Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Artificial Reality of the Matrix Media
American Thinker ^ | January 15, 2009 | Selwyn Duke

Posted on 01/17/2009 11:56:44 PM PST by neverdem

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 01/17/2009 11:56:45 PM PST by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

“They perpetuate the Malthusian myth that the world faces inexorable population increases”

To be fair, the Malthusian myth is that population growth will outstrip food production.


2 posted on 01/18/2009 12:00:48 AM PST by Tublecane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
The "Matrix Media" is an absolutely perfect term for the deceitful manipulative dysinformation pulled over our eyes, to hide the truth from us.

The Matrix Media works in absolute lockstep, all really indistinguishibly malicious.


3 posted on 01/18/2009 12:09:26 AM PST by FormerACLUmember
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

4 posted on 01/18/2009 12:44:00 AM PST by chuck_the_tv_out
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chuck_the_tv_out
Must Save Water Ya' Know... Image and video hosting by TinyPic ...;0)
5 posted on 01/18/2009 12:49:58 AM PST by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Very accurate. So many more examples. Target Rich Enviroment


6 posted on 01/18/2009 1:28:36 AM PST by GeronL (A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem; ebiskit; TenthAmendmentChampion; Obadiah; Mind-numbed Robot; A.Hun; johnny7; ...
Theodore Roosevelt's 1911 speech to the Sorbone in Paris is famous for the "man in the arena":
"It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena Theodore Roosevelt
But the entire speech rewards a reading, including this appropos segment:
. . . The phrase-maker, the phrase-monger, the ready talker, however great his power, whose speech does not make for courage, sobriety, and right understanding, is simply a noxious element in the body politic, and it speaks ill for the public if he has influence over them. To admire the gift of oratory without regard to the moral quality behind the gift is to do wrong to the republic.

Of course all that I say of the orator applies with even greater force to the orator's latter-day and more influential brother, the journalist. The power of the journalist is great, but he is entitled neither to respect nor admiration because of that power unless it is used aright. He cna do, and often does, great good. He can do, and he often does, infinite mischief. All journalists, all writers, for the very reason that they appreciate the vast possibilities of their profession, should bear testimony against those who deeply discredit it. Offenses against taste and morals, which are bad enough in a private citizen, are infinitely worse if made into instruments for debauching the community through a newspaper. Mendacity, slander, sensationalism, inanity, vapid triviality, all are potent factors for the debauchery of the public mind and conscience. The excuse advanced for vicious writing, that the public demands it and that demand must be supplied, can no more be admitted than if it were advanced by purveyors of food who sell poisonous adulterations . . .


7 posted on 01/18/2009 4:38:47 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Change is what journalism is all about. NATURALLY journalists favor "change.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Bookmarked

The Right to Know


8 posted on 01/18/2009 4:45:12 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Change is what journalism is all about. NATURALLY journalists favor "change.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion

BTTT


9 posted on 01/18/2009 4:55:07 AM PST by E.G.C. (Click on a freeper's screename and then "In Forum" to read his/her posts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion; neverdem; All

Thanks for the ping/link. Thanks for the post. Very good article by Selwyn Duke. Thread BUMP! Link BUMP!


10 posted on 01/18/2009 5:43:02 AM PST by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
I prefer the formulation, "Big Journalism" - or the even more specific (and IMHO perfectly accurate) appellation, "Associated Press journalism" to "The Mainstream Media." After all, "media" is a plural noun, and Big Journalism is singular - if you've seen one of them, you've seen them all. Big Journalism calls itself "the press" as though there were no other, but books which aren't written to journalistic deadlines are certainly printed, and are certainly included in the First Amendment reference to "the press."

Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution includes the stricture that

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States
Therefore "the freedom of . . . the press" cannot refer to an oligarchy of printers.

Article 1 Section 8 explicitly provides the authority

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries
So the First Amendment should be understood to guarantee the right of the people to spend money and apply technology to their efforts to promote their opinions.

