Fighting mainstream media madness - by Lightman
email: lightman@lightwatcher.com

We are living in a time when perception means everything, when those who control global print, radio and television networks dictate a synthetic version of reality to the masses. By coordinating today's multimedia, this relatively small number of men effectively manipulate how we think and feel and act. This has become most evident in the media coverage of the Iraq Invasion. The only TV/Cable station that has attempted to give impartial and even coverage on this managed event in CityTV from Vancouver, Canada.

This media cabal dictates reality to the masses. They control the opinions of voters, politicians and corporate entities. Recently we have seen how effectively media manipulation can amplify patriotism and support for an illogical and unethical war in Iraq. Most of us are now manipulated as easily as puppets, yet remain unaware of the puppeteer's strings of control.

Over the past several decades modern media makers have constructed an overlay of artificial reality that has replaced the input of our own natural senses. Many techniques have been developed that enhance the persuasiveness of this content. Television is the most widespread and effective example. It's trance-inducing qualities of are well documented and have been widely exploited for the past fifty years.

By inserting subliminal messages into the media content, the persuasiveness of TV media is multiplied. There is presently no regulation of subliminal contamination within U.S. media. The LA Times recently stated: "In the United States, there is no routine monitoring of advertisements for subliminal messages because they are not seen as an issue." In Russia, the media is so saturated with subliminals, officials have been forced to developing technology to identify and eliminate this illegal activity. The prime offenders were U.S.-based corporations such as Pepsico.

In the hit movie The Maxrix, an artificially generated reality holds humanity in a virtual prison, where they are parasitically drained of energy to benefit their inhuman overlords. Morpheus, Neo's mentor, describes the Matrix: "... it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth... into a prison that you cannot smell, nor taste or touch, a prison for your mind."

Many believe that the Matrix is a darkly accurate vision of our near future, a world where the human inhabitants go about their lives ignorant of the fact they are handled like cattle: as breeders, consumers and resource, unaware of the tyrants who have stolen their rights and freedoms. But how could these dark predictions come to pass without rebellion? The answer is simple; in small and incremental steps, like a frog in a pot slowly coming to a boil.

Many of these steps have already been accomplished. The media conglomerates have been accepted as primary sources of news, weather and entertainment for over fifty years. By uniting media giants through mergers in the 80's and 90's, a small media cabal with a united political agenda now control most of the world's media. This has created a propaganda machine that would have made the Nazis green with envy.

But these media magnates made one huge mistake in their quest for world domination. They overlooked the rapid growth of the internet, and now the net has turned on them like a pit bull, fastening upon their tender parts, and refusing to let go. It is in the best interests of Freedom of speech and freedom of the press that we continue to capitalize on this oversite. We must use every tool at our disposal, especially the InterNet, to keep these tyrants at bay.

A good example occurred this past week. Our un-elected president Al Gore was promoting election reform in the banana republic of Florida: he stated that Florida needed a new governor to fix their electoral process. He also said that Gov. Jeb Bush had pledged to fix the state's corrupt election system after the debacle in 2000, but lied, as the recent national primary farce illustrated. Few noticed Gore's statements, because mainstream media buried this story. It only appeared in the local West Palm Beach Channel online News, and nowhere else. Once on the net, however, this story made it through the passive-aggressive filters of the media cartel,because censorship online is not yet in place.

This author would have never seen the online Al Gore attack on Jeb Bush without the help of the Google's News Search Engine. This new BETA service of Google is a welcomed tool in the battle of online freedom of information. It is free, has no advertising, and searches over 4000 english news feeds, news papers and online magazines. If you want to find out what is going on on a given day, the famous Google search engines deliver stories on every conceivable topic and point of view, and they do so chronologically so we can trace the development of a story over time.

But mainstream media still has a powerful weapon against free speech online; funding. Online services that are economically dependent upon media money must tow the party line, or get the axe. When Excite Newstracker, a free news search engine, was terminated for economic reasons earlier this year, freedom of information took a silent nose dive. Virtually overnight, it became more difficult to find stories in the press that could give a well rounded point of view about controversial issues. This fit well within the current administration's iron gripped suppression of the truth. Losing Excite Newstracker was a blow for those of us who depend on being well informed. Google News search engine has changed this back again, almost overnight.

From the international point of view, consider China. It is well known to be the most repressive super power today. Yet last weeks headlines announced that it was reestablishing access to Google search engines. With the advent of Google's News search engine, all of China will have access to the truth, the lies and everything in between." Talk about a catalyst for political and social change!

Freedom of information is a cornerstone of a democratic society. With this freedom intact and with unfettered access to the facts, citizens can remain educated, make well informed decisions, and select appropriate elected officials. Without freedom of information, we are another step closer to becoming lobotomized drones within a repressive matrix of control.

Please help keep the internet free. Support alternative press sites such as http://www.rense.com and http://www.commondreams.org/ and the columnists who contribute to them. These independents have been guiding lights through very difficult and dangerous times. Resist legislation that limits freedom of speech. Support Googles News search Engine, as it's continued existence relies upon it's popularity. Do these things and the truth will continue keep us free.

Bruce Conway - Lightman
http://www.lightwatcher.com
http://www.lightwatcher.com/culturejam/cult_jam.html
Antidotes to mainstream media madness