When Mandela was a young lawyer activist practicing Civil disobedience against the inhuman Apartheid in South Africa — he was arrested and convicted of sedition, sabotage, and terrorism, among other crimes, and was thrown in jail for a Life sentence. Back then nobody batted an eye lid, and no Media reported on this in the Western world’s mainstream media besides labeling him a terrorist convicted to Life imprisonment. Little of the dissenting minority opinion was to be found anywhere in mass media with the exception of the Guardian.
An exception that proves the rule.
Later, and after almost thirty years of solitary confinement, this ”terrorist” became Mandela the President of South Africa and everybody reported this bit of news in glee. His dismantling of the Apartheid regime while keeping South Africa from descending into Civil War was the most notable thing Nelson Mandela did as a President along with boosting the economy via equanimity and economic growth policies that brought South Africa into the leadership of the emerging economy countries out there.
And his successes led to the miracle of last month, when in Death he was celebrated around the world as an incredible Leader almost unanimously. Nelson Mandela was even lauded in the United States by politicians who range as far apart on the ideological spectrum as Rev Jesse Jackson and Paul Ryan. And President Obama went to his funeral along with yours truly; but he garnered most of the media attention because he parlayed with the blonde bimbo of Denmark … But that’s another story that Barack under Michelle’s influence would much rather forget.
It is similarly easy today to forget how divisive a figure Mandela once had been.
Even today he is a lighting rod of debate.
Yet the Mass media have turned now their views towards supporting the man, because dead men can’t dance and they are not making anyone uncomfortable anymore either.
So today, extremists and fringe people who referred to Mandela in death, as a communist, a terrorist, or worse; were derided as marginal figures, fringe actors, or whack jobs. Yet those same people, some fifty years ago, were spot on – at least according to the days’ Mainstream Mass Media. Today though they are seen as simple tools that have chosen to wilfully blind themselves and forget to see how Political Reality and History had rehabilitated and reshaped the image of Mandela and had truly validated the man’s words, works, and leadership deeds.
A priceless reversal of fortunes. For the uninitiated out there: That’s the Arc of History bending toward Justice…
By the time of his death, Mandela’s greatness had become one of those rare topics about which media outlets felt no need to reflect any sort of dissenting opinion. He was beatified in the public eye. He was a prince among mere men…
Some subjects that invite no debate — like the world being round — seem like timeless truths. But many of them, such as the Flat Earth brotherhood, or Mandela’s role in changing South African society, or the cause of civil rights in this country, had once been some of the most contentious issues of the day. Some still are unresolved to this day…
As topics move from being ‘never heard of,’ to being fringe, being controversial, becoming mainstream, and finally receiving Media consensus approval, — raise questions about the nature of those judgments. Namely: Do mainstream media outlets shift their views over time based on clear evidence, or they merely reflect society’s changing and evolving wisdom?
In the issue of Fukushima on the one hand we are very far from moving toward any sort of consensus about the disaster, especially when the Media totally ignore the hard evidence and the awful radiation data side of this story; and on the other hand the scientific evidence although irrefutable and the radiation measurements across the United States far too elevated and downright dangerous for the health of the people — the Media fails to even report on the results of the nuclear disaster.
One wonders Why?
Maybe because it’s just too awful. And runaway radiation events are too extreme an issue. And because the State has directed them all to keep radio silence lest we alarm the populace and they get outdoors stopping from watching TV and turn to riot. So we get zero coverage of this important issue.
Maybe because people and the government are absolutely helpless on this.
Maybe because people can’t handle this level of seriously bad news?
Who knows?
And perhaps more importantly:
Who cares?
Seems to me that very few awake people out there really follow these news and care about it integrally.
Take this as an example: This last August, the 50th anniversary of the Million Men March on Washington was treated as a civic holiday, with three presidents in attendance and the issuance of a US post office stamp. No reputable Mainstream TV and all other Mass Media failed to report it, and No news outlet felt any need to present a dissenting opinion. No journalist felt that he had to quote someone from the Ku Klux Klan or a tea partier holding a pro-segregationist point of view.
