Everything You Know is Wrong

By David Glenn Cox


Or so says The Firesign Theater comedy troupe of the 1960’s and 70’s. Steeped in satire and double entendre you might listen to Firesign a routine a dozen times finding new jokes hidden in the text each time. Somewhat like the Bush administration only the Firesign were actually trying to be funny.

“The future is fun! The future is fair! You may already have won! You may already be there!” (I Think We’re All Bozo’s on This Bus)

From 1938 until the beginning of the Second World War CBS employed William Shirer as their corespondent in Germany. Shirer had an up close and personal view of the Fuerher’s Reich. Monthly, he would travel to London to discuss the pertinent issues with his boss Edward R. Morrow. Shirer commented to Morrow that despite his knowing that the Nazi press was controlled and contrived he was surprised how much of it seeped into his consciousness. A shocking revelation that even the opposition press can be taken in by an organized propaganda effort.

A few months back I wrote about the Atlanta newspaper praising the new 150 bed homeless shelter. Lauding and laureling local politicians and corporate sponsors with out once mentioning the simultaneous closing of the current 250 bed shelter. Could that be an accident? A net loss of 100 beds is cheered as good news?

I’ve heard some news radio stations with the slogan, “All the News You Need to Know!” And I think to myself, the Firesign couldn’t have said that any better!

What is good news and what is bad news is decided by those with financial and political interests and because of that. “Everything You Know is Wrong” What Fox news spins as a story acts as a bell weather for the other networks, if Fox presents the story, as lunatic fringe will the other networks go in the opposite direction or only moderate the Fox spin?

Case in point, The Iraq Surge, Do you really believe that all the opposing parties have suddenly put all their differences aside? Ok, we will let the American corporation’s rule over us and steal our natural resources. Our do think maybe the Iraqi’s own a calendar? What opinion would the ruling political elite prefer you to believe?

Case in point, Hillary’s stumble, The media has suddenly determined that Hillary Clinton’s support has crumbled. Nonsense, it was never there to begin with, but with all the special interest groups pouring in millions of dollars she had to be the front runner right? The media couldn’t have been wrong could they? They’ve all but chosen the flatware for the coronation but now, uh oh! Hillary’s stumbled. All the networks funded polls had Hillary ahead but now as we get close to voters actually pulling the levers and Hillary’s suddenly screwed up somewhere.

Odd isn’t it? Six years ago the same media nipped at Hillary’s heels like a possum with hydrophobia now it’s like a travelers reunion at a Grateful Dead concert. Every source of corporate money imaginable pouring in, soft and fuzzy network interviews. Try, just try and go 24 hours without seeing the image or hearing the name Hillary Clinton. Then tomorrow pick another candidate and see how that works out for you.

Case in point, The Sub Prime Market fiasco, Now if you think the media has been pushing Hillary down your throat this will require a suspension of belief. The problem has been caused, according to the media by people buying homes that they couldn’t afford. A truckload of yokels just off the Greyhound from Prattville walked in and snookered those poor Harvard MBA’s into financing their mortgage. A mortgage that they knew they could never afford! Do you believe your countryman are that stupid? Would you sign on the dotted line for a house if you knew you would be evicted from it in 18 months?

The professionals who originated the loans, who put coins in their pockets from those loans are the innocent’s hornswaggled by these crafty but indigent amateurs. Three years ago when George Bush campaigned he threw a benevolent arm around these millions of homebuyers. The multitudes of new homeowners were living proof that his policies were working. For let the cock crow three times now, for he knows them not! They are irresponsible purchasers. You see according to the media, this is all your fault.

Because if it’s not your fault, then who’s fault is it? No, now don’t you go there, they don’t play the blame game. Well, they play it, but they just don’t accept it. The money boys have been playing fast and loose with multimillion dollars subprime loan bundles. They knew as the why not refinance your home commercials were airing on TV that this day would come. But now they talk in somber tones about assuring liquidity in the system and Bush allows them to play eeny, meannie, miney, moe on who’s loans they choose to save.

After all the free market did such a good job originating these loans who else, should decide who keeps their home? And the Republicans are already talking about those conniving consumers gaming the system. While the bankers who made the bad loans in the first place get to make the rules up as they go along. Somewhere Scrooge is smiling but don’t you smile, remember this is all your fault.

When millions of Americans voted for Ross Perot because of his stand against NAFTA what did the media say about him? What did he say would happen? Now we’ve gone from the world’s largest creditor nation to the world’s largest debtor nation in 25 years. Yes, it’s all our fault we should have planed that our wages would fall. What is the reason millions of illegal aliens come to cross our borders? For the jobs that you don’t want of course! These peoples are refugee’s, fleeing the effects of NAFTA at home but the media chooses to call them immigrants, Are they immigrants in Darfur too?

The mainstream media consists of 1% of the highest paid workers in the world and 90% of the lowest paid employee’s in the world and guess how you climb to the top? Not by exposing the local industry that’s for sure, you do stories about the new 150 bed homeless shelter and mums the word on the one that’s closing. You tell them all the news they need to know. The falling dollar is good! It helps our grain exports.

If you can’t convince you confuse; if you can’t confuse you obscure. If you can’t obscure you change the focus. If you can’t change the focus you ignore it entirely, nuclear weapons missing from their storage areas and loaded on a plane headed towards the Middle East now that’s a one day story. Could a lone General be responsible for that? Or a group of underlings? To move nuclear weapons and put them on a plane headed for points east. The largest breach of nuclear protocol of all time and yet the media accepts that it was all just a bureaucratic snafu.

Well if you believe that, Everything You Know is Wrong!

“Hey, Pablo? He broke the President man!”


Posted in full with author's permission.

Originally posted at democraticunderground.com: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Daveparts/193