We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

How the BBC Spreads Lies: How to read propaganda [a Best Post]

Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse posted at A Bird's Eye View of the Vineyard (The Saker). 

Although this outstanding article give some clues about reading propaganda, its major contribution is discerning the Mid-East strategies of the US ruling class that is supported by an abundance of major links.  It's clear from a careful reading of this article that the US Empire uses and manages the many conflicts among Sunni nations, Shia nations, Kurdish aspirations, and other national interests as a means to not only balkanize countries surrounding Israel, but more importantly to curtail Russian and Iranian influence in the area while maintaining their own dominance.

Again I must register my strong opposition to Zuesse's use of the feudal term "aristocracy" and related terms instead of the accurate term "ruling class" or "capitalist ruling class". It becomes even more absurd when he writes sentences which mix up both capitalist and contemporary feudal ruling classes like the following:
Whereas the Sauds’ and Israel’s main focus is on conquering Iran, the U.S. aristocracy’s main focus is on conquering Russia; but the entire Saud-Israel-U.S. alliance of aristocracies is simultaneously anti-Shia and anti-Russian. While the three aristocracies have different priorities, they are all in this together.
Words matter because they can reveal the critically important realities of human existence or they can obscure them. While Zuesse's articles contributes a lot to the former, he still insists on hiding capitalism and capitalist ruling classes behind the term "aristocracy". Or maybe he is so brainwashed that he thinks social systems don't matter. I am absolutely convinced that the comprehensive system of capitalism and capitalist ruling classes are the prime issues confronting humans today. The rule of primarily advanced capitalist classes threaten the very existence of humans with the prospect of extinction from both the immediate risk of nuclear wars and the longer term threat of climate destabilization. Thus I view such obfuscation as an intellectual crime against humanity.

I can only infer from the glaring absence of any specific biographical matter on Eric Zuesse, beyond the vague description of "investigative historian", that this is a deliberate practice on his part to hide his affiliations with academia in order to protect himself from employment repercussions. In other words, he considers his own material well being above the well being of humans in general. This reflects the personality development of individualism which is so strongly promoted under the social-economic system of capitalism. I fear that this current human characteristic will likely lead to the extinction of humans. 

And then he rather hypocritically, in my opinion, continues on to criticize the BBC for failing to mention important information about the Jordanian background of a UN officer, the UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein who claimed...
Russia is committing “grave human rights violations” in Crimea, according to a report by the United Nations.

The UN human rights agency says it has documented arbitrary arrests, torture and at least one extra-judicial execution in the region.
 There is an urgent need for accountability.