Yet the original March on Washington, at which Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, was a bit of a different story: The sense that something remarkable had just happened with a Million Men in Washington fighting America’s Apartheid and with Dr Martin Luther King leading them on, was not shared in the US mainstream media everywhere. As an example, The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson Mississippi put on its cover a photograph showing the litter left behind on the Washington Mall, and the headline screamed: ‘Washington Is Clean Again With Negro Trash Removed.’ No mention of I have a dream speech… back then in the mainstream media. As a matter of fact Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated later on that year and no Mass Media failed to cover the resulting riots but not his teachings.
Once though the US federal laws were enacted protecting the basic human rights of African-Americans to vote; and prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations; all politicians who had fervently opposed such changes granting the American Negros a full slate of Democratic rights — essentially gave up. Media followed suit…
After the Politicians stopped talking about the need for segregation, and separation of races, all mass media outlets stopped treating that viewpoint as legitimate. At that moment in time those who were fighting an emerging consensus decided it’s no longer politically worthwhile to do so, and at that point, journalists no longer felt there’s a dispute to cover.
So this proves my point that it is the grassroots and the Activists, the true dissenters, that always lead Society to the Good. In this case it is the Environmental Activists who practice Civil disobedience and report the Real Truth that the mainstream Mass Media cover behind the rather XL ass of Kim Kardashian and her cohorts.
It is now the truth as it has always been, that the people lead; and the Politicians, along with the mainstream Media follow far behind.
In the Fukushima Radiation issue it is painfully obvious that this is no different. The mainstream Media are completely silent and they are not leading anyone anywhere, except to a quiet death in the middle of the night. The Nuclear Industry is far too powerful and can silence all public voices because it is the largest part of this vaunted Military Industrial Complex that controls much of the Department of Defense and the Public Utility and Electric Energy generation sector of this society. A powerful Lobby indeed that through cross-ownership of equity in the holding companies of major newspapers controls all Mass Media and mainstream Journalism across the United States.
Well — Some of us refuse to go quietly into the night.
We rebel and revolt against the incipient death brought from radiation poisoning. We refuse to accept that cancer will be our epitaph, not because we are scared of the illness but because we know that we have a fight to win. As for the journalists of the mainstream media, they simply cover their asses and expect to be leading from behind. As if that’s possible … for anyone except Kim Kardashian.
Yet that is not a reflection on the sincerity of individual journalists but it often happens, because journalists reflect their editorial and business boards of Directors who in turn reflect the balance of gives and gets amongst their peers, and who are beholden to the opinions of socio-economic elites and industrial lobbies, allied with their own business interests. That convoluted allegiance does not allow for public trust and integrity when it comes in contrast with profit and the political elite’s needs and desires, which shift over time and only rarely lead the public toward consensus. In fact they prefer to lead the public towards terrible divisions so they can be more easily controlled.
Journalists do the dirty deed without even knowing that they are participants in the far larger game of Opinion Manipulation. Vox-populi is not exactly just the popular voice but an amalgam of the presentation and the propaganda fed freely from the TV and the Mass Media. What about the Kardashians ass and the Spiderman’s web is the big question out there now. These are the most popular issues today in America and the radiation in your plate is just a minor side show. And that’s how keyed-in in the know-how of the seriousness of the national culture mainstream journalists are. How the balance of political forces is seen and shaped by the Media is not even on the plate of most journalists and major mainstream Media managers. If it looks like a battle is lost, it’s usually treated as lost. It’s different than treating it as a live battle.
Journalists do have a bias toward conflict — but do they have perfect timing? Can they catch the exact moment when a society agrees that conflicting points of view no longer merit discussion?
As an example: The newly released radiation alerts being issued in several states across America including California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Virginia within the last day are truly going unreported as people battle the Arctic cold snap and the incoming Snowmagedon.
So the fact that Fukushima is completely out of control spilling radiation willy nilly all over is sadly overlooked and so are the resulting radiation levels for each of these homeland locations across the US. So we are the only ones here and now willing to report the How, the Why, and the What, and especially what is the projection for increased radiation and what those levels of radiation mean to the health of all Americans over time. This is the kind of news and serious stories that are completely buried under an avalanche of the white stuff.
