
well as the rest of the world:
(1.) "Harsh poverty plagues our country despite its great wealth. More than 33 million Americans are poor; by any reasonable standard another 20-30
million are needy. Poverty is increasing in the United States, not decreasing. For a people who believe in 'progress,' this should be cause for
alarm. These burdens fall most heavily on blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Even more disturbing is the large increase in the number of
women and children living in poverty. Today children are the largest single group among the nation's poor. This tragic fact seriously threatens
the nation's future. That so many people are poor in a nation as rich as ours is a social and moral scandal that we cannot ignore.
(2.)"In comparison with other industrialized nations, the United States is among the more unequal in terms of income
distribution. Moreover, the gap between rich and poor in our nation has increased during the last decade. These inequities are of particular
concern because they reflect the uneven distribution of power in our society. They suggest that the level of participation in the political and
social spheres is also very uneven."
(3.)"The United States is… a powerful influence in multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund,
the World Bank, and the United Nations. What Americans see as a growing interdependence is regarded by many in the less developed countries as a
pattern of domination and dependence."
The late Pope John Paul said: "It is not right that the standard of living of the rich countries should seek to maintain itself by draining off
a great part of the reserves of energy and raw materials that are meant for the whole of humanity." With less than 5 percent of global population,
the United States accounts for about one fourth of global consumption. The United States uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel
resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas. As a result
of these greedy consumption patterns, the United States is ripping off a great part of the reserves of energy and raw materials that are meant for
the whole of humanity.
To be sure, alternative views and analyses are available in the United States, in fringe media that reach a minuscule sector of the population,
probably less than one percent. And, to be fair, from time to time there are isolated facts which emerge from the mass (i.e., "corporate") media
which portrays a different picture from the usual "party line" - an alternate view which may be culled out by the assiduous reader aware of the
overwhelming built-in bias of the mainline media. Moreover, where powerful domestic interests are at odds over an issue (for instance Nixon and
Watergate and - to a lesser extent - Vietnam, especially after 1968) there may be no uniform line, or the line may be subject to a fair amount of
undercutting. These deviations, however, are mostly small, and to the extent they exist, are tolerated because they seem to lend credence to the
belief by ordinary people that there truly does exist a "Free Press" in this country. But for the most part, the "diversification of views" in the
mass media is severely circumscribed.
For example, take the matter of Kosovo. In listening to the seeming rancor and malice among the "talking heads" on Hannity and Colmes, Crossfire,
the McLaughlin Report, Capitol View, etc., one would think that there really was "diversity" over the issue of Kosovo. But listen carefully to
what's being said. There's really no argument over whether or not we should be there; of whether or not we should be supporting the Serbs as
opposed to the Muslims. The argument is over how we got there and what we should do now. In other words, the argument is over methods and not
goals. The same is true with regard to a plethora of other issues: support for free trade, the WTO, the need for America to be "engaged in
Europe," etc. In all these matters, the discussion that the elite permits is a discussion over methods; no challenging of goals is
permitted!
Indeed, in cases like these, all the elites seem to be doing is sticking their fingers into the air to see which way the wind is blowing. The
elites have no real interest one way or the other; they're no more for quotas and affirmative action than they are for upholding the conventions
of "Traditional America." It makes no difference to them. All they care about is making money; and when - in order to do so - they have to embrace
"affirmative action" in order to keep the minorities at bay, so be it; and if on other occasions, they have to assuage the white majority by
throwing these same programs to the dogs, so be it. The party line on issues like these tends to shift back and forth, and in doing so, this
shifting seems to substantiate the belief by ordinary people that there exists a free press in this country. But it's all an illusion, a chimera,
a mirage, a fantasy.
Why? - because all this does not distract from the fact that where issues involve important U.S. corporate concerns which impact substantially on
the economic well-being of America's multinationals like "Free Trade," the demonizing of labor unions, the assisting and support of trade
organizations like the WTO, NAFTA, etc., sustaining the "free flow of capital" in world markets, providing for the availability of the U.S.
military to rescue U.S. multinationals in foreign lands, making sure that "bail-out money" is readily available for the "big banks" (but not
necessarily the small ones) which have fallen on hard times in the "Third World," etc., the mass media usually functions much in the manner of
a state propaganda agency.
