The mass media, the spectacle’s “most glaringly supercritical manifestation” has transformed much since the time of the Frankfurt School. Even in 1983, 90 percent of the county’s media was spread out between 50 corporations.
Today, that number is 5:
Edward Bernays, Freud’s nephew and tobacco marketing pioneer, outlined the kind of “conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.” If we compare the ink on paper world of 1928 described by Bernays with the fully-immersive, perpetual, multi-pronged effort in 2021, considering the influence capable of these 5 groups is both intriguing and alarming.
With these holding companies providing millions of dollars to politicians each year, the often confusing line between politics and industry blur. Since our public is limited by their party-specific analyzing lens, fixating on either the state or industry as the oppressor of human rights, arguments against what we’d call crony capitalism never gain traction.
A pop song circulates wider than a complex sonnet. Short and simple view-points provide their thinker with the positive chemical release associated with comprehension and familiarity. Since the general public remains uninterested in the symbiotic relationship in question, there leaves little incentive to engage in the stressful thought of expanding past common, party-related political criticism.
We now live in a world that provides us the tools to build our very own personal spectacle. In that world, we can be communists or anarchists, perverts or virtue seekers. We can be anything we like – except for informed.
There is a terrible falsehood about information, linking its validity with its power or truth. Power comes from the number of times you receive information, and truth becomes the byproduct of consensus.
I am 73 and I remember when newspapers and news stations only printed the news, not opinions or bias. I don’t read or watch anymore because of the open bias. There is no “news” any longer, just propaganda! The United States is doomed.
Seems to me like a Communism network where they tell you what they want you to think and believe . If they repeat something enough you tend to think what they say. Like Pravada in the Soviet union.
All media outlets in lockstep is no accident. If you can find the answer to the question this article asks you will have broken a secret worthy of a Nobel prize for journalism. My guess is we will never know but it’s clear it’s more true today than ever. Each and every outlet using the exact same catch phrase on exact same talking points on the exact same day. No coincidence. I have always wondered who is creating the narrative that follows the same patterns with every media outlet barring the independents who can’t reach the entire population of the United States.
Best way to help slow this problem down is term limits. Senator 6 years and house members 6 years with no retirement for either senators and representatives. If a congressional pay raise is voted by members they can not receive the increase until the next election. This might eliminate professional politicians.
My father said “He could never be a politician because he could never look someone in the eye and lie to them “