Whatever It Knows The Media Learned In High School

The New York Times lies.  It can't help it.  It's run by Teenagers for Teenagers.

Of course, there is no such thing as "adulthood" anymore -- that died years ago with the advent of the industrial revolution.  What we have today is only only extended adolescence.  High School is an institutional archetype -- the basis for all organizations in our society.   

What do you learn first at high school?  You learn to lie. 

As a "teenager" you were taught that your identity was a role in a drama written by someone else, with your value dependent on the applause of the audience -- teachers, parents, your "peers", even your Facebook "friends".      

You were judged on your performance of various scripts, according to the occasion -- everything, an act.

That continued in college, your first job, even if you  became an entrepreneur.

So, the present day  "You" is a lie in the sense that all fictions are.  Of course, every member of the audience is the same.

Outside the theater, what are we? It's a lonely walk home all alone. 

Lonely, Mr. Lonely

Usually our lies are socially acceptable -- and useful in avoiding conflict-- but deceptions nevertheless. 

What you really want in life is usually not what you say you want. After a while, not even you know what your real purpose is.   

What do you REALLY want?

Adolescent rebellion?  For a teen, "adults" are just dictators: they have the money; they have the power.  But teenagers learn the value of guerrilla ware -- subversion and deception , the need for camouflage in particular -- all useful tools that allow them to survive as individuals and which they hone and refine later throughout life.  We are always controlled by someone.  And there is no such thing as a fair fight.

Mom:
"Why are you late from school, Johnny?"

"Oh I was working on homework with Bill".,

In fact, Johnny and Bill looked at their homework for about five minutes..  Boring.  So they played video games, fantasized about killing, smoked a joint, and tried to hit on a couple of skanky girls to no avail, dreaming of the ultimate sex orgy.

Real "You"

That took several hours.    Technically,  they did "work" on homework.  And if they were two hours late -- the five minutes spent on homework -- however little -- did contribute. Later in life, if you went  into business,they could  use this kind of accounting to inflate their billings or pad their expense accounts, where five minutes becomes an hour and you get paid for it. 

Fake "You".  No zits

Moms and Dads have an image of their kids graduating from school, all shiny-faced, happy and  welt-scrubbed, zitless attractive.  Fake...fake...fake...

We cannot bear too much reality.  

Free at last!

Perhaps, at long last -- when the kids leave,  Mom and Dad will be free to get that divorce they were thinking about -- or maybe they will stick together and organize orgies with the next door neighbors in the living room.They had kids because...y'know...that's what you do -- and once they were there -- they loved them.  When they are not there, they will love them even more.

Mom, in particular, wants to think Johnny is a "good" kid because that's what Moms are supposed to do, right, even though they were teenagers once and know that the stereotyped TV image of a "good kid" is really, really hard to find.  If you do find one, they are Dexter or Ted Bundy.

In her heart, Mom knows that Johnny is telling her just what she wants to hear.  And that's OK because she does that kind of thing too.   Always and forever. 

We learn very early on that illusion,  delusion and deception are necessary to lubricate the mechanics of ordinary social life. It's all OK until your kid gets a gun and kills somebody -- at which point, you affect surprise and shock.

" He was such a 'good kid'".

Is Johnny a serial killer?

Is it so strange then that the Media do exactly what everybody else does?   

The "Media" are made up of people, reacting to a social environment-- so they lie -- while pretending not to. They are between the public, which has is multifaceted -- and media owners who represent a neoliberal elite, largely psychopathic relative to the  wants of ordinary people -- who they need but fear. 

The Media are people -- not these -- they're actors (homo theatricalis)

These are real media people

When you were a teenager you were caught between the cafeteria crowd, who you needed to like you -- but mostly hated -- and your parents and teachers -- authorities --  who essentially owned you.

Persona = Stereotype = Tribal Identity

Caught in between you learned to :

• assume one or more identities
• lie a lot

Lies make society rock

The Media do that too  -- just like Johnny -- mixing little bits of fact with a lot of editorializing and omissions, trying to fit in with a particular segment of the public-- while also trying keep everybody happy -- even if they hate some of them -- the "scum", the "mob", the "great unwashed".

The best lies always look true

Everything turns on  trust.

Johnny wants Mommy and Daddy's trust.  He lies to get it.

