2008 Woodie Awards
Government message manipulation threatens democracy
Creel O'Neil
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: OpEd Page
There is an incessant, indeed, nearly headache-inducing cycling of "top" news about Iran in the mass media as of late. It's coming from all angles and all media sources, and is on the lips of every commentator and spin doctor in the country. The non-stop jabber lends the subject a very propagandistic feel, regardless of the political alignment. The amount of time people spend babbling off exactly what they receive from the tube is astounding. Of course it's to be expected of a culture whose information flow is from the top down and engages with little protest or questioning as it comes down. A month ago the idea of "intervention" in Iran seemed a distant possibility, now the war drums are once again beating and the bugles are once again calling. This constant rattling of sabers by the administration, and its subsequent aggrandizement by the media seems to be the new paradigm shift the government is placing on the people … the next conquest.
You may be asking what I'm getting at, and rightfully so, but I must digress even more. Not too long ago the administration had declared the top military branch of the Iranian army an international terrorist organization, leaving some sort of perverse backdoor for an attack. Now, on all of these news channels, we have our spin doctors telling us that the Pentagon is planning for a war with Iran "in case of the unthinkable." At the same time, other decorated military analysts are coming out saying that we are already running covert operations in Iran. However, no truly substantial evidence has come from anywhere demonstrating that Iran has any intent to create a nuclear weapon and, much more importantly, use it. Committing such an act would mean an end to the Middle East as a whole, a complete obliteration of the region. Would they give it to a terrorist? Any trace of such an action would spell demise for the country. This, however, is still not my point.
The drums are beating, the information is flowing, and it's a near-constant battering of one idea into Americans. A public that generally believes what the government tells them. A famous propagandist once pointed out that repetition of one subject is the easiest way to "brainwash" the general public. The psychology is simple really, a continuous repetition of one subject, slowly growing in intensity, conditions the brain over time to an ultimate and inevitable truth: That war with Iran is going to happen. It has been planned for some time in fact. This is the same elegant psychological trick used in selling the Iraq war and every "war" since WWII.
If they can shift our minds so effectively in such an elegant way, one must ask the question, what other paradigms have they forced upon us or shifted at their desire? Government by coercion is not government by the people. I wish to remind all that read this not about the Iraq war, or the thrust of war with Iran, nor of the problems of the American political scene, but of the fact that no country is free when the minds of the people are not free from the government. We are coming dangerously closer every day to losing our inner freedom because of the constantly imposed fear of these "rogue states" and terrorist groups by our very own government. How long before we surrender our abilities of mental exertion for the shallow comfort of centralized political thinking? I close with a quote from Abraham Lincoln: " At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected … If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and its finisher." This is the war on consciousness.
You may be asking what I'm getting at, and rightfully so, but I must digress even more. Not too long ago the administration had declared the top military branch of the Iranian army an international terrorist organization, leaving some sort of perverse backdoor for an attack. Now, on all of these news channels, we have our spin doctors telling us that the Pentagon is planning for a war with Iran "in case of the unthinkable." At the same time, other decorated military analysts are coming out saying that we are already running covert operations in Iran. However, no truly substantial evidence has come from anywhere demonstrating that Iran has any intent to create a nuclear weapon and, much more importantly, use it. Committing such an act would mean an end to the Middle East as a whole, a complete obliteration of the region. Would they give it to a terrorist? Any trace of such an action would spell demise for the country. This, however, is still not my point.
The drums are beating, the information is flowing, and it's a near-constant battering of one idea into Americans. A public that generally believes what the government tells them. A famous propagandist once pointed out that repetition of one subject is the easiest way to "brainwash" the general public. The psychology is simple really, a continuous repetition of one subject, slowly growing in intensity, conditions the brain over time to an ultimate and inevitable truth: That war with Iran is going to happen. It has been planned for some time in fact. This is the same elegant psychological trick used in selling the Iraq war and every "war" since WWII.
If they can shift our minds so effectively in such an elegant way, one must ask the question, what other paradigms have they forced upon us or shifted at their desire? Government by coercion is not government by the people. I wish to remind all that read this not about the Iraq war, or the thrust of war with Iran, nor of the problems of the American political scene, but of the fact that no country is free when the minds of the people are not free from the government. We are coming dangerously closer every day to losing our inner freedom because of the constantly imposed fear of these "rogue states" and terrorist groups by our very own government. How long before we surrender our abilities of mental exertion for the shallow comfort of centralized political thinking? I close with a quote from Abraham Lincoln: " At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected … If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and its finisher." This is the war on consciousness.
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