The War on Terrorism and the US Propaganda Machine Essay -- September

The War on Terrorism and the US Propaganda Machine   Totalitarian regimes control their people by bludgeoning and incarcerating them. Critics of Western societies advance that democratic governments maintain approval for their actions through the manufacture of consent, a cryptic and insidious form of propaganda.   How?, you ask skeptic on the wholey. By framing the debate, the guess says. By setting up a debate between both opposing acceptable views--one slenderly left of government policy, and the other slightly right--the media sack marginalize the radicals and legitimize the party line. Thus the debate skirt the war in Vietnam was a debate of the hawks (If we keep fighting we can win) vs. the doves (Its too costly were fighting a losing battle). thither was no interrogative of our right to interfere in the mainstream media, no question of the purpose of the war. You can see the same framing of debate in the US medias coverage of the war on terrorism.   If yo u look for it, anyway. It all sounds like a conspiracy theory, though, doesnt it? It seems rather far-fetched that the government is controlling the media, unconstipated if National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice did suggest that the networks broadcast nevertheless abridged versions of any future appearances by Osama bin Laden and friends. Its some(prenominal) more plausible that the big companies control the government, but Im not overtaking to open that kettle of fish. So lets forget about conspiracies for the moment, and simply steering on the media coverage are we getting a fair charge?   Increasing numbers of Americans dont think so. Despite the fact that UK is our strongest ally in this conflict, their media has been considerable more even-handed in cov... ...s a war on terrorism, but kills countless innocent Afghanis because their government refused to give over bin Laden without some evidence of his involvement in the WTC attacks.   merely if thats the ra dical view, and the media comments above are mainstream, wed do well to broaden our scope. British support for the war has fallen drastically, and is now outnumbered by those opposed. If youd like to hazard out why, youll have to look further than CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. Try the Guardian, the Independent, BBC, Fair.org, or just search Google for Noam Chomsky + Afghanistan. Even if our dangerous ignorance is not the result of a conspiracy, weve still got plenty of good reason to alleviate it. Surely were amend and critical enough to decide for ourselves what constitutes a valid perspective. We dont need the meliorate filter of the mainstream media.