Google apps
Main menu

Post a Comment On: Bruce Charlton's Notions

1 – 6 of 6
Blogger Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

The evil intent behind the mass media is indeed transparently obvious, and it’s hard to grasp what it might mean to be so naive as not to notice it.

However, even liars have to tell the truth a lot of the time, so I think discernment *is* called for. If they report an earthquake, or the results of an election, or a corporate merger, it probably really happened. Even a morally or politically charged story *may* be true — for example, I remember you believed the media reports about the Jimmy Saville scandal. When I’ve been able to confirm media stories with friends on the ground, some of them have checked out and others haven’t.

1 June 2020 at 03:24

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Wm. I was trying to imply "story" - the narrative interpretation. But the "facts" are always wrong as well. Probably because of the nature of knowledge, that there are no objective facts, not even earthquakes - we always participate in perceptions or else there is no communication of meaning.

As for Savile, I don't believe all the story details, but that the man was essentially as described I have had confirmed by at least three contacts. I was told this years before Savile died.

And that BBC London was a dangerous place, full of aggressive child predators. The media blew up Savile posthumously to disguise their own corruption, and it worked.

1 June 2020 at 06:16

Blogger Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

I don't mean to imply that you believed the Savile story *because* the mass media reported it, but that in this case the media story turned out to be basically true (I think; I know the story only through you).

1 June 2020 at 08:12

Blogger Bruce Charlton said...

@Wm - This is important. We are not, now, talking about the media story - we are talking about some kind of memory overview.

What I am discussing in the post (and todays post) is the actual media story as it appears in some specific part of the mainstream media - on a moment by moment basis. Actual newspapers and magazines, news reports on TV - or their sources in Reuters and Associated Press, and press releases from major institutions (including governments).

The control of remembered history is probably best regarded as a distinct, albeit related, activity; at any rate, the 'remembered' history (in the media) is often very different from the actual media reporting at the time.

For example, people and events that made very little media (or other) impact at the time, can be retrospectively amped-up into a pretended prominence. Conversely, huge events that gripped the nation or the world media for days or even weeks can be flushed down the memory hole.

1 June 2020 at 08:42

Anonymous Otto said...

The biggest psyops in history (19 corvids) has already been flushed down the memory hole: with the massive rioting and looting going on, everyone has suddenly completely forgotten about "social distancing".

"One day it’ll just disappear...like a miracle, it’ll just disappear."

1 June 2020 at 09:43

Blogger Ora Tevzre said...

@Bruce, thanks for that post about the media. I found it very consoling.

There was an episode of Little House on the Prairie I watched years ago where a newspaper opened in the town and the effect it had on the personal relations of the people. It was toxic. There were lies and half-truths and endless sensational headlines. In the end the publisher gets run out of town and things begin to calm down.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0633015/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

It seems the media never changes.

1 June 2020 at 10:55