Coronavirus.

         I haven't posted anything about the coronavirus, reason being I don't know enough about the situation to make any real input. However I think this quote from 325 is worth repeating.

From 325:

      From my perspective, the responses of both the American and Chinese governments have been pretty much the same: pretend that the problem isn’t so bad and that there are systems in place to deal with it, use the epidemic to stomp on basic human rights such as being detained without trial and freedom of movement and accuse anyone trying to highlight the seriousness of the epidemic of being part of a conspiracy or plotting to bring down the government. The difference between the Americans and the Chinese is that the Chinese don’t pretend to be a democracy that pays lip service to the notion of being a government “of the people, for the people and by the people”.
     What people need is accurate, openly available and reliable information about what is going on so that we, as individuals and local communities, can take the necessary steps to protect each other. That means paying attention to the people who have expert knowledge about flu epidemics. It means not listening to some ignorant pissant sitting behind their computer peddling the latest piece of crap from the 8chan website, an anti-vaccination website or from a President who thinks the answer to dealing with an epidemic that has killed over 33,000 people worldwide is to hold a prayer meeting and to blame his opponents. It means using science and sense, not stupidity and authoritarianism.

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That Babbling Brook Of Bullshit.

         By now you will all know, our should know, my opinion of the “mainstream Media, or that babbling brook of bullshit as I usually address it. A variety of outlets, all spouting a monologue, all propagating the same illusion, false information, manufactured reality. A monochrome world of false and useless information. Well useless to us, but very important to the powers that be. It helps keep us reading from the same song sheet seeing the world as they would have us see it, and all to their advantage. I believe it is very important that we realise that the babbling brook of bullshit, is there deliberately, and for a very important purpose, and it is not to  inform. The development of this monochrome song sheet, is not an accident, and its formation is illuminating to our understanding of the type of society we live under.

 

This from Tarcorteca counterinfo:

         Still, in spite of all that, it proved impossible to control the narrative, and the public support for the various US and NATO wars collapsed under the pressure of inconvenient news coming even from mainstream media which clearly maintained a degree of independence. But if you fast-forward a decade, to the current wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Ukraine, and others, it is clear that something has changed. There is one dominant narrative that is being pushed by literally every mainstream media source, irrespective of their ostensible ideological bent. No matter where you turn, you read or hear about Assad’s “barrel bombs”, Gaddafi’s “massacres”, or “Russian aggression.”
       These reports invariably represent a point of view that is not only completely one-sided, but also factually wrong, even on the most basic of issues. How did US and NATO manage to achieve such an amazing discipline within the supposedly free and independent Western media?

       There are essentially three parts to the answer:
state oversight of the media;
co-opting individual reporters;
disseminating propaganda through covert means.

         The first two are obvious enough and have long been practiced. Media corporations are just that–corporations, subject to variety of laws and regulations whose enforcement can be used to steer individual outlets toward adopting a desired point of view. Individual reporter’s coin of the realm is “access” to privileged information, which may be granted or withheld depending on their effectiveness as government propagandist. The third, the covert dissemination of propaganda, is new, and that factor likely explains the lack of variation from one media outlet to the next. The media are no longer merely encouraged to toe the official line–they have the stories planted for them to pick up through social media and other unofficial channels.

Read the full article HERE:

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