"There has never been a just war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change. The loud little handful - as usual - will shout for war. The pulpit will - warily and cautiously – object at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonourable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers but do not dare say so. And now the whole nation - pulpit and all - will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." - Mark Twain
In much of civilisation, the title and the veneer of the "thing" are separate from the actual content of the "thing". Everything is backwards, upside down, doctors destroying health, lawyers justice, universities destroying knowledge, governments destroying freedom, the media and religions destroying information and spirituality and so forth. Human beings are delusion machines, constantly lying to themselves, even on the most basic biological level, and the truth of anything is often the opposite of what is commonly thought at best, at worst also the complete opposite.
"The War You Don't See" is a powerful documentary by the great John Piger ("War By Other Means") which explores the media's role in selling wars, specifically, the major wars of the last century (WW1, 2, Iraq, Afghanistan etc). What the film reveals is frightening, but of course of little surprise to anyone who studies history: the fourth estate is but a mouthpiece for what has become the corporate state.
"I don't think we should completely dismiss the words of the second most powerful man in the western world," one news chief says, referring to Dick Cheney, his words epitomising the media's cosy relationship with Power. Far from providing unbiased information, critical and historical analysis, Piger shows, the media hides behind sensationalism, emotion, censors thousands of stories a day, has a clear ideological agenda and couches naked ideology behind a mask of neutrality.
"We allow the viewers to make up their own minds," another chief remarks, but such neutrality begins a drift away from truth and toward a manufactured landscape of subjectivity and so static; where the media should challenge, ridicule, test with hammers, it deliberately obfuscates.
When the news outlets do provide focus, Piger shows, they become merely unthinking stenographers of the 'official word'; sophisticated PR machines. As Edward Bernay, who coined the term "public relations", remarks, "behind the intelligent manipulation of the masses is an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country." Elsewhere the film interviews journalist Mark Curtis, who details how western governments collude with oppressive foreign regimes and essentially sell evil with sophisticated PR campaigns. "Intended policy," he says, "is based on controlling oil resources, creating an international economy that works in the interests of corporations, and maintaining their power status." Again, hardly news to anyone familiar with history. What's new is Curtis' detailing of the ways in which the journalists who attempt to shed a light on such things are systematically banned or shut out of the mainstream media. Piger knows this well. Many of his films have been similar "banned".
Piger then touches upon the symbiotic relationship between the military industrial complex and the major news conglomerates, and lists several major defence contractors who own news channels. As Normon Soloman says, "a military-industrial-media complex now extends to much of corporate media."
This unholy alliance is highlighted by Piger with a series of TV clips which feature war junkies fawning and salivating over the "precision" and "efficiency" of modern weapons. The weapons are treated like fetish objects whilst their victims remain unmentioned. Professor Melvin Goodman, former CIA analyst, then explains that pentagon officials have elaborate contracts with news organisations. "80-90% of what you hear and read," he says, "is 'officially' inspired." Piger then interviews Julian Assange who says, "This is not a sophisticated conspiracy. This is a vast movement of self-interests by thousands and thousand of players all working together and against each other to produce an end result. Money and money-making is at the centre of modern war, and it's almost self-perpetuating."
Disturbingly, the justification for America's increasingly bloated war machine is listed as "asymmetrical threats which transcend all geographic boundaries." In other words, the US is at war with everything, everyone and anything the state wishes to redefine a target. If the documentary has one flaw, it's in its failure to predict the wars of today and tomorrow, which are fought by Western funded proxy militias at small and slow, daily rates. These continuous wars essentially happen unnoticed, but that's the intention; a handful of murders a day isn't war and so is even less newsworthy.
9/10 - Worth one viewing.
In much of civilisation, the title and the veneer of the "thing" are separate from the actual content of the "thing". Everything is backwards, upside down, doctors destroying health, lawyers justice, universities destroying knowledge, governments destroying freedom, the media and religions destroying information and spirituality and so forth. Human beings are delusion machines, constantly lying to themselves, even on the most basic biological level, and the truth of anything is often the opposite of what is commonly thought at best, at worst also the complete opposite.
"The War You Don't See" is a powerful documentary by the great John Piger ("War By Other Means") which explores the media's role in selling wars, specifically, the major wars of the last century (WW1, 2, Iraq, Afghanistan etc). What the film reveals is frightening, but of course of little surprise to anyone who studies history: the fourth estate is but a mouthpiece for what has become the corporate state.
"I don't think we should completely dismiss the words of the second most powerful man in the western world," one news chief says, referring to Dick Cheney, his words epitomising the media's cosy relationship with Power. Far from providing unbiased information, critical and historical analysis, Piger shows, the media hides behind sensationalism, emotion, censors thousands of stories a day, has a clear ideological agenda and couches naked ideology behind a mask of neutrality.
"We allow the viewers to make up their own minds," another chief remarks, but such neutrality begins a drift away from truth and toward a manufactured landscape of subjectivity and so static; where the media should challenge, ridicule, test with hammers, it deliberately obfuscates.
When the news outlets do provide focus, Piger shows, they become merely unthinking stenographers of the 'official word'; sophisticated PR machines. As Edward Bernay, who coined the term "public relations", remarks, "behind the intelligent manipulation of the masses is an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country." Elsewhere the film interviews journalist Mark Curtis, who details how western governments collude with oppressive foreign regimes and essentially sell evil with sophisticated PR campaigns. "Intended policy," he says, "is based on controlling oil resources, creating an international economy that works in the interests of corporations, and maintaining their power status." Again, hardly news to anyone familiar with history. What's new is Curtis' detailing of the ways in which the journalists who attempt to shed a light on such things are systematically banned or shut out of the mainstream media. Piger knows this well. Many of his films have been similar "banned".
Piger then touches upon the symbiotic relationship between the military industrial complex and the major news conglomerates, and lists several major defence contractors who own news channels. As Normon Soloman says, "a military-industrial-media complex now extends to much of corporate media."
This unholy alliance is highlighted by Piger with a series of TV clips which feature war junkies fawning and salivating over the "precision" and "efficiency" of modern weapons. The weapons are treated like fetish objects whilst their victims remain unmentioned. Professor Melvin Goodman, former CIA analyst, then explains that pentagon officials have elaborate contracts with news organisations. "80-90% of what you hear and read," he says, "is 'officially' inspired." Piger then interviews Julian Assange who says, "This is not a sophisticated conspiracy. This is a vast movement of self-interests by thousands and thousand of players all working together and against each other to produce an end result. Money and money-making is at the centre of modern war, and it's almost self-perpetuating."
Disturbingly, the justification for America's increasingly bloated war machine is listed as "asymmetrical threats which transcend all geographic boundaries." In other words, the US is at war with everything, everyone and anything the state wishes to redefine a target. If the documentary has one flaw, it's in its failure to predict the wars of today and tomorrow, which are fought by Western funded proxy militias at small and slow, daily rates. These continuous wars essentially happen unnoticed, but that's the intention; a handful of murders a day isn't war and so is even less newsworthy.
9/10 - Worth one viewing.