Why not just call the MSM ”perfidious” and be done with it ? The Information Stream should NOT have a ‘mind’ of its own to change. It should be merely a distribution node whereby reality at one point is transferred to another point.

If that is not the case it is not an Information Stream, it is a Propaganda Stream. Which is what we have ended up with.

If I wanted to hear an editors personal views I could always contact him directly. But I don’t. And I don’t want him or his pet ‘journalist’ cramming their views down my throat under the false flag of ‘journalistic objectivity’.

I have long since stopped making any excuses for the MSM. It does not deserve any explanations for its behavior and structural bias. Nor does it deserve a measured appeal to ‘change its mind’. An appeal by the way which will fail because the MSM does not view itself as needing to rethink its value system. It is YOU that are wrong if you cannot appreciate its ‘objectivity’.

Silly neo-con.

1. War is bad. This is a universal axiom — no matter what the alternative, war is worse. This statement cannot be challenged, and any attempt to do so is proof that the questioner is evil.

2. Therefore anything which might suggest otherwise (like, say, a nearly bloodless victory over a horrible, intractable foe) must be false.

3. Therefore, either the U.S. cannot be winning in Iraq, or its success is proof that the U.S. is waging an immoral war.

To the extent that it is physically possible for journalists to be patriotic, I think their constant harping on failure and casualties was sparked by a lingering belief that we were the “good guys” in Iraq. Because only victims can have moral worth, therefore failure and defeat is proof of virtue.

Now that success seems to be within our grasp, expect a new round of atrocity stories to drive home the narrative that victory is proof of villainy.

I can’t speak to what the public thinks or feels because the whole war has been a mind boggling experience for us; you look around and don’t see the really bad stuff that we military families hear and read from the soldiers themselves.

I think the whole execution of this war was flawed. Before you all pile on let me explain. I really do think that the architects of the war tried really hard to construct it and execute it in a way that didn’t engage the public, therefore the heart. It feels to me that it was intended NOT to show the coffins, to have the blogs (now shut down) or to have “we the people” deal with the real discomfort and sacrifice; just go shopping and “we” will take care of the rest.

That’s a pretty cynical view I know, but I can only speak from my family’s perspective. Thanks for the post.

Wise decision.

It is not that it is impervious to change, but rather people are misleading others on what those perceptions actually are. Without a correct view of what people believe and why they believe it, you cannot change them, Neo. No matter how skilled one is at propaganda and psychological warfare.

Propaganda tends to crop up always in war. It just has to be dealt with, permanently preferably.

The only thing I can think of, not a very good one, is the primacy of feelings over thought means they have never been pushed to follow a logical train of thought past its first discomfort.
And, as congenial as our society is for the middle class, their encounters with reality are rarely brisk enough to cause a rethinking of the entire subject of thinking, or blameshifting relieves them of the necessity.

Or it’s BDS.

But journalists lie even when they know they’re busted before they put finger to keyboard. See the reporting of the Limbaugh/Reid letter. Journos knew everybody knew exactly what happened, but they misrepresented it anyway. They proved once again to millions upon millions of people that they lie on purpose.
One would think they’d figure out a way to only lie when their chances of getting caught were minimal.
Can’t help themselves.

No explanations of investigating the claims, general problems with veracity in the middle east, etc. Printing the truth is long gone, it’s been diluted to printing claims from both sides, no matter the likelihood of authenticity, and calling it a day, as if all sides were equally likely to be telling the truth. They do this knowing that what sticks is the emotional impact of ‘civilians killed’, true or not, and because of that, it’s also the lede for the story.

Plain laziness, because after all, ‘fake but accurate’ is the new standard.

The war will never be honorable regardless of the end, because the truth of going was spoiled in the beginning.

IF YOU’RE UNABLE TO CONVINCE AND LEAD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE INTO WAR WITHOUT EXPLICIT EVIDENCE AND TRUTH, THEN YOU DON’T SHARE HONOR WHETHER YOU’RE SUCCESSFUL OR NOT.

Explicit evidence and truth is very simple: Do you need an example of people yearning for democracy? Try Myanmar.

Do you need a direct link to terror? Try Osama.

Yes, Bush can rot in his mushroom cloud, yellow cake, and WMDs. Honor the soldiers for whatever happens, but no more than that is deserved.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-swirsky/lincoln-lied-and-thousand_b_28920.html

I have done my part in foiling the terrorists by wearing my underwear backwards. That there have been no more attacks is proof that my strategy is correct.

Propaganda tends to crop up always in war.

I have the distinct feeling that this was written with a complete and utter lack of irony.

Translated: “A lot of people I talk to are against us being in Iraq and feel that Bush is to blame for much of what’s gone wrong in the war. Clearly, they only desire defeat for America.”

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who hate Bush, and because of that, hate the war, Republicans, capitalism, and white males in general. They’re so wrapped up in hatred of traditional values and acceptance of post-modern claptrap, that they fail to see what made America great.”

Sorry, it’s human nature.

Nature they loathed, and next to nature, art;
They strove with all, all worth more than their strife;
They worshipped cash, and gave it all their heart,
So cold they lived, and cold departed life.

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