Propaganda is:
more Australians knowing the intricacies of the recent Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard show trial than the status of Julian Assange’s slow death in prison / unjustifiable extradition to the US on espionage charges. Assange is one of us, and a hero. If you have mixed feelings about Assange, ask yourself where and who the information you rely on is coming from. We sacrifice whistleblowers to protect the powerful in this country, and it’s a disgrace.
SAS Australia. Channel 7s prime time monstrosity, where celebrities cosplay killers in camo, giving our war fighting forces an entertaining gloss. Meanwhile, VC Ben Roberts-Smith is in court defending himself against accusations of cold blooded murder of multiple Afghanis whilst leading the actual Australian SAS. Even stranger, he was employed by Channel 7 in 2015, hand picked for an Executive role by billionaire owner Kerry Stokes (on what grounds would he be the best candidate, one may ask?). Stokes is even funding parts of Robert-Smith’s court case. Season finales of SAS attract a million viewers nationwide, and I’d hazard a guess a fair portion of those don’t know about the Roberts-Smith trial, and if they did, they’d either say those Afghanis had it coming, or they were just unlucky, or something.
following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relying on the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). ISW is used by most establishment media as the definitive source of information on the status of the war. ISW is funded by private military contractors and manufacturers, as well as various Wall St investment funds. One such generous benefactor of ISW is General Dynamics, who received $26,846,000,000 (nearly 27 billion) from the US government last year alone. Would you trust a think tank that purports to study obesity if it was funded by the sugar/soda/lolly industry? Probably not, if you knew. The data might be flawless though!
believing Russian athletes or entertainers should be banned from competition or events. Why not also Saudi or Israeli representatives? Or for that matter, why not ban all Americans? What exactly do we object to that Russia is doing, yet hasn’t been committed by the American state in the past 20 years? How quickly we forget the destruction of Vietnam/Korea, let alone Iraq and Afghanistan. What on Earth actually matters? Tennis? DJ sets? It’s entertainment, and if you can’t handle seeing an individual representing those countries, take a deep breath, and imagine being in Yemen, where our alliance perpetuates violence on a time-scale and horror that dwarfs Ukraine. And then ask yourself whether our athletes should be banned from international competition due to this. And if you find this exercise silly, a distraction, it is. Like most propaganda.
falling for the endless bullshit emanating from the mainstream media, all the way down, from sewer of the Murdoch press to the NYT to The Age. Unfortunately, we must include The Guardian, which claims: “We’re not funded by billionaires. Our readers’ backing gives us the independence to hold the powerful to account – and we’re just getting started.” Forget the $13 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Never mind. The Foundation has ‘donated’ a sum total of $319 million to global media outlets over the past couple of years. Totally out of the goodness of his heart though! Trust me!
QAnon. One way to make sure no-one questions the whole Epstein - Clinton - Gates saga is to fold the truth into a nonsense Goosebumps style choose your adventure online conspiracy discourse. QAnon muddies the waters sufficiently to make it all look crazy! However, facts are facts. Esptein had filmed tapes of some of the most important, powerful and rich men in the world having intercourse with young girls, some minors. The blackmail value of these tapes for nefarious forces is immeasurable. Fun fact: Gislaine Maxwell’s dad once spied for Mossad, the Israeli secret service. Also, Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s private plane 20 something times! Nothing to see here! That $319 million Gates has donated to the mainstream media comes in handy here. What story? There was and probably still is elite global pedophile rings operating, and if you think that’s crazy, once again, you’re not paying attention.
WHY DOES IT MATTER
All this matters immensely. Reality TV, never just entertainment, blurs the line between fact and fiction, the state of popular consciousness which serves the powerful best. Most people continue to seek escapism through entertainment and sport, not wanting to confront the darkness of our world. Seeing a Russian athlete ruins the vibe. The truth of the actual war, what is happening on the ground, who is winning which is a direct consequences of failing to negotiate, what this means for potential future conflicts, all this critical information isn’t discussed.
Serious people tune into the mainstream press, sure in the knowledge the media is faithfully reporting the news. The news media’s monopoly on truth and discourse is of immeasurable wealth to the powerful, and very rarely does actual news break through the moderated channels of control, and snap the spell of respectability so craved by the elite. Epstein was such a moment, thus the story had to be crushed with full force. The gaming culture evident in QAnon gives the curious the feeling of uncovering the truth. Most people have the critical faculties to see through QAnon, but unfortunately, the actual truth is lost in the morass. The powerful sigh a breath of relief.
We in Australia believe we are beyond propaganda, beyond being hoodwinked, beyond being manipulated. Our vast expanses of land, wealth and opportunity have tricked us into a simulacra of self-determination and freedom. War is not an option for Australia, nor the world, and diplomatic neutrality is the only way forward. Thankfully, according to a recent survey by the Lowy Institute, 57% of Australians say we should remain neutral in a conflict between the US and China. Hopefully this holds, and cooler heads prevail. There is simply no other viable way forward for humanity. Don’t buy into the war propaganda, or the latest outrage. Turn off the TV, watch some independent media or read a book. Propaganda is everywhere.