“Either you are with us, or with the terrorists.”
And with those presidential words from George W. Bush following 9/11, the media stopped covering war from the outside in. Instead, the Fourth Estate, formerly the people’s voice separate from government, became Uncle Sam’s mouthpiece: War propagandists, swallowing whole the White House lies and getting a rush — quite literally — from marching with the troops in endless war.
The hell with freedom and liberty, ethics and responsibility to the truth. All that mattered was championing war and reaping the profitability of promoting it. The louder the war drums beat, the more people tune in and turn on to political and military tough talk that feeds patriotic fervor.
Today, a handful of giant corporations monopolize the media in the Western Hemisphere, driving their own interests and bottomn lines as their primary priorities. And war sells well. In this war culture pervasive in every aspect of life, the media habit of buying every government-controlled press release and every piece of war jargon is well entrenched.
IT’S AUTOMATIC. IT’S INSTINCTIVE.
Any critical analysis of war action by mainstream media is superficial and fleeting at best. The proof is everywhere. When geopolitical tensions rise, the same cast of war mongers are prominently featured. But where’s the talk of peace?
Is peace muddled in the violent computer games our culture so eagerly embraces?
Is peace subtly spoken in the “join our heroes” messages embedded — and so masterfully marketed — in those ads encouraging you to join the armed forces?
Maybe your favorite Presidential Reality Show contestant speaks of peace when off stage, because it’s never spoken on stage.
Think about it. War is personified and glorified across just about every aspect of our lives. For example, only when a dead Syrian refugee baby washes up on a shore does a lie-battered public get a passing taste of truth. But that moment — when the public feels the pain and sees the horror of war — evaporates quickly.
There is no appetite — not among the media or the public they serve — to examine and accept the forces behind these horrors of war and, especially, the weak-willed gutless leaders who repeatedly drag us to war.
And there’s no appetite for peace. Not to fight for it. Not even to discuss it. Certainly not to publicize it.
DON’T OCCUPY PEACE!
We know firsthand. In the weeks leading up to the September 20th Occupy Peace Rally, the institute repeatedly sent out a series of press releases, articles and invitations announcing the event. In fact, almost 350,000 were sent to media organizations across the globe. Besides local coverage, not a bite… not a peep for peace. What is it in the human spirit that glorifies war and shows disdain for peace?
— Gerald Celente