M is for Money, Murdoch, & Maybe Even Murder

Regarding the oddly convenient recent death by “natural causes” of Sean Hoare, the reporter who helped blow the whistle in the Rupert Murdoch / News of the World phone hacking scandal:

In light of the failure of his propaganda empire, it appears that the Murdochites were forced to utilize the somewhat outdated means of coercion:  good old-fashioned, cold-blooded murder.  In the United States, as opposed to more traditional fascist states such as the Soviet Union or East Germany, the people are controlled through a careful manipulation of the flow of information.  There is no need for violence, as the masses readily buy into the lies propagated by the ruling elite and their vile corporate media machines.  In England, this modern means of control clearly failed, and as the prospect emerged of a public fully aware of the workings behind the scenes of Murdoch’s ghastly conglomeration became apparent, violence became a trusty last resort.

Will similar events transpire in the United States?  It seems highly unlikely.  The U.S. is a different breed altogether, where democratic principles and the free press on which it depends, have long ago been lost.  News Corp. is hardly the only – or even the most influential – corporate propaganda outlet to exist in the U.S.; on the contrary, there is no independent media to speak of in America, as the corporate influence has extended to virtually all national media outlets.  As a result, the true depths of the Murdoch scandal will likely never come to light in the United States, since News Corp’s fellow corporate media cronies will have no interest in covering a story which might eventually lead to their own demise.

The corporate propaganda machine in the U.S. is far superior to any that ever existed in England, and the American people are simply too ignorant, too complacent, too apathetic to precipitate the same kind of revolution we now see the first rumblings of across the Atlantic.  So while Murdoch may tumble from the heights of power in England and elsewhere in the developed world, it can be assumed that his stranglehold on the American public will only grow stronger, as we are too far gone to even dream of stopping it.

~ Andrew B. of the fine blog, Failed Empire.

I couldn’t have said it any better, and while I really do hate to agree with such a scathing indictment of my fellow Americans, it’s the ugly truth we need to face up to. We are indeed a civilization about four generations deep into a propaganda machine that would make old Joe Stalin proud.

Unfortunately most of us are too stubborn, too stupid, or just plain old lazy to realize it, much less get off the couch and do something about it. As long as the beer still flows freely, the television keeps feeding us a steady stream of mindless entertainment, and the air conditioners keep on chugging along the plutocracy has next to nothing to worry about here in the US of A. The collective American delusion is nothing short of astounding.