Re: ML Alert: The Destruction of Freedom: Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange And The Corporate Media Archived Message
Posted by dovetailjoint on March 19, 2019, 3:07 pm, in reply to "ML Alert: The Destruction of Freedom: Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange And The Corporate Media"
Decades ago, when Daniel Elsberg was prosectued for leaking the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, he received widespread support for his efforts to inform the public about the giant structure of lies built around the Vietnam War by the US Government. Elsberg war fortunate that the times were very different and a progressive and informed liberal/left still existed the United States. Also Nixon was loathed by huge swathes of the media and the Democrats. Rolling Stone magazine, then a force in US publishing, through its weight behind Elsberg. Not so today. You won't find Rolling Stone supporting Wikileaks, Assange or Manning in any meaningful way. Times have changed. Not so much because the State isn't just as criminal, bloody, unlawful and oppressive, in many ways it's far worse; but the corporate media has steamrollered over the alternative press and destroyed it, for example Rolling Stone which is like a tame and castrated version of its former radical self. It's unrecognisable these days. What, exactly, happened? Pilger's correct. Today the few, small, spaces that once existed for free and fair criticism, have vanished from the corporate media. The Guardian has become little more than a pretentioius version of the Sun for people with degrees in the humanities. The gagging has begun in earnest because now the stakes are far higher than they were years ago. Today the system is nowhere near as strong and robust as it used to be and it really fears critical views and ideas, where they might lead. A strong system doesn't fear criticism, it smiles and entertains it, certain of its own power. Today our system is under pressure, cracking and collapsing in front of our eyes, no longer legitimate and confident. Just look at Brexit.
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