Those "subtleties" ARE the propaganda, and it is more blatant now than ever. I stopped trying to "counter" it because it is a Sisyphean task if there ever was one. For every article you deconstruct there are dozens (if not hundreds) more to drown you out, most likely long before you can even finish writing, much less publishing, your piece. You just learn to see through it, and then stop reading (or listening) to it altogether, unless you for some (masochistic?) reason want to be informed of the CIA take on things -- which these days we are surrounded by 24/7 everywhere and in all media except in certain places (like Caitlin's blog), if you know where to look. Since I am a linguist by training, I found it challenging and even interesting at first (years ago!) to unravel the language that conveys the lies, and it is not always easy and it takes time, so you feel afterwards that you have actually done a good piece of work and that it is helpful -- but as I say you lose the energy and motivation to do it when you realize what you're up against. It would take literally an ARMY of people to deconstruct the propaganda, because that is what they have to use against you (us). Lies Of Our Times was a short-lived mag that tried to do this (Times meaning the NYT), but it was and is a virtually impossible task. You are taking on not only the NYT and the Washington Post but every other "news"paper, not only in the US but in Europe and much of the rest of the world as well. My last -- and totally failed -- effort was two "pages" on Facebook called "Backtalk: the NYT" and "Backtalk: Washington Post," but I wrongly bet on the possibility that people would flock to those pages to collectively deconstruct the lies of at least those two "papers of record." It went nowhere, and I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I am not cut out for any sort of "organizing" work. Whatever I do will have to come from me and me alone. I wonder if Caitlin feels differently, with her thousands of readers. I hope so! Whoever said "the Revolution will not be televised" might have been right, but it looks more and more like it will have to be if it ever happens at all.
Those "subtleties" ARE the propaganda, and it is more blatant now than ever. I stopped trying to "counter" it because it is a Sisyphean task if there ever was one. For every article you deconstruct there are dozens (if not hundreds) more to drown you out, most likely long before you can even finish writing, much less publishing, your piece. You just learn to see through it, and then stop reading (or listening) to it altogether, unless you for some (masochistic?) reason want to be informed of the CIA take on things -- which these days we are surrounded by 24/7 everywhere and in all media except in certain places (like Caitlin's blog), if you know where to look. Since I am a linguist by training, I found it challenging and even interesting at first (years ago!) to unravel the language that conveys the lies, and it is not always easy and it takes time, so you feel afterwards that you have actually done a good piece of work and that it is helpful -- but as I say you lose the energy and motivation to do it when you realize what you're up against. It would take literally an ARMY of people to deconstruct the propaganda, because that is what they have to use against you (us). Lies Of Our Times was a short-lived mag that tried to do this (Times meaning the NYT), but it was and is a virtually impossible task. You are taking on not only the NYT and the Washington Post but every other "news"paper, not only in the US but in Europe and much of the rest of the world as well. My last -- and totally failed -- effort was two "pages" on Facebook called "Backtalk: the NYT" and "Backtalk: Washington Post," but I wrongly bet on the possibility that people would flock to those pages to collectively deconstruct the lies of at least those two "papers of record." It went nowhere, and I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I am not cut out for any sort of "organizing" work. Whatever I do will have to come from me and me alone. I wonder if Caitlin feels differently, with her thousands of readers. I hope so! Whoever said "the Revolution will not be televised" might have been right, but it looks more and more like it will have to be if it ever happens at all.
Gil Scot Heron
That's Scott-Heron