Media (people) with no sense of truth & honesty, most corrupting

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

According to Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, people who use the media and have no

sense of truth and honesty, are the most corrupting influence today:

 

" Nobody has the sense of truth and honesty. Everybody is involved in the

advertisement, newspapers, media, this, that, which is the most corrupting

influence today. " (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - Christmas Puja - Ganapatipule,

India - 25 December, 1996)

 

The appended article is in agreement. It addresses the most corrupting influence

today, which is the lack of truth and honesty, in the media.

 

regards,

 

violet

 

 

 

If You Get Your News

From the Corporate Media:

Just Shut Up and Listen!!!

 

Advice to the Uninformed

From TvNewsLIES

 

It's very important in life to know when to shut up: Alex Trebek

 

THE ADMONITION

 

Enough! Just stop. You've had your say over and over and over. You've repeated

yourself ad nauseam for years without making an iota of sense. You've

accomplished nothing constructive, absolutely nothing. You've repeated the same

nonsense over and over without knowing a single fact. So just cut it out. Now

it's time to close your mouth and open your ears.

 

Just shut up and listen!

 

All this time you've ignored people who know things you can't even imagine.

You've shut your eyes and your mind to people who have spent years gathering

information and checking out their sources. You've dismissed people with skills

and credentials you can't even pronounce. And you've demeaned people with

knowledge and experience you can't even come close to.

 

All this time you've refused to hear a single thing they've said. You've

strutted around like an arrogant peacock, believing you knew more than they. You

had no basis for what you claimed to know. You just decided it was true. What

unadulterated stupidity. It's time to stop being a total idiot.

 

It's time to just shut up and listen.

 

 

THE VACUUM

 

You probably don't even know it, but there's a huge, blank space in

your information data base. So much has happened in this country about which you

know absolutely nothing. So many lies have been told and so much has been kept

secret that you are simply wandering in the dark. So much of what you should

know and what you have a right to know has been denied you. And yet you

foolishly claim to know what is going on.

 

Not so. You know almost nothing that is real about your own country or the

world. Almost nothing.

 

Absent a specialized background, you would never dream of challenging your

doctor's diagnosis or outguessing your auto mechanic. You wouldn't even claim to

know more than someone who spent years developing a hobby you never had. If you

wanted to learn to fish, you'd most probably listen to the instructions of an

experienced angler.

 

So what in hell makes you such an expert on the crimes of the Bush

administration?

 

You haven't done the research. You haven't even asked the questions. But most

important, you haven't taken a minute to listen to the people who have. You

haven't checked out the evidence that has been unearthed and you refused to

listen to those who unearthed it. You have no basis for your own conclusions,

and yet you ridicule anyone who seeks the truth. But for some unexplainable

reason you believe everything your President and his cohorts tell you, even if

everything they tell you is a lie.

 

You believe them even though you know that [they] have lied to you over and over

and over.

 

So just shut up and listen for a minute. For starters, take a look at what you

DON'T know, even though you pretend you do. Take a good close look and cringe at

your lack of facts and real news and vital information.

 

Here is our SHORT LIST of things you DO NOT KNOW:

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN LEBANON OR GAZA. You don't know that Israel

censors all news so that their own population is not even aware of how their

military conducts itself. There is NO balanced reporting on the events that has

led to the present conflagration in the region. Other than explanations by

official Israeli representatives, there is never an open or accurate discussion

from ALL sides of the conflict. There is never a voice given to the thousands of

organized activists working around the globe for a just and lasting peace in the

region. Any criticism of the Israeli government is perceived as a form of

Anti-Semitism and Jew baiting. Any defense of those who have lived under

occupation for nearly forty years is perceived as aiding the war on terror.

There is NO public discussion of the Christian zealots in the US who support

Israel for their own fanatical religious concerns about a Second Coming. You do

NOT know that the Karl Rove mantra of an imminent WWIII is being used by the

media to revive the fear factor among Americans. And, you have NOT been told how

the call to stop Iran and Syria from aiding 'terrorists' is part of the PNAC

plan for domination of the region. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ! You don't know that the war in Iraq

is getting less media coverage than any other conflict in American history. You

only know that the invasion of Iraq is supposedly part of a greater War on

Terror. The connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda was a lie, but you still

believe the claim. The insurgency is made up largely of Iraqis who oppose an

invasion of their country, but they are constantly referred to as terrorists. No

one tells you where the billions upon billions of your war dollars have gone;

the Bush administration certainly has not rebuilt the country they bombed to

smithereens. You don't know what is happening because US reporters are not free

to leave the safety of the Green Zone and they rely on official military reports

for their information. You hear what the Pentagon chooses to tell you. You hear

that progress is being made, despite the ongoing, daily, non-stop death and

mayhem and carnage. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MANY SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN IRAQ! You

don't know the numbers because the totals are ignored until a major milestone is

reached. Even then, there is no corroboration of the numbers you hear. None at

all. Coalition deaths are never, ever reported by the media. Even though

counting civilian casualties in Iraq was forbidden by the US government early

on, George Bush guessed that roughly 30,000 Iraqis had died. Actually, the

latest estimate by concerned agencies has placed civilian deaths at 175,000.

Deaths of contractors or other private workers are never tallied or reported.

The numbers and the nature of devastating injuries cause by this war are simply

ignored by the Bush administrations and the media. Flag draped coffins may not

be photographed. Military funerals are not attended by government officials. You

just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT THE US CANNOT BE CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES! You don't know

that in May of 2002, the US pulled out of the only treaty that could result in

charges being brought against the US government for war crimes: the

International Criminal Court of the United Nations. This move made it impossible

for any American to face charges for crimes such as waging a preventive war,

using outlawed weapons such as depleted uranium or torturing detainees. Months

before pulling out of the treaty, the Bush administration had established with

the ICC that US soldiers serving overseas would be immune from prosecution in

the court, while politicians and US officials, including CIA operatives, could

claim diplomatic immunity. As a result, the US has put itself above the law and

can commit war crimes with impunity. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO AUTHORIZED THE USE OF TORTURE BY OUR MILITARY! You don't

know that the use of illegal torture methods was authorized at the highest

levels of our government, including the President himself. You were told that

such acts at Abu Ghraib and other prisons were the work of a few 'bad apples' in

the military and you believed it. The story served to cover up the wide use of

torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo that has been recorded in photos and

video tapes that the Pentagon still refuses to turn over to the US Circuit

Court. The world learned of secret CIA flights that flew detainees to countries

that permitted torture during interrogation. Still, George Bush and Condoleezza

Rice publicly stated that the US does not tolerate torture. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON 9/11. No one does. There has been NO

investigation into the events leading to the attacks of that day. The Kean

Commission looked only into the Intelligence failures. No independent agency has

ever been appointed to look into the hundreds of unbelievable discrepancies,

anomalies and inconsistencies of the official story created by the Bush

administration. There has been absolutely no evidence to support the official

version of events; the public is simply expected to accept it without question.

Since 9/11, many highly credible people have come forward to challenge the

government's explanation with mounds of impressive evidence to support their

claims. They all have been ignored by the media and dismissed by you as

conspiracy theorists. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT THE IRAQ WAR WAS PLANNED LONG BEFORE 9/11! You probably

never even heard of the Project for a New American Century and how many of its

members, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld hold high positions in the

Bush administration. You DON'T know about PNAC because the media never exposed

the plans they laid out in the late 1990's for invading Iraq. You DON'T know

that they openly expressed the need for a 'new Pearl Harbor' in order to

facilitate a war against Iraq. How convenient for them that 9/11 provided them

with just the 'catastrophic and catalyzing event' they needed. How convenient as

well that they were able to lie to the people and the Congress to launch an

illegal and immoral war. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT YOUR GOVERNMENT SOLD YOU A WAR! You don't know that

Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove and seven other people were part of the White House

Iraq Group that designed to you a war. Their job was to develop talking points

and mantras such as 'mushroom cloud' that would hype the administration's

planned war against Iraq. You have no clue that the WHIG group set a carefully

constructed terror trap to convince you and other Americans that invading a

sovereign nation that had never threatened them would keep them safe. You also

don't know that the Downing Street Minutes revealed beyond any doubt that George

Bush and Tony Blair planned the war in Iraq and 'fixed' the intelligence

information to gain your support. They knew all along that the WMD's and nuclear

programs never existed. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT THE 2004 ELECTION WAS AS GREAT A FRAUD AS THE ELECTION OF

2000. You never heard about Congressman John Conyers' official report about What

Went Wrong in Ohio. You don't know about Mark Crispin Millers explosive book

about the 2004 election called Fooled Again. You don't know about the brilliant

Rolling Stone article by Robert F Kennedy Jr. entitled, Was the 2004 Election

Stolen? You don't know that hackers can manipulate all of the new touch screen

electronic voting machines with little difficulty. You have no clue that 80% of

all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES & S, both

of which have strong ties to the GOP. You don't know that the new electronic

machines have no paper trail to verify the tabulations, even though both

companies make ATM machines, checkout scanners and ticket machines that easily

generate receipts. You don't know how many people were intentionally and

fraudulently disenfranchised in every election since 2000. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO LEAKED THE SECRET IDENTITY OF VALERIE PLAME! You still don't

know because the cover up has been successful. You don't know who did what

because there is no one to demand that Bush and Cheney come clean about what

happened in their White House on their watch. Understand that the recent stories

of Richard Armitage as a prime source for outing Valerie Plame never got to the

mainstream media, and never will. Remember that for three full months after

Plame was outed George Bush refused to investigate this crime. It was only when

the CIA demanded an inquiry into the leak of its operative that the President

finally turned to case over to John Ashcroft, an insider and friend of the WH

and ultimately the case went to Pat Fitzgerald. You only know that Scooter

Libby, National Security Assistant to Dick Cheney, was charged with lying to the

FBI and obstructing justice. And you know for damn sure he'll be pardoned before

there is any trial. As for the Plame leak itself, you don't know that the civil

suit brought by the Wilsons against Cheney, Rove and Libby will be delayed until

after the 2008 election. You just don't know.

 

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MANY AMERICANS HAVE BEEN SPIED ON WITHOUT WARRANTS! You

don't know because the warrantless surveillance was carried on in secret for

years. The NY Times broke the story after keeping it under wraps for a full year

– and not reporting it before the 2004 election. You don't know that the FISA

court was specifically created after the Nixon era to facilitate spying that was

deemed necessary by the government, and allows for warrants to be issued 72

hours after surveillance, should there be a need to carry it out quickly. You

simply don't know who was spied upon or what was accomplished as a result of the

spying. What you should know is that Americans are protected from such spying by

the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. And yet, the President insists he

has the authority to spy on Americans without a warrant from any court. And you

surely don't know that this same President insists he has greater power than any

American president in history, and that as a result your Constitutional rights

are in terrible jeopardy. You just don't know.

 

There is so much more you don't know. This is the tip of the iceberg, the very

tip. We didn't list the still secret Cheney energy meetings, the destruction of

the environment, the manipulated reports about global warming, the horrendous

national debt, or the rampant cronyism and corruption in the WH, among so much

else. The above is an extremely short list, but for the sake of readability, it

will have to do.

 

Tragically, what you DO know has come from the very people who see to it that

you know ONLY what they want you to know. What you DO know has come from the

corporate media sources that get their talking points from the very same people

who want to keep you uninformed. What you DO NOT KNOW helps them to manipulate

your opinions and to influence your political views. What a disaster that is.

 

If you find your ignorance of the issues acceptable, go for it. If you find it

abhorrent and totally opposed to the democratic concept of an informed

electorate, forgive the discourteous nature of our reprimand and please, just

shut up and listen.

 

 

THE SOLUTION

 

First, understand that there is hope for you. But also understand that it's too

late for courtesy or good manners. This nation is rapidly approaching a

dangerous brink which may take us all into an abyss from which we will not

recover. So, please take us very seriously. The solution lies in your

willingness to just shut up and listen.

 

Shut up about things you know nothing about and get informed. Shut up about the

ranting blather of right wing radio hosts who are just as uninformed as you, but

whose agenda makes it unnecessary for them to know what they are talking about.

They get their talking points from Karl Rove and his manipulation machinery and

dish their nonsense out to you. And most of all learn to say " I don't know, "

instead of repeating the distortions and lies and garbage you've been conned

into believing. If you can't do that, just shut up. Please, just shut up.

 

Once you've been able to stop spreading misinformation and to stop supporting

policies about which you know nothing, go on to the next step. For your own

sake, LISTEN. Listen to people who know because they've taken the time to

research and validate the facts. Listen to people you refused to even

acknowledge because they dared to question what you blindly accepted as truth.

Listen with a discerning ear so you can filter out unsubstantiated and

uncorroborated propaganda. Listen through the catch phrases such as 'war on

terror' and 'for national security.' Try; really try to listen with an open and

questioning mind.

 

The information is out there. You are reading this on the Internet, the most

incredible information source in history. The facts are at your fingertips. Find

them.

 

Deal with the painful reality that you DO NOT KNOW what is happening

around you, and understand that your stubborn resistance to new

information will be your own downfall in the long haul. Until you make some

attempt at rehabilitation, just stop. We've had enough. You've done your damage,

so just stop.

 

There is no other way to say it. If you can't back up what you parrot so

stupidly, just stop. If you can't explain why you believe what you do without

some substantive and meaningful backing, just stop. Just stop.

 

That's all there is to say. All that remains is a last echo of the advice we

offer, and the hope that it reaches even one of the many uninformed Americans

among us:

 

Just shut up and listen. It's time.

 

 

POSTSCRIPT

 

He who knows and knows that he knows, he is a teacher, follow him.

He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is a student, teach him.

But he who knows not, and knows not he knows not…

He is a FOOL, pity him.

 

http://tvnewslies.org/html/shut_up_and_listen.html