Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Patrick Lawrence —Totalized Censorship

Content warning, canceling, de-platforming, denying access: The fate of Sy Hersh’s Democracy Now! interview on YouTube is the latest indication of how much rougher press suppression is in this new media era....

The take-away from the article is that society in so-called liberal democracies are as controlled as in so-called authoritarian "regimes." Society in  (read capitalist) countries is as controlled by the ruling elite that either belong to the ownership class (haute bourgeosie) or are beholden to it. 

While Patrick Lawrence doesn't go into how this is accomplished, others have. Control is secured both through ownership of the "commanding heights" of the economy and the fact that the state has been captured through campaign finance, since campaigns are now so expensive that politicians have become dependent on large contributions and the implicit quid pro quo. 

A so-called deep state is put in place to ensure continuity of policy on one hand and also to remove the reins of real power from politicians. With personality and increasingly celebrity being a major factor in political success rather than ability to govern, a system has been established to ensure that policy decisions that serve the interest of the ruling elite are uniform across administrations.

A primary factor in controlling a state in the age of near instantaneous communication is controlling the narrative. This used to be much simpler before the internet and the media is still rather easily controlled. Now with the advent of the Internet, it has become necessary to control that too in order to maintain control of the narrative. The push has been on to do so for some time.

Consortium News

Related

Gizmodo (May 18, 2018)
Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause From Its Code of Conduct
Kate Conger

Also

Scheerpost
Patrick Lawrence: Munich as Propaganda Fest

Also
Nonpartisan, publicly funded media is "an idea that we should explore," said the senator
Lame, but at least some politician is thinking about it.

Common Dreams
Sanders Proposes 'New Deal for Journalism' to Ensure Media Serves Public Interest
Julia Conley

Also
Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to nak his hite in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war... after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the poly and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patrotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
Nuremberg Diary - by Gustave Gilbert
Interview with Herman Goering

 




8 comments:

Konrad said...

A nation is a “liberal democracy” when its government works solely for the benefit of rich elitists and tyrannical financiers.

A nation is an “autocracy” when its government works for the benefit of its citizenry.

Peter Pan said...

The Hersh interview had an offensive warning on it a few days ago, but that could be attributed to the graphic imagery included in that segment. The video can be viewed on YT in Canada at the time I'm writing this.

The argument against censorship is not advanced by making inaccurate claims.

Peter Pan said...

Reporter Seymour Hersh on "How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline": Exclusive TV Interview
Democracy Now!
https://youtu.be/d4BuMaGlKp0

UPDATE: We have blurred some imagery about 30 seconds into the video in response to a content warning from YouTube that severely limited the reach of this interview. What you see now is an edited version. For the uncensored version of this interview that aired on our show, visit democracynow.org.

Matt Franko said...

Biden people completely disavowed the Hersh stuff…

Matt Franko said...

Trump media company financing still being held up by Crooked Hillary’s finance director now at SEC….

Peter Pan said...

Biden people completely disavowed the Hersh stuff…

German people acting like battered women.

Joe said...

What do you really expect the Germans to do? They're basically militarily occupied by the US.

Peter Pan said...

I expect the Germans to vote in favour of their national self-interest.

This is something I don't believe Americans are capable of.