11 posted on 01/18/2009 6:07:04 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Change is what journalism is all about. NATURALLY journalists favor "change.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
A common defense of error today is to say, with due indignation, "I have a right to my opinion!" Legally this is true, given that our First Amendment is extant. But as G.K. Chesterton once said, "Having the right to do something is not at all the same as being right in doing it." There is no moral right to an immoral opinion -- nor to one bred of emotionalism unconstrained by reason -- nor to a deceitful one.
The trouble is that journalists and Democratic politicians arrogate to themselves the right to enforce their own brand of sophistry.
sophist
1542, earlier sophister (c.1380), from L. sophista, sophistes, from Gk. sophistes, from sophizesthai "to become wise or learned," from sophos "wise, clever," of unknown origin. Gk. sophistes came to mean "one who gives intellectual instruction for pay," and, contrasted with "philosopher," it became a term of contempt. Ancient sophists were famous for their clever, specious arguments.
philosopher
O.E. philosophe, from L. philosophus, from Gk. philosophos "philosopher," lit. "lover of wisdom," from philos "loving" + sophos "wise, a sage."

"Pythagoras was the first who called himself philosophos, instead of sophos, 'wise man,' since this latter term was suggestive of immodesty." [Klein]

Modern form with -r appears c.1325, from an Anglo-Fr. or O.Fr. variant of philosophe, with an agent-noun ending. . . .

American conservatives are, in the etymological sense, "philosophers," and their opponents are, in the etymological sense, "sophists." For if you think about it, to get away with sophistry you need some sort of power advantage over your opponent in order to enforce your presumption. And in the passive acceptance of journalism's cynical perspective, "liberals" have precisely the requisite sort of advantage.

12 posted on 01/18/2009 6:15:22 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Change is what journalism is all about. NATURALLY journalists favor "change.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion

BTTT


13 posted on 01/18/2009 7:00:54 AM PST by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion; neverdem
If this sounds dark and conspiratorial, know that it is the former but not the latter. In truth, what is so dangerous about the matrix media isn't so much that they're akin to a cabal of calculating sentient programs but that they cannot think outside the box themselves.

To the squeefs in the system this may be true, but in the hiring process for academic deans or editors and in the dissemination of talking points among editors there is definitely collaboration. It is instructive to see how fast stories are disseminated among competing networks and then presented in precisely the same construction and order. I used to enjoy flipping back and forth among radio channels to see if I could build a contiguous story; the "message" was that coherent. Over time, I came to recognize the "leaders" among MSM cadres. The editor at KCBS in San Francisco, Don Goldberg, is an evil genius at arranging bits of stories into a coherent leftist message.

14 posted on 01/18/2009 8:18:47 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The environment is too complex and too important to manage by central planning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Macluhan: "the media is the message."

theinsivisb1ehand: "the media is the state."

15 posted on 01/18/2009 10:01:15 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
It deals in half-truths, the suppression of facts, the exaltation of evil and savaging of the sublime, and outright lies all the time.

Innuendo. You forgot "innuendo."

And even liberal Don Henley bothered to sing about it 20 years ago.

16 posted on 01/18/2009 11:09:30 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

I have nothing but contempt for ‘journalism’ as it is now practiced by mainstream news organizations, particularly in this country. The article does a pretty good job of demonstrating why.


17 posted on 01/18/2009 4:05:21 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservatism_IS_compassion; Brucifer; AnnaZ; Allegra

bttt


18 posted on 01/18/2009 8:25:30 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life ;o)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: the invisib1e hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2PxAIAI1QQ

Dirty Laundry


19 posted on 01/18/2009 8:28:06 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life ;o)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Liberty Valance
Dirty Laundry

Thanks. Always up for some good rock and roll. But what's Henley's point - that there's a right-wing bias? He couldn't possibly know how backward he had it, in that case.

Then, too, liberals are always claiming there's a right-wing bias. Now, either they're bluffing, or the media is somehow having it both ways...sort of like a boxing promoter.

Gotta hand it to the Eagles, who either separately or together, seem to put on excellent live performances that are musically faithful to their recordings - they took their music seriously.

20 posted on 01/19/2009 6:00:53 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson