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January
27
2015

The Terrorist Is Laughing
Greg Osborne

The greatest cause for concern in our United States is not Iran, North Korea or radical Islam. It is not our rapidly dissolving borders or China’s emergence as a world power. It is not a threat from some disaffected nutjob with a bag of fertilizer and an axe to grind.

No, our terror began a long time ago. It is a very sophisticated and slow-brewed kind of terrorism that began and thrives in the upper strata of our society. Our Terrorist was not born out of inequality or lack of opportunity. He has never squatted in a cave, stood in line or worried about his next meal.

In our country’s eyes the Terrorist stands like a pillar of society, while he hides in plain sight.

Though he may officially list the USA as his place of residence, he is in actuality, a citizen of the world. He is wealthy beyond imagination, he wants for nothing– common fantasies are for lesser beings. His offspring are set for generations, their futures, paid for in advance Yet still, he does not feel complete, something is missing. Love, money, property and possessions fail to satisfy. The only thing that will scratch his itch is more power, and the CONTROL that it brings him.

He is his own god.

So the Terrorist decides to buy the country he shares in with his fellow citizens, only he does not ask them. He has the means and discretion to view his objectives in strategic terms, over the course of decades and longer. Generations pass, economies are made and broken, the right wars are started and won, the wrong people are moved out of the way. He wields influence over vast amounts of land, property and population. His allies are legion. They are ideologues who have a precise and specific plan for humanity. They know best how to order society and how we shall spend our puny lives.

They know better.

Money and its markets have been his from the outset, they are the base of his empire. Now he owns and influences governments, he controls the gateways to power. His muscle goes by the names CIA, NSA, Pentagon, MOSSAD and a myriad of other acronyms and groups who carry badges, wear flak jackets, uniforms and business suits. They fly, sail and drive state of the art killing machines. The Terrorist sits on the greatest arsenal of destruction that humanity has ever known.

His finger hovers over The Button.

The Terrorist realizes early on that the key to growing and holding this power is not simply in might or military power, but in our schools and universities. Every year the indoctrination centers turn out new cogs for society’s machine. Those who smell the rat and refuse to comply will be marginalized, ridiculed, rejected or worse, but the vast majority of our best and brightest will be shaped and polished into obedience. Many will be exceptional leaders and pioneers in their fields of endeavor. They are well intentioned and of great benefit to humanity. A majority, educated and otherwise, will accept the Terrorist’s worldview as gospel.

It will become conventional wisdom to do so.

Aside from his financial, educational and public institutions, the Terrorist’s most prized possession is his mouthpiece. No, not the politicians and judges that he carries in his pocket, they are but useful ephemera that come and go with his rigged elections.

That honor is reserved for his Propaganda Arm– the  television, movies, literature, games and technology that saturate our culture and hold it spellbound, the Terrorist’s prime tool of misdirection and the means by which he evangelizes his stratagem for our country and the world. It confirms to him daily, his reach and influence.

And it really scratches that itch.

Twisted and insane? Obviously. But if that’s not tragedy enough, “our” news media, our government and societal watchdogs, that last bastion between The People and Tyranny– The Mainstream Media (MSM) has not only ignored this crime, but is in collusion with the Terrorist and his demented cronies. Some are ignorant, some are aware, some are even resistant, but in the end, they are all WILLING ALLIES in a monolithic and vastly corrupt system.

So, literally ‘broadcasting’ these crimes to the general populace is simply out of the question. Not when the airwaves and outlets responsible for informing them (as mandated by the FCC) are owned by the same morally infected conglomerates that pay their journalists to slop The Herd with their daily ration of Happy Talk and Info-gruel. It will not happen because The Herd has been conditioned by these corporate jackals to remain willfully ignorant of the truth that’s been purposely relegated to the fringe elements of our society.

This, of course, does not excuse The Herd.

The mainstream, corporate-owned and for-profit news media, will not countenance anything that resembles open and honest dissent. Thanks to Political Correctness, a horror conceived and nurtured in our Terrorist’s public schools, otherwise intelligent, honorable news gatherers have become petrified of speaking the truth. To do so can risk insinuations of “racism”, “intolerance” or “hate mongering”, the kind of slander in our culture that’s almost impossible to overcome once it has been leveled. (Is that not alone a form of terror?) Equally as tragic are the fools who believe in the lies that they’re “reporting”.

I have never listened to or watched much of Glen Beck, and I can’t say where his heart lies, but I strongly suspect the true reason he left the mainstream television airwaves is that he started to ask the right questions of the wrong people (or vice-versa). Something is rotten when you are making boatloads of cash for your network and they show you the door for your trouble. It’s anyones guess what kind of non-disclosure agreement he signed before he left, look at the criminal(s) that he was working for.

What does it matter, he is a very rich man now.

I may disagree with much of what Keith Olbermann has to say, but speaking on the current state of TV journalism, he hits the nail squarely on the head: “You can rock the boat, but you can never say that the entire ocean is in trouble…You cannot say: by the way, there’s something wrong with our…system.”

Here we had two disparate news personalities at opposite ends of the political spectrum, facing eerily similar obstacles. They were like two blind boxers swinging away at each other in the same corrupt ring. They sensed– or knew, a greater evil was out there, but they couldn’t– or wouldn’t touch it. It remains a shapeless blur in the periphery of their sightline. They know the penalty for getting too close if they do.

So the Right and Left duke it out for the sake of show biz and their own misguided senses of self esteem in:

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA
RIGHT vs. LEFT
NEWS & BOXING RING

The Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots of the Talking Head world – verbally assaulting each other “with a LEFT!– and a RIGHT!– and another LEFT!”. Bobbing, weaving and jabbing – backing each other into the political ropes.

But they never come anywhere close to landing a punch on the real opponent’s jaw.

The REAL opponent owns the Conglomerate – who owns the Corporation – who owns the Network – who answers to the Advertisers who are Subsidiaries of the Conglomerate – who buy the Airtime – who are Partners in a Limited Holding Company – who pay the Lobbyist – who greases the Palm on Capitol Hill – who pitches it back to The Lobbyist – who passes it to the Network CEO – who hands it off to the Network Lawyer – who rolls the Crap all the way down the hill to the President of The Network who drops it in the lap of the Figurehead Editor that manages the Circus, er, News Division – who then reminds the pompous, propaganda spewing Bobble-Headed Talking Hair-Do – what He or She can and cannot say.

“Good Night and Have a Pleasant Tomorrow!”

How can a journalist honestly report or editorialize the news in our country when they answer to the myriad of people who own and influence it? They can’t. You just don’t bite the hand that signs your paycheck. Not anymore, not in The Corporate States of America.

Gone are the good old days at CBS of the famous “Great Wall of China around the newsroom”, a news division that was never designed or expected to make a profit, where they were allowed to create a semblance of real journalism. (at least within the box of the banker-controlled power structure – but at least it LOOKED like professional journalism)

Is The Herd really “informed” by this theater? Apparently some of them like to think so, but I know many who are left angry, disgusted and confused by it. Yet they still refuse to accept the possibility of evil on the scale that I describe, that many of us know and feel in our gut to be true. It is too mind blowing to ponder. It’s simply more comfortable to stay ignorant and distracted, to not call into question ones core beliefs. It’s easier to jump on Facebook or follow the Tweets of Britney, Kim, Kanye or Justin – than have to THINK.

Let the Mathews, Maddows and Hannities stay on top of the situation for them. Stewart and Colbert will make them laugh and FEEL smart and informed. And let’s not forget our honorable and eloquent president. A few sweetly spoken platitudes will sooth their souls and lull them back into complacency (he sounds so presidential!). Anything to keep their consciences free of the oncoming train that they’re in desperate denial of. Anything to keep from THINKING.

A grin starts to form on The Terrorist’s lips…

The Left and Right have retreated so far to their respective ideological sides that they’re in danger of bumping asses at the opposite ends of the political sphere. (Possibly a GOOD thing?) Is it any wonder WHY the country is frustrated into confused apathy? It is BY DESIGN – Our Terrorist and those like him across the globe, are laughing at Humanity as they sit transfixed by this perverted dog and pony show – a show he’s helped to nurture and grow; while he slowly and surely funnels The Herd into one big super-sized pen of indentured servitude.

What I refuse to take seriously now is any conversation or debate framed solely within the context of Democrat/Republican, Progressive/Conservative. These are the only parameters that The Terrorist will accept for serious public discussion, and only because he knows that it’s a circular and distracting DEAD END. If I listen at all, it’s for WHAT IS NOT SAID, or what is being said BETWEEN THE LINES of oblique statements and lies of omission.

Can the Tea Party help us? Sorry, no– they’re an aberration, a crazy fringe element, but if gone unchecked, could pose a threat to the accepted paradigm. The MSM swoops in, brands it racist and out of touch with mainstream America and VOILA!– potential threat slandered, subverted, marginalized and contained. Any additional voices will NOT be tolerated in the faux-republic.

