Censorship In America?
By Timothy V. Gatto
04 December,
2008
Countercurrents.org
The people of the United States might not know what it is that they want the new administration to do, they may not know what it is they want Congress to do, but one thing for sure is that they don’t want another repeat of the Bush Administration or the last two sessions of Congress. One reason that progressives and liberals seem to be the ones complaining about Obama’s cabinet picks is because this is a group of people that get their news not from the mainstream media, but from the internet. We are better informed than those that believe that Wolf Blitzer or Katie Couric is “informing” them and keeping the politicians honest. We don’t listen to right-wing talk radio and repeat Rush Limbaugh’s talking points; we like to figure things out on our own. That may be why some say that trying to get a liberal consensus is “like herding cats”.
We may or may not be smarter than others, the reason that we are usually the first to start complaining or coming out against something is because we get our information first. The rest of the country is just a little slower. To understand this or to validate what I just claimed, all one has to do is think how long it took the majority of Americans to realize they had been duped about Iraq. For months, anyone that was against the war was considered a traitor. Another example is the conflict between Georgia and Russia. During the Democratic National Convention both Barack Obama and Joe Biden railed against “Russian aggression” against Georgia. It’s pretty clear now to almost everyone who started the hostilities, the NY Times has reported twice during the last two weeks that Georgia initiated the hostilities. Anyone that has read the reports on the internet would have known who had initiated hostilities the day after they started. I knew what had happened and I don’t get a national security briefing every morning, nor am I brighter than most other Americans. In order to back my claims you can go to an article I posted on Information Clearinghouse on August 15, 2008.
I am surprised and dismayed at Obama and Biden when they accused the Russians of aggression. I can’t believe that they did not know what really happened. Over 1,000 American and 2,000 Israeli advisors were in Georgia when they attacked South Ossetia by firing missiles in 12-14 second intervals. It was reported by independent observers the next day. Didn’t Obama and Biden have anyone that knew how to surf the net or were they just blatantly lying to the public figuring we would never know the truth? Regardless of which is the truth, it’s all troubling. Are we going to have another President that believes all Americans are naïve or that we wouldn’t discover the truth?
The situation between Israel and Palestine is another example of a “news blackout” on the mainstream media. Media throughout the world is reporting on Gaza and the siege that Israel has re-imposed since November 5th. Food, medicine, fuel and other vital supplies are being withheld from the people in Gaza, even though 50% of them are under the age of 15! Israel has prohibited reporters from entering Gaza because of the suffering there, yet just about the entire world gets regular reports about it. The only nation whose population doesn’t know about the genocide against the people of Gaza is Americans. How can we justify that? Who makes the decisions on what gets aired and what doesn’t?
Really, how can we continue to remain blissfully unaware of what is happening in the world? The attacks by missile-bearing unmanned Predators have killed hundreds in Pakistan attending funerals and weddings, yet this hardly gets mentioned in the MSM. When Americans see the demonstrations and protests against our actions in the Middle-East, it is apparent that most Americans are wondering why. When the Arab world protests against what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza, wouldn’t it be better to know what is really happening so that we can all understand the situation better? When our politicians give speeches to AIPAC and vow to support Israel regardless of the world’s position, should we support that? If we aren’t getting the information the rest of the world is getting, how can we continue to blindly support our leaders?
This is all commonsense. I cannot see anyone that cannot understand this. How can this nation let it’s government know what we want if we don’t know what is really going on? The only advice I can offer to my fellow citizens is to scream like hell to end “selective” news reporting, or to go to the internet for your news. I only wish I could publish this in a venue that would actually inform those who need informing. This will be published on the internet, and sadly, we all know this information already. It won’t reach the people that need to read this.