We are literally snowed under and yet the reality of radiation poisoning is outlined herewith:This breaking story from Fukushima sends a very loud and clear warning to all Americans who are paying the least bit of attention to what is going on both in Japan and America due to Fukushima’s radiation. Community Organic Gardens people, warn that not only are they finding radiation from Fukushima in the soil in California but it is also being found in the feed that is given to the organically raised chicken and cattle. Knowing the level of truthfulness we get out of the mainstream media and the food industry in America, who really believes that industry raised cattle and chicken being fed radioactive feed, are not then fed to Americans?
Now we have more news on Fukushima which is now 100% ‘out of control…
and shaping to be a far bigger story in 2014 than what it was back in March 11th of 2011, when the nuclear plant first exploded and it’s reactors went into meltdown and thus erupted in the international news.
That’s another example of bias of the Mainstream Media that averts it’s gaze from the uncomfortable truth. we must admit that there truly is a Problem With Science and Data points in the Media overall, but to dismiss radiation measurements as easily as they now do — is criminal.
Hard Data and Radiation Facts from some of the Radiation measuring stations across the continental United States of America:
Station ID 5:915 San Diego, CA, US
Current readings are 480 Counts-Per-Minute (CPM) which is 120 points per minute above the three month average. This level is ** dangerous ** if persons are exposed for over 90 days.
CPM: current 480 Low 284 High 579
Average 360,
(CPM of Gamma in energy range 600-800keV)
Last updated: 2014-01-04 13:06:00 GMT+0000
Station ID 5:919 Tucson, AZ, US
Current readings are 394 Counts-Per-Minute (CPM) which is 115 points per minute above the three month average. This level is ** dangerous ** if persons are exposed for over 90 days.
CPM: current 394 Low 216 High 474
Average 279, Deviation 44.5
(CPM of Gamma in energy range 600-800keV)
Last updated: 2014-01-04 11:19:00 GMT+0000
Station ID 1:16C25071.14 Newport News, VA, US (*** 9 miles from Surry Nuclear Plant. *** )
Current readings are 134 Counts-Per-Minute (CPM) which is 109 points per minute above the three month average. This level is a sudden increase of more than four times the typical level in this city. Persons should monitor the levels and stay alert if they continue to rise.
CPM: current 134 Low 4 High 145
Average 25, Deviation 31.6
Average over last 10 minutes: 134
Last updated: 2014-01-04 22:35:45 GMT+0000
At any rate, tides can turn. Now the Nuclear Big Business Lobby and the Big Energy Industry totally coerce the news media of America into staying quiet. Yet this can change overtime. Issues on which there was once a quiet toeing the line silence and no real disagreement, or dissent amongst the Media elites, can rise up in the global consciousness to become matters worth fighting about.Something like the Apartheid and the boycott of South Africa in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that led to Mandela’s freedom and the eventual creation of Democracy in South Africa.
And it can happen today again. Even with scientific matters on which there seems to be complete silence, or no space, and no room for debate. Namely, scientific measurements, Global Warming, Nuclear Radiation, and Ecosystem collapse — all factual Earth Science and physical sciences realities backed by solid data trends that are being dismissed as mere theories, today.
The whole point of science is that ideas can be tested and verified independently. Yet that doesn’t mean they’ll get an airing in popular mainstream media or get to reach and maintain a political consensus — ever.
Fewer Americans accept that human activity is linked to climate change than was the case a decade ago, even as the science becomes ever more certain. And even a national poll released by the Pew Research Center showed that belief in evolution has dropped substantially since 2009. Of course education itself is going down but the Media has a role in educating the public also…
Hearing Many Voices is what we need in order to be balanced and true to the mission and fit for the public service the Media and Independent Journalism perform for Society at large. What’s important for journalists is to reflect an appropriate diversity of voices covering all angles of a story. And in the case of Fukushima and the resulting radiation this is really not the case…
If enough Americans believe something, then they can’t be dismissed as fringe elements. Yet the idea in political situations as well as economic and social theory that there’s only one truth as espoused by mainstream media — just beggars belief.