The Terrorist smiles…

One of the few dissenting voices in the MSM is public radio’s DEMOCRACY NOW!, possibly the only nationally broadcasted mainstream news outlet (and probably on the fringe of it) that even approaches political and cultural reality in this country. It’s far from perfect, but it is, at the very least, bringing up issues that the MSM refuses to even acknowledge.  So many times I have listened to the frustration in the interviewees voices, as if they KNOW something is desperately wrong but don’t want to cross an invisible ideological and verbal line. A line that IF crossed, could spell the end of credibility and career.

This show is an important outlet simply because it is heard and accepted by a relatively large section of the listening public – and probably the best chance at the moment of breaching the collective’s massive case of denial. Of course, if the show crosses far enough over the line, they won’t remain in the mainstream for very long.

Here’s to CROSSING THE LINE, Amy Goodman!

But it will probably take at least one grand icon of the Mainstream Corporate News & Propaganda Machine, to grow a pair, break ranks, pull the curtain aside, fall on his or her sword and be the cold bucket of water that shocks The Herd out of its collective bovine trance. (sorry for that merciless melange of metaphors!)

To The Mainstream Media Icon:

DO YOUR JOB FOR REAL! Break your Master’s chain and help this country to be what it is was always meant to be– a free and open society whose overriding currency is The Truth– not the Lies and HALF Truths that you peddle for The Terrorist’s putrid machine.

It will be nothing less than heroic.

But all we can really count on is forums such as the one you are on right now. This, and pockets of insurrection like them across the Internet, have sparked a global, political and social brushfire. WikiLeaks and digital social networking have played no small part in the recent upheaval in the Mid East. It is the last frontier for immediate and shared free speech in this world. The Terrorist is more than aware of this and is working overtime to contain and smother it for good.

The Terrorist may be smiling, but he’s not sitting still.

The first Gulf War might have been the official wedding of Government and Corporate Mainstream Media. “Embedded” reporting sounds great in theory, but it means almost literally that a supposedly objective and dispassionate reporter be IN BED with his or her subject. The journalistic line has been blurred beyond recognition ever since.

I have to admit though – how better for the U.S. Military to CONTROL what the media reports, than to grant Constitutional and intimate access to a traditionally elusive subject. If a reporter is overly critical of military policy or behavior, access is simply limited or withheld – and what is more important to a reporter than access to the story?

Of course, I admire any newsperson who puts themself in harms way, but how does cozying up to one’s subject NOT make one sacrifice objectivity? I’ve heard from more than one of these, admittedly, brave reporters that over time they became “unarmed brothers in arms” with their subjects, that they were treated almost as fellow soldiers, thus, I would assume, subjecting them to The Warriors Code, which states above all else, loyalty to ones brother warrior.

It would be almost inhuman not to sympathize, but surely this camaraderie would bring into conflict the journalist’s promise to serve the public trust by reporting the simple Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of straight news. NOT “who” and “what” made Joe or Jane War Correspondent tear up in empathy.

Leave that for Scott Pelley and Barbara Walters.

There is no doubt good work being done in this area, but it gets to a point where Straight News is closer to Documentary or Human Interest style reporting, and should be reported as such.

But this does NOT SELL in todays news media; FEELINGS and the likable, sympathetic on-air “Talent” who sell them are the fuel that drive the corporate news machine; they need to attract viewers – or in reality, customers – to attract advertising dollars. The average cable or network client has been conditioned to crave the EMOTION in their so-called news. Inconvenient and boring facts are distorted or sacrificed if they don’t tell the story (i.e., show the government or corporation) in a favorable light.

I understand and agree that withholding tactical information from the battlefield is necessary for security reasons. What I take issue with is the idea that ANY serious criticism or questioning of U.S. military or foreign policy is forbidden under penalty of denied access to the story; and in some cases, viewed as treason – even by fellow (cowardly and cowed) members of the press.

This is more commonly known as “Not supporting the troops”.

This mindset extends not just from the battle front, but to the White House press room and corporate print media like TIME magazine and The Washington Post– all the way to the Sunday morning news shows. This, of course, has not been limited to the Bush and Obama White Houses – (same animal, different stripes, as ultimately, they all are) but going back to the Kennedy administration and well beyond.

Sometimes you have to look really hard for that old “Liberal Bias In The Media” when self-described “progressive” reporters are practically cheerleading the war effort by NOT questioning it– and sometimes even gushing over it! This was glaringly evident at the leading up to and beginning of George W’s war.