This was never more true as in the 1992-'93 debate over NAFTA where almost every newspaper in the country, every TV network, every news magazine,
every commentator fell into rank behind the "Corporate Line" insofar as NAFTA was concerned - and later, the WTO. And woe be to those like Ross
Perot and Pat Buchanan who had the temerity and brashness to stand against the "Corporate Line" insofar as these matters were concerned; they were
mercilessly pilloried in the press, made to look like buffoons, and generally marginalized - and it all happened as if on cue! - the minute they
(Perot and Buchanan) came out against NAFTA; and all this despite the fact that polls indicated that over 60% of the American population was
opposed to the pact.
In an atmosphere such as the one we have just described, news reporters and columnists soon develop a "feel" for what is "acceptable," and
self-censorship thus occurs at their level on the basis of learned and understood limits of subject matter, "tone," "balance," and the like.
A failure to self-censor on the part of reporters will result in the production of unused copy, as well as the loss of goodwill at "the top"
in the face of such "irresponsibility." For example, that when U.S. backed massacres in East Timor occurred, reporters who attempted to report
on them found that their material was "taboo," and - as a result - quit writing on it. Thus, a feedback process operates to ensure that the
public remains ignorant of these atrocities.
And just how tightly bound together is the mass media today? Very tightly, indeed! Take, for example, the print media. Sixty million
newspapers are sold (and presumably read) each day in the United States. These millions are divided among some 1,500 different publications.
One might conclude that the sheer number of different newspapers across America would provide a safeguard against the dissemination of a
"Party Line" in the United States. But such is not the case. There is less independence, less competition, and much less representation
of independent views than a casual observer might think.
The days when most cities and even towns had several independently owned newspapers published by local people with close ties to the community
are gone. Today most "local" newspapers are owned by a rather small number of large companies controlled by executives who live and work hundreds
or even thousands of miles away and who are completely and wholly a part of today's corporate elite. The fact is, only about 25 per cent of the
country's 1,500 papers are independently owned; the rest belong to multi-newspaper chains which are "part and parcel" an element of the corporate
world and the media MONOLITH. Moreover, what's left of the "independents" are unable to maintain separate reporting staffs outside their own
communities and must, therefore, depend on the MONOLITH for all of their national and international news.
And that's not the end of it - in only 50 cities in America are there more than one daily newspaper, and competition is frequently nominal even
among them, as between morning and afternoon editions under the same ownership.
Then there's the matter of the nation's three most prestigious and influential newspapers: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the
Washington Post. These three dominate America's financial and political capitals; they are the newspapers which set the trends and the guidelines
for nearly all the others; they are the ones which decide what is news and what isn't at the national and international levels. They originate
the news; the others merely copy it.
And, again, all this is just the tip of the iceberg insofar as the media MONOLITH in this country is concerned. For example, the big three in
television network broadcasting used to be ABC, CBS, and NBC. At one time, all three could have justifiably called themselves "independent." Not
any more! As we just indicated, all three have now been gobbled up by Corporate America (i.e., Disney, Westinghouse, and General Electric). There's
no independence here. All three have "Corporate America" stamped all over them; and all three, as a result, toe the "Party (Corporate) Line,"
These are the bare outlines of today's media MONOLITH which controls the content and distribution of news in the United States today. It is
inextricably bound up with Corporate America - and is linked in such a way that it is difficult any longer to tell where the one begins and the
other leaves off. To say that there is any independence within this MONOLITH is sheer madness.
The primary purpose of this MONOLITH is to obscure from the American public the true dimensions of Corporate America's involvement in the world,
as well as to hide the ugly character of that involvement. The American public is carefully protected from exposure to any serious discussion of
such things - the kind of things that could arouse horror and revulsion; specifically, that our extensive military involvement in the world today
stems for the most part from the elite's desire to protect its far-flung economic interests and not from protecting "human rights" throughout the
world - which is precisely the lie the elite is currently engaged in insofar as Kosovo is concerned.