Still when it comes to science, media outlets need to not only cover but to also distinguish between what is termed public opinion and what truly is the scientific consensus. Because falsely “balanced” stories — regarding global warming and climate change or Fukushima’s Radiation, for example — can cause real harm. You either have radiation mesurements in your soil, in your water, or in your air, or you don’t. It’s like being pregnant. When you see the blue dot on your pee stick — you know. You are pregnant and your bump will grow, and a new baby will arrive nine months hence. You can’t debate or obfuscate that fact. Maybe you can time the release of the news to your shellshocked significant other but certainly you cannot hide the fact for too long.
Some Media outlets state bluntly that there is a need for them to exercise judgment. And certainly it’s often proved worthwhile for journalists to remain skeptical when everyone else seems to have agreed on the “truth” about a matter.
Saying there’s no signs of radiation in the United States coming from Fukushima is not factual. It is an outright lie. It’s like hiding your pregnancy and then going to the convent to give birth and then give up the baby for adoption and when you get back home, you claim that were never pregnant.
”Claiming that humans have not caused climate change, is similarly an outright lie, because it is not stating an opinion, but it’s asserting a factual inaccuracy” — so says Paul Thornton, the editor for the Los Angeles Times, about the paper’s policy to not offer climate-change deniers a forum. But that doesn’t mean people won’t write letters, or complain when the paper won’t run them. On all sorts of issues, there are interest groups and ordinary citizens who adhere strongly to viewpoints that society at large seems to have dismissed.
But society at least has got to know the facts…. and those facts are in the domain of science and scientists are tasked in our time with the seriously responsible job of being the holders of our Evident Truths.
That’s what is called scientific truth and although someone needs to weed out the whacks from the hacks and arrive at the science behind the issues — it is still the job of the scientist, who needs to offer the warnings – spoken soberly and quietly. The problem with most scientists is that they are far too somber to be heard. They are far too polite and so very quiet … and that doesn’t make for good TV presentation of their positions, and seldom gets in the mainstream media. Sometimes simply because it’s too boring to hear the scientist speak. Nobody ever invites scientists on talk shows because they tend to put people to sleep. So while they drone on — the world is evolving from one crisis to another.
Sadly this is the case for much of Fukushima’s radiation narration spread. Scientists have a very small voice and they rarely seek the spotlight or the soapbox to offer their facts. In effect remanding the very Society that they have vowed to help — to remain in the dark about issues that are of existential importance.
Yours,
Pano
PS:
For Mandela the public recognition did come along with the Media Attention that came rather late in Life and even worse — the Mass Media consensus about him arrived after he passed on from this mortal coil…
On a lot of things, it’s much harder to achieve consensus and get the mass media to report hard facts — than it is to keep Radio Silence.
This is partly so because you have partisan media which are often actively working to keep controversial dealings and public damage from industry, buried deep down, or they choose to keep alive some inane news – like Kim Kardashian’s ass size, that obfuscate the really big and sinister issues out there.
This only works, because it is easier to keep things quiet across the whole of the Mainstream Media Landscape when the big players don’t cover it, since it’s a Monkey See – Monkey Do, community of Media Shops full of journalists … who don’t want to take any real or perceived risk.
And these days telling and reporting the truth is a Risky proposition. Even for independent honourable journalists who don’t want to be slut-shamed in following the establishment line. But it’s also dangerous to be living with the Risks of Radiation. And in a country full of Do It Yourself people it’s even foolish. A Geiger analyzer is not hard to come by, and many citizen journalists have used this simple tool, to take painstaking radiation measurements and report them back to us. A free culture of the myriad of whistleblowers cannot be silenced and the truth cannot be hidden for too long.
Ask the old Soviets if you don’t believe me. Their whole rotten apparatus came crashing down when pico radio and ham radio operators were reporting from all corners of the empire that there was not any food left in the stores nor bread in the marketplaces… Citizen journalists armed with radio transmitters is what brought down the evil empire and not an act of God. Not even Mr Gorbatsov had the temerity to deny this and paid homage to the unknown radio operator for liberating them all of their oppressive and inhuman apparatus.
So the dilemma is as old as man…
To tell or not to tell.
You go ahead and weigh the cost-benefit analysis for your self now.
Yet no matter what You decide the truth will eventually shine on. Like diamonds it doesn’t stay hidden for too long.
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