News, Politics and Terror

It is important for people to understand that the "news" as reported in the major media organs is not a compendium of the most notable events of the day. Rather, it is an ongoing narrative based on specially selected events and happenings whose significance is that they are part of the ongoing propaganda narrative. Propaganda is seen as necessary for social cohesion, though it is not called that, by the media barons. They see themselves as being the upholders of civilization. They are in fact courtiers.

I am always amazed that people spend so much time and interest in “the news”. It is interesting, to be sure, but it bears little relation to reality and that seems very obvious to me. I’ve traveled and “hung out” in a variety of milieus and know that there are a lot of very interesting things going on and great stories out there that no one will write about because they don’t fit the current mythos. Not that there is anything really wrong with that. We need some kind of guardian class to keep our stories and myths straight. Mankind, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, cannot bear very much reality. Having said that we should ask the guardians to a) admit that is what they do and that they are researchers into truth; and b) realize that they are taking on a public responsibility, they can dissemble to be sure, but there must be some sense of responsibility for the well-being of people in general not just the rulers.

So whatever the media is it is not s source of great truths but shows us the political reality of our time. One aspect of this reality is the need for enemies and conflict. “Terror” fits that category. The term “terror” means a very particular thing in the media that has nothing to do with its dictionary meaning. Terror is, in short, something “they” do. “They” are inhuman monsters who do things for no sane reason—they are mad-dogs and we should not even attempt to understand them; rather, they should be exterminated. While the press generally doesn’t put it that crudely, essentially that is the conclusion one has to come to after reading accounts of these fanatics who are very much a “them”. “We” never indulge in anything like that except sort-of by accident perhaps by a few over-zealous “bad apples” who will be punished at some point after everyone but the lower-class types are exonerated.

The news is deeply political and as I’ve implied deeply a part of governance and we need to keep that in mind. Those that govern, I hate to break it to you, have no need or interest in what you and I may consider truth. They have no interest in what you or I consider decency either, that is not their job. Political power is tough to come by and only the tough get to the top and there are no, I repeat, no exceptions. Pols (and I include mainstream journalists in this) will do whatever they have to do to win, to get ahead and to maintain their power because that is the milieu they live in and that is the currency of their social life. Like athletes they need to win or they are out of there. It wasn’t always quite that way and even today the whole political world is filled with elaborate politeness rituals but their bottom line is beginning to blur the old (and I believe very commendable) manners and traditions. Today, particularly with the current administration in Washington, the rules of the game of politics are a kind of hyper-Machiavellian set of rules and practices. That does not mean that the people playing that game of power are “bad”; they are like anyone else a mixture of moral qualities. They are creatures that are shaped by the game they play and it’s getting rougher as the rules are bent and laws, traditions, are thrown into the air.

I believe terror is just politics. I don’t even know who the terrorist are and I suggest there is no way of knowing for sure besides the so-called civilized countries use it all the time but call it something else. Try as I might, I see little evidence that the media story on who and what terrorism is holds much water. I’d be glad to agree with them but the evidence is not there. We simply have to understand that terror is an attitude and a tactic that is used, we can safely say, by all people who seek power. I believe there are politicians, corporate officers, fixers, bag-men, assassins, terror experts, special/black/ops personnel, religious fanatics, drug dealers, slave traders, gambler, arms dealers, addicts, diamond smugglers, industrial spies, hackers, prostitutes, gun men, thugs, pornographers, organ-dealers, flim-flam men and women all thriving in the contemporary global marketplace. At the same time there is no commonly accepted moral imperative operating in this system other than profit so it’s quite logical that “terror” would profit certain people. Therefore to understand terror or anything else in the contemporary world we need to find out who benefits (qui bono) and follow the money. Ignore the conclusions claimed by the politicians and media people unless they actually show who benefits and that they have followed the money (it would be interesting if reporters began to actually follow the principles I just mentioned because they rarely do).