The public’s confusion of Liberal and Conservative bias in the news is only natural because both sides ultimately SERVE THE SAME MASTER. Anybody who listens to these hacks CAN’T HELP but be confused! Hell, anyone NOT confused is probably a simpleton… or maybe a Democrat…or a Republican…or something.

The Terrorist is laughing…

Hunter S. Thompson’s ‘Gonzo’ brand of investigative journalism has long educated and entertained me, but this approach has slowly become the norm for everyday NON-investigative journalism. How does a reporter maintain any sense of objectivity to a straight news story when he/she IS the story? The sad IRONY is that they aren’t even doing it right! There is a dearth of honest, critical thought and skepticism in mainstream news reporting, period– something HST had by the truckload (drug-fueled or not). It’s Gonzo Journalism without the substance! (Gonzo-Lite?)

What the MSM are GOOD at questioning, is honest, conscience-led rebellion amongst the general citizenry. And no, I’m not talking about the fake, Hollywood, James Dean-tee shirt-and-jeans-wearin’, beer commercial life-style livin’, crazy-cool kind of fantasy that makes dentists and accountants ride Harleys on the weekend. I mean the kind of rebellion that our Constitution requires of us:

The Questioning of, and the Accountability of Our Own Government.

My curiosity is piqued anytime the MSM goes out of it’s way to marginalize or condemn ANYTHING. I start looking closer at subjects that trigger their ire and attention. You know – the usual radical things like legitimate grass root attempts to hold Government and Wall Street accountable for their crimes against humanity. Things that will get you called “patriot” or other dirty names.

Because they are fearful of losing access, government and corporate press releases are taken as fact and all too rarely questioned by the people “covering” these events. The New York Times is sometimes the only source of information and the last word for many news outlets in this country, (and their record speaks for itself).

I’ve seen it happen more than once on my local news channels. To paraphrase Bill Moyers, speaking of the MSM: “serious investigative journalism in this country has become lazy”. He was being kind, I would take this one step further and say, at the very least– they are peer-pressured, morally deficient, cowardly and willfully ignorant drones. (My mistake– four steps)

The Terrorist is rolling in the aisle.

Our government used to be a nice, amiable little pooch that we kept out in the backyard; it guarded the property and heeled when it was told to heel. Now it’s a drooling, ten ton feral Hound From Hell that’s chewed through the back door and won’t get off the couch.

And guess who let it happen?

No, as much as we would like to; we cannot put this one off on The Government, the Mainstream Media, the Left Wing, the Right Wing, The Terrorist, or ANY of the usual suspects– It was us, The Herd, aka The American People. Some of you prefer the term “Sheeple”, that works too. Or how about “The Simply Screwed”?

Rather than risk their highly visible and exalted positions in popular culture, reporters and anchors simply keep their mouths shut and literally “go along with the program”. This behavior, according to the Founders, is nothing short of treason. Any news-person with a brain and a modicum of conscience knows that something is dreadfully amiss in the world’s power structure and is therefore HONOR BOUND TO REPORT IT!

The Press, as the MSM used to be known, is the vanguard of Free Speech, and a critical component of our country’s freedom. Does this really need to be said? What kind of mass self-delusion exists in this profession – in this country?

It’s the kind of self denial that is the result of a deep and profound fear. A latent, insidious fear that creeps into the mind by way of slow and purposeful indoctrination, so deep in the sub-conscience that one is hardly aware that they’ve been made fearful. The kind of fear that only terrorism, on any level can provoke.

The kind of fear that makes you want to lobotomize yourself by watching Jimmy Fallon.

Our government’s ‘watchdog’ has gone way past ‘lap dog’ status and has its nose firmly planted in the lower posterior region of its master’s body.

The lack of honesty – the lack of concern – the lack of outrage by our own citizenry, is what bothers me to the core. WHO watches the watch dog?

I guess that would be US, the people in the funny hats made courtesy of Reynolds Wrap; the ones who have inconveniently broken off from The Herd. American citizens that The Mainstream Media have relegated to The Fringe. A fringe that they’re desperately trying to keep contained for their Master.

I won’t bother repeating the usual Franklin/Paine/Jefferson be-watchful-of-tyranny quotes, most of you have heard them by now – if you haven’t, look them up, they’re free, plentiful and more relevant now than ever.

I am grateful that forums such as these are here to speak the truth, but I fear the worse. And for better OR worse, this collective lethargy will remain until our Terrorist does something on a grand scale to spook The Herd. Then you can count on his Propaganda Arm to misrepresent and exploit it to his best advantage.

The next thing you hear after that will be the sound of 300 million heads popping up out of the sand. Or is it the pasture?


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