WikiLeaks exposes media brainwashing
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Editor,
There is a darkness looming before us. There is a “fly in the ointment” as the saying goes. There is a form of brainwashing heaped upon “we the people” which the recent WikiLeaks event is exposing.
In a Reuters interview on Dec. 12, John Pilger, highly respected Australian journalist, writer and filmmaker, said a few things which we should all read with a discerning mind because they point to a rather dangerous trend in journalism.
He said, “The mind set that only authority can really determine the ‘truth’ on the news is a form of embedding that really now has to change.”
And this, “WikiLeaks and the internet are bringing great pressure for change, no question about it.”
And further, “Journalism has so often failed to do its job. It has great eagerness to believe the ‘official’ version of events.”
Now, we all know that much of our national media are owned and controlled by huge-monied interests. What John Pilger is suggesting is that much of what we are bombarded with in major events, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Iraq being perfect examples, is just not the truth.
Is this a form of media brainwashing? I suppose it could be considered so. And suddenly a WikiLeaks event occurs and throws the official communications systems into a great turmoil of fear and consternation.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” we the people ask. And the answers we get focus upon killing the messenger hoping somehow that will kill the message.
“But what about those messages?” we the people ask. And the answers we get suggest “father knows best,” “don’t believe a thing you read or hear being reported on those messages,” and “just listen to the authorities and all will be cleared up in due time.”
It might be well, since we do have the great internet available to us, to look beyond our own borders for news reports, opinions, and the views of thoughtful people without “official” constraints. Can’t hurt.
Bob McClellan
Polson
