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CounterPunch
October
24, 2002
A Free Press, But for Whom?
by WILLIAM HUGHES
Oswald Spengler in his mighty tome, "Decline
of the West," had some very prophetic things to say about
the press. He wrote that the sentimentalist may beam with contentment
about it being "constitutionally free," but the realist
will always ask, "At whose disposal is it?"
The wire pullers, he said, know how to
use the media "as a weapon to be forged and used for blows"
against their enemies. They realize that the "truth"
for the great mass of the public is what it "continuously
reads and hears" in their controlled outlets. Doesn't this
explain how if you ask school children who their heroes are,
they will invariably answer by citing some air headed Hollywood
celebrity, whose name and image appears repeatedly in the newspapers,
magazines and on television?
"What the press wills, is true.
Three weeks of press work, and the truth is acknowledged by everybody,"
said Spengler. A prime example of this proposition is how President
George Bush's deeply flawed pro-Iraq War propaganda offensive,
thanks to the complicity of the Establishment media, has completely
overwhelmed the Congress, with only a handful of gutsy exceptions,
like Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), Rep. Ron E. Paul (R-TX), Jim
McDermott (D-WA) and David E. Bonior (D-MI).
Spengler argued further, that although
much is made of free speech, what that really means is that the
press is free to "take notice" of what any individual
or group says, or not. "It can condemn," he wrote,
"any truth to death," simply by not undertaking its
communication to the world-"a terrible censorship of silence."
On this point, the right of the Palestinian people to self determination,
free of Zionist Israel's brutal domination, is a classic example.
This "truth" has effectively been given a death sentence
by the "censorship of silence" scheme.
Meanwhile, War Hawks daily push on the
media front for the U.S. to bomb Iraq back to the Stone Age.
They pretend, too, that it will all be in America's interest,
while never mentioning the interest of Zionist Israel. Some ideologues
regularly depict Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians in the most
dehumanizing of terms for their readers. On television and cable,
the mud slinging is even worse than in the print media. Only,
occasionally, is a dissenting voice permitted, e.g., on the Op
Ed page of a newspaper. But even there, the deck is stacked against
the truth fully revealing itself. Let me give you an example.
On Oct. 22, an article appeared in the
Baltimore Sun, on the Op Ed Page, authored by one Irwin J. Mansdorf.
He doesn't live in Baltimore City. He lives in (triple gasp)
Ra'Anana, Israel! Keep in mind, that it isn't easy to get an
Op Ed article published in a town with only one daily newspaper.
Mansdorf isn't known in America as author or essayist. In fact,
he describes himself as a "psychologist."
Now, if the author was Israel Shamir,
one of Judaism's greatest sons, a celebrated writer, intellectual
and courageous wordsmith, my critique wouldn't be necessary.
Shamir, who resides in Jaffa Israel, has dared to sharply criticize
Ariel "The Butcher" Sharon regime. He called it a "Jewish
apartheid state, that deserves to disappear" (April 2, 2002,
Media Monitors Network). An ex-Israeli paratrooper, he has championed
a "one state solution" for Palestine/Israel. He referred
to Palestine as a "living country," and its people
the Palestinians, as "her soul." No wonder the Sun
doesn't publish Shamir's essays. It would go against their "censorship
of silence" gimmick.
Question: "What was so important
about Mansdorf's article, entitled, 'Sniper Fits Profile of Terrorist,'
that warranted the Sun to publish it ?" Nothing, that I
could see.
Mansdorf made the obvious point that
the Beltway Sniper, who has now killed ten innocent victims in
the D.C. area, was also "a terrorist." Then, he tried
to politicize the sniper's killings by drawing a connection between
him and the acts of terrors by al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and
the night club bombers in Bali. I think he failed miserably on
the latter point. First, the Beltway Sniper is now demanding
money before he stops his crime wave; secondly, he is probably
just a loner/hater, like the wacky David "Son of Sam"
Berkowtiz; and third, he more than likely has no political motives
whatsoever. How does the sniper's profile fit in with the agenda
of the other groups he cited? It doesn't. But, it did give the
author an opportunity to draw sympathy for Israelis, who "have
been shot by snipers," which was probably the main reason
the Sun published the piece.
Mansdorf said terrorism teaches that
"alleged grievances can indeed be settled with violence."
He's right, but he doesn't mention any incidents close to his
home that belong in that category. He failed to specify names
and events, like Ariel Sharon, who on Oct. 14, 1953, commanded
an army unit, that reportedly slaughtered 66 innocent civilians
in the West Bank village of Qibya (EIR, Jeffrey Steinberg); Menachem
Begin, later an Israeli Prime Minister, who helped plan the bombing
of the King David Hotel, on July 22, 1946, in Jerusalem, that
killed 91 British subjects and injured 46 others ("The Revolt"
by Menachem Begin); and, Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Muslim
worshippers in a Hebron mosque, on Feb. 25, 1994 (Allan C. Brownfeld,
WRMEA, March, 2000). These kind of horrific acts were perpetrated
by Zionist zealots committed to what Mansdorf labeled "an
ideology of terror." Yet, he chose to leave all of them
out of his article. I wonder why?
I'm afraid Mansdorf's slanted Op Ed views,
published by the Baltimore Sun, is yet another example of the
"silence of censorship" phenomena. The learned Spengler
was right to warn us about it and how the media can be used to
subjugate, not liberate, us from the yoke of the cunning wire
pullers.
William Hughes
is the author of Baltimore
Iconoclast. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
(C) William Hughes 2002
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