The Media want your trust too. And they lie to get it.  After all, without that trust,  how can they get advertisers?   How can a journalist go into a pub and get free beers just by saying "I'm a journalist". Trust doesn't come from open-ness or honesty -- it comes from the appearance of it.  Real transparency will earn you nothing but doubt and exclusion.

Dishonesty breeds trust

Johnny needs Mommy and Daddy's trust -- because they have the power to severely curtail his freedom of operation --if only by cutting his allowance or by confining him to home, which for most kids is really a minimum security prison.    We learn about social hierarchy at home: at the end of the day it's all about economics and power and control. 

Want your kid to get ahead?

Similarly, the Media need your trust -- because, as noted -- without it they don't get advertisers -- which means they are out of business.  The Media are an organ of the advertising industry, which must cater to big corporations.  "Public media" such as the BBC or PBS are at the media of Government, which is at mercy of lobbyists.

Who owns the news?  Who owns YOU?

Our "owners" -- the few hundred people who literally own most of the world's biggest corporations  have many freedoms and privileges and great power -- but it all depends on the acquiescence of the Crowd -- your unwillingness to stir from the Comfort Zone.   

Things can change.  Revolutions happen.  

But the Status Quo fears Truthtellers more than barbarians at the gates. 

The Media: false equivalences, false debate

The Western media blackout any facts or opinions that undermine the themes of the propaganda they purvey as "news".  The US government attacks alternative sources of information Wikileaks, of course, Edward Snowden -- and, naturally Russian news organs such as RT.

Russian (radar) data almost never shown in the Media

Mike Whitney writes:

In candid remarks to the Russian media, Putin implicated the US in the downing of the Su-24 stating that the US military was briefed on the warplane’s flight path and then immediately passed along that information to Turkey. Here’s what he said:

“We told our US partners in advance where, when at what altitudes our pilots were going to operate. The US-led coalition, which includes Turkey, was aware of the time and place where our planes would operate. And this is exactly where and when we were attacked. Why did we share this information with the Americans? Either they don’t control their allies, or they just pass this information left and right without realizing what the consequences of such actions might be. We will have to have a serious talk with our US partners.”

Putin’s damning remarks have not appeared in the so-called "mainstream media" -- or, if it has, it is paraphrased and undercut with caveats. The net result is that people who don't read RT or some of the foreign press on the Internet don't know that Turkey is financing ISIL, while making bundles from the war.   Mike Whitney comments further:

“I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,” Putin told the journalists.
“I’ve shown our colleagues photos taken from space and from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products. The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon,” Putin added, comparing the convoy to gas and oil pipeline systems.” (Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members, RT)

Don’t look for this story in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post. You won’t find it. It’s not in the interest of the major media to publish information that suggests that Washington and its allies are providing material support for terrorist organizations.

             -- Mike Whitney

 
The President of the US can out and out lie about Syria's alleged use of nerve gas, long after it has been established that his favorite "moderate rebels" were the guilty party -- and the New York Times will faithfully report it.

NYT:  "News"?

He will talk about Turkey and its "right to defend its borders" by shooting down Russia aircraft which haven't transgressed those borders -- but the  "mainstream" media are not going to point this out -- as what it is:  lying.  

The Man Who Should Have Gone Into Advertising

Big Media wants you you perpetually "in the middle" like a person happily drunk.  Then, they can sell you anything.  So you end up in the middle of the road, with the cars whizzing past.  Hitler knew.

Are you middle class?

If you think I am exaggerating,  just look at how the UK Media --which is rather better than the US Media -- treat  "Corbynistas", hundreds of thousands of people who have the radical, if not extremist belief that the elected representatives of the people should actually represent their constituents, rather than themselves.  Of course, Corbynistras  are all "terrorist sympathizers" aren't they?

How to be a journalist

Notice, too, how the GOP wants to ban the Russian news source RT because it tends to report things differently from the official Washington narrative.

"No, no, they don't" lie you say, "they don't just tell one side of the story.  They give the other side, too.  Can they help it if most opinion favors one position over another?'  This is the Fox News argument:  "fair and balanced".  LOL.

Sure...and that's how we got the Iraq War, Afghanistan and Gitmo.

The best lies have the semblance of truth.   Johnny knows.  The Media know.  Hitler knew.  

The truth is often hard -- and we don't want that -- we want comfort.