We find the Wall Street Journal deriding the "simple-minded myths" that America's extensive and far-flung military involvement in the world stems
from its efforts to protect the ability of her multinationals to economically assault and rape the rest of the world. That's just an absurd myth
according to the Wall Street Journal - something dreamed up by university lefties and their discredited Communist and socialist allies. Oh no! -
Standard Oil, General Electric, Ford Motor Company, etc. - they're all just "little angels" engaged in sharing their wealth with the peoples of
the Third World - and if you believe that, then the moon is really made out of green cheese!
The fact of the matter is, where such hypocrisy and distortion can pass without comment, it is evident that the mass media is maintaining a system
of THOUGHT CONTROL in the United States which is colossal in its scale and pervasive in a way that ordinary Americans can scarcely imagine, and
which can establish and nourish "the BIG LIE" as effectively as any system of press control or state censorship that the Communists ever wielded
in the Old Soviet Union!!
Nevertheless, despite massive evidence to the contrary, the common opinion in the United States is that there exists in this country "a robust
free press" where ideas flow unhindered and without discrimination, and where truth wins out over falsehood (vide Vietnam and Watergate). The myth
is promulgated by an enormous propaganda effort by the very same corporate MONOLITH that commands, finesses and manages the domestic and
international flow of "information."
This is an old and familiar pattern of U.S. corporate interests "managing" and "manipulating" the news in the United States in favor of their own
selfish economic concerns. It's what U.S. multinationals and their lackeys in the U.S. press have being doing for years.
In all these cases, the volume of "information," of America's so-called "Free Press," its tone, its emphasis and its interpretation of the "facts"
are loaded with bias in favor of America's corporate elite and its system of client states throughout the world. The fact of the matter is, the
corporate press in this country - with its subtlety and refinement (even elegance) - makes the "controlled press" of the old Soviet Union look
"stone age" in comparison.
So successful has the American press's effort to this effect been that despite the expansion of "Corporate America" into the world at large -
an expansion which includes as an integral part of its method of population control the systematic use of terror, horror, and repression - the
American people seem hardly to have noticed, and all this despite the fact that the expansion of "Corporate America" into the world at large has
involved as part of its increase a concomitant extension of America's military presence that includes over 3,000 military bases in foreign
countries and interventions in the affairs of other states that are unmatched by any other country (including the old Soviet Union) in number,
scale, violence, and global reach - and this in spite of the end of the Cold War.
What does all this mean to us as Christians. Well, for one thing, it certainly means that the picture of America that we have been getting from
the corporate press is not an accurate one. And more than that, it means that the advice we've been getting from our evangelical leaders - i.e.,
people like Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy and countless others - insofar as "getting in bed" with the plutocracy
that runs this country (i.e., the "Fat Cats" of the Republican Party) is anything but good advice. It also means that if we take the prophetic
scriptures seriously - especially insofar as the United States is concerned - and begin to arrange out lives in accordance with them, we are not
going to win any popularity contests in this country or even among our own evangelical brethren. But then what else did we expect?
And why is this so? - because Christians - especially Christians living in America - are more in love with their material wealth and more
concerned with their personal comfort than they are with the truth of God's Word. Their wealth has blinded them. America, with only six percent
of the world's population, consumes nearly one-fourth of the world's gross product. There are fifty-five times more goods and services available
per person in the United States than in India. If one were to divide the world into a rich one-third (the United States and her vassals (i.e.,
Western Europe, Japan, etc.) and a poor two-thirds (the rest of the world), the rich one-third would claim an astounding 87 percent of the world's
gross product. Americans consume more than twice as much energy per person as their counterparts in other industrialized countries like Germany
and England; they use 351 times as much as the average Ethiopian, and they consume five times as much grain per person as do people in the
developing world.
Presenting that which is false as true! Making people appear to be what they are not! "Morphing" the truth! - in Orwell's novel, all this was the
job of the "Ministry of Truth." In today's America, this has become - as we just indicated - the job of the American press. And the primary focus
of all this distortion in the elite media? - hiding what America is really up to in the world at large; portraying the presence of America's
multinational corporations throughout the world as "little angels" in the service of humanity rather than what they really are - ravenous wolves;
picturing America as a benevolent giant rather than what it really is - a beast which is: "... exceeding dreadful, whose teeth are of iron, and his
nails of brass; which devours, brakes in pieces, and stamps the residue (of the nations) with his feet ..." (Daniel 7:19)
