Posted on 05/27/2004 2:58:21 PM PDT by quidnunc
"Political debate began to decline around the turn of the century [1900], curiously enough at a time when the press was becoming more 'responsible,' more professional, more conscious of its civic obligations." Chistopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites, chapter 9 ("The Lost Art of Argument")
In Iraq, today's militia fights, terrorist attacks, and occasional outbreaks of mob violence are significant because they take place in the context of two larger wars. One is the war between the civilized world and radical Islam. The other is the war between the media elite and conservatives. However things turn out in Iraq, the relationship between the American people and the media is never going to be the same.
Christopher Lasch's thesis was that the media elite derives its self-image from the position articulated by Walter Lippman in the 1920's, which is that the general public is incompetent to evaluate political argument. It follows that the duty of the press is to supply an objective picture of reality. A news outlet must not be seen as participating in an equal conversation with its audience, but instead must be viewed as standing on a higher pedestal. To achieve this position, facts must be kept separate from opinion.
This distinction between facts and opinion is never as clearcut in practice as it might appear in theory. Lasch would have argued that people are best informed by an overall point of view that provides context for facts, rather than by an attempt to pretend that opinion can be filtered out of a story.
One could make a case that the clashes taking place in Iraq today have little bearing on that country's ultimate future. In the long run, whether Iraq is able to modernize or not, whether ethnic diversity divides the country or not, and whether democratic institutions take root or the country reverts to strongman rule all depend primarily on the internal dynamics of its people and culture. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the forty-years war between the media and conservative Republicans is reaching a climax.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at techcentralstation.com ...
Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35
January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals
http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
Ping to article referencing Belmont Club! WTG wretchard!
40 Years??? At least 80 years. Don't forget that the New York Times was actively promoting Lenin and covering up his murder of millions of Russians since the 1920's.
The US Supreme court should have this nailed to each of their office walls. my personal comments are in "(())"
[From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]
CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. (((Jimmy "the idiot" Carter))
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. ((done))
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) (((Kerry and Clintons use of this as "third way" path to communism))
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. (((DONE the democrat party is officially captured))
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. (((ACLU)))
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. ((NEA, w/ PC, thoughtcrimes, and quotas))
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. ((read any positive reviews of Ann Courlters book in the NYT))
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. ((Alphabe soup))
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." ((hollyweird))
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." (((homosexual marriage, DSM removing homosexuality, APA attempt to remove pedophilia from DSm))
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." ((ACLU))
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. ((The ACLU and the NLG does this))
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." ((Jessie Jackon did this))
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. ((Done by the NEA))
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. ((Kerry voted for this))
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat]. ((Ritalin for Boys, illegible to serve in the army))
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. ((Hate Crimes))
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. ((homosexual marriage))
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. ((the ultimate goal of homosexual marriage and the ABA to seperate children from marriage))
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. ((Done thanks to Jimmy "the idiot" Carter))
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
Great article. Thanks for posting it.
The elitist propaganda press is losing it. No doubt about it. Everyday it becomes more shrill and irrational. Look at its target audience for ads.
One day I expect Dan Rather to get on screen and yell "F*** Y**!" for 22 minutes.
I could make comment to more of those than you already have. The red revolution happened here and we never saw it coming. It is now in both of our political parties.
swilhelm73 said : "The ragtag Islamists, Baathists, and brigands cannot defeat us. There is only one group that can - the western press. "
I've been known to steal great lines like that for taglines.:<)
You'll like this one, there's a nice section about Goldwater.
ping
bump
LOL!! Those suffering from stomach upset and impotence!!! LOL!!!!
Thanks for the ping. Good article.
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