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READING I.F. STONE ON EARTH DAY: WHY WE STILL WON’T GET ANYWHERE UNLESS WE CONNECT THE DOTS
READING I.F. STONE ON EARTH DAY: WHY WE STILL WON’T GET ANYWHERE UNLESS WE CONNECT THE DOTS
One week ago, I was honoured to receive an “Izzy Award” for “outstanding achievement in independent media and journalism.” The annual award, which this year also went to David Sirota for his groundbreaking investigations into political corruption in the U.S. pension system, is named after the great muckraker I.F. Stone (“Izzy” to his friends).
In past years, the award has gone to people who do a far better job of embodying the legacy of Stone’s investigative reporting than I (Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill among them). But as I said at the ceremony at Ithaca College, I doubt the judges have given the honour to anyone whose grandparents would have been more thrilled. Without fail, my late grandfather Philip Klein would read I.F. 
Stone’s Weekly to my late grandmother Annie while she knitted some new creation.
In preparation for the ceremony, I read some of Stone’s environmental writing, and came across a piece that seems very worth sharing today. It’s the speech he gave on April 22, 1970—the very first Earth Day. Never one to mince words, Stone’s speech was titled “Con Games.”
Picture the scene: it’s the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the National Monument in Washington, D.C. Millions have participated in Earth Day events across the country and thousands are now gathered on the National Mall to listen to music (including Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs) and hear rally speeches from political heavyweights.
It is in this joyous and self-congratulatory atmosphere that a curmudgeonly I.F. Stone, by now a full-fledged icon on the left, takes the stage. And he unapologetically rains on the parade, accusing Earth Day of providing cover for escalating war and calling for a movement willing to demand “enormous changes—psychological, military, and bureaucratic—to end the existing world system, a system of hatred, of anarchy, of murder, of war and pollution.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Noam Chomsky: “The Idea Of A Media Which Does Not Repeat US Propaganda Is Intolerable To American Leaders”
Noam Chomsky: “The Idea Of A Media Which Does Not Repeat US Propaganda Is Intolerable To American Leaders”
Few individuals polarize the public with their opinions, statements and mere presence, like Noam Chomsky. The 86 year old linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator, social justice activist, and anarcho-syndicalist advocate, has strong opinions (and in some cases, entire schools of thought) on everything from philosophy, to sociology, to linguistics, but he is perhaps best known in recent years for his political activism which has led to death threats due to his staunch and far-reaching criticism of US foreign policy (allegedly the Anti-Defamation League “spied on” Chomsky’s appearances).
His broader outlook is a peculiar version of libertarianism (he describes himself as an anacrho-syndicalist), in which he asserts that authority is inherently illegitimate, and that the burden of proof is on those in authority. If this burden can’t be met, the authority in question should be dismantled. Authority for its own sake is inherently unjustified. He contends that there is little moral difference between chattel slavery and renting one’s self to an owner or “wage slavery.” He holds that workers should own and control their workplace.
He is has also repeatedly stated his opposition to ruling elites, among them institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and GATT.
In other words, the present, in which ruling elites (whether the BIS and “Troika) and ubiquitous US intervention in every possible foreign affair (courtesy of a State Department which, as it has now been revealed, had until recently worked on behalf of the highest foreign bidder) determine the fate of the entire world, should provide Chomsky with endless material for contemplation.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Two Pieces of US Mass Media Propaganda (on Russia, Tamir Rice) Have Revealing Correlation
Two Pieces of US Mass Media Propaganda (on Russia, Tamir Rice) Have Revealing Correlation
US mass media outlets such as CBS, NBC, CNN, knowing that consumers are irrational, are attempting to lead viewers to conclude that Putin assassinated the Russian politician who was killed yesterday, or, at the very least, make them suspect as much. This is part of what veteran journalists John Pilger and Robert Parry have both said is the most stunning display of propaganda they have seen in their careers, both of which have spanned several decades.
Another telling and interestingly related case is currently being displayed at NBC, which is headlining:Fatal Shooting of Cleveland Boy Tamir Rice Was Caused by His Own Actions: City
So, while NBC (like the others) is nefariously peddling the conspiracy theory, based on zero evidence, that Putin is responsible for the killing in Russia, it is simultaneously trying to shift the blame for the execution of a twelve year old boy off the US government.
The reasons for this are: 1) shifting blame onto Putin for a killing, with zero evidence, serves US propaganda which is working to prep the US public for further assault on Russia, and 2) shifting blame off of the violent US domestic police forces for the execution of a twelve year old boy entirely captured on video hurts US propaganda by exposing US brutality.
Here’s where it gets even more interesting:
When you look at the NBC site, it has the video of the Tamir Rice shooting, but the video starts after the shooting, while the police are mulling around.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
