When the Media is Hostile to the Truth

I've been reading about the 19th century a lot as I continued my delving into our countries actual history in order to un-spin the narrative that I learned in High School and College. In the 1890's reformers had to create their own alternative media because most newspapers were intensely partisan and most were, like Faux news is today, completely unprofessional. If anything the experience has sensitized me to parallels from today. We are facing a hostile media that cannot report anything on progressive issues honestly or without giving "equal" time to RW propaganda.

Kerry gave an excellent speech yesterday. But it wasn't reported well. CNN and CSPAN reported it. NBC spun it. and I'm not sure what the other channels did. But I doubt Fox even mentioned it. The media are playing "Hearst Newspapers" with Iran. In the 1890's when the Hearst family wanted a war -- they and allied papers would hype up what they wanted people to know -- and they'd get their war. The media conglomerates are doing something equally irresponsible now by hyping faulty information about the Iran deal (both here and in Israel) while not covering, or poorly covering information to the contrary.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/John-Kerry-Nuclear-Deal-Philadelphia-National-Constitution-Center-Iran-323876571.html

Media Matters

Media Matters is covering this skewed coverage and notes:

"Media outlets are playing up" a faulty poll "that found a majority of Americans opposed to a deal recently signed by the U.S. and major world powers with Iran, believing it will make the world "less safe." But that poll gave respondents no information about the deal, while other more comprehensive polls have found that when respondents are actually informed about the terms of the deal, a majority support it."

They are doing their best to ensure that nobody, especially the Jewish community in both countries, finds out the real details of the treaty until after the vote.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/01/media-hype-poll-showing-public-disapproval-of-i/205313

Mephistopheles and Human Rights

The arguments about what to do in the Middle East are nuanced. Do the wrong thing and this is what you see. Do nothing, the same. The fact our system is corrupt doesn't negate the duty to try to help, or diminish the virtue of when better strategies actually work. But it's hard. Foreign policy requires being Goethe's Dr. Faustus to Mephistopheles. And fundamental darkness is as matched as the power of enlightened thinking. Even when we do the right thing - this is what we might see anyway. But when we do the wrong thing, we are partly culpable in the deaths.

Joseph Stiglitz Slams Bad Economic Models

In a paper by Joseph E. Stiglitz titled; "Towards a General Theory of Deep Downturns" [GenTheory], Joseph Stiglitz lays out what is right and what is wrong about most of current Neo-liberal (Friedmanista) and Neo-Keynesian (he calls it "New" Keynesian) thinking about current economics.

Enormous Hubris!!!

he writes:

"deep downturns have marked capitalist economies since the beginning. It took enormous hubris to believe that the economic forces which had given rise to crises in the past were either not present, or had been tamed, through sound monetary and fiscal policy."

Continuing:

"Those who attempted to defend the failed economic models and the policies which were derived from them suggested that no model could (or should) predict well a “once in a hundred year flood.” But it was not just a hundred year flood—crises have become common. It was not just something that had happened to the economy. The crisis was man‐made—created by the economic system. Clearly, something is wrong with the models." [Stiglitz GT]

Tribunals, Admiralty Courts, Privateers versus Common Pirates

The thing you learn when working with bureaucratic organizations is that bureaucracies operate on inertia. Once something is set rolling it moves like a Giant Ship. Even if the captains of the ship see an iceberg ahead, even if every crew-member sees that iceberg, if the charter says "full steam ahead" they'll keep steaming according to their orders. That is why the most effective bureaucracies have a dictator at the top, a bottom up legislature, and some means to tell the Captain he can change course and not hit the Iceberg dead center. Bureaucracy is a feature of human organization. Armies are the oldest example of it. The next oldest is the Imperial Government, but that is an extension of military bureaucracy. What you don't want is concentrated power. Bureaucratic law is often unjust by design unless it is subject to democratic controls like appellate rights, jury trials & representative structures..

When the military, or any other bureaucracy, administers justice, the result is even more rigid than the bureaucracy on the Titanic. And unfair. So it has been with Admiralty Courts and the Investor State Tribunals. Admiralty Law has been "Investor Law" since ancient times. When State agents (factors) steal it is loot, when it is you or I, we hang for our crimes.

Why DC versus Heller was badly decided

I believe that DC versus Heller was badly decided. But since I'm not a lawyer and I agree that people should have a regulated right to own a gun under some circumstances. There are two fundamental reasons for this:

One: You can't sever the right to bear arms from the requirements for a "militia of the whole."

Two: The term "bear" is not synonymous with "carry" it means to use a weapon in a military/self defense capacity, not simply walk around with a weapon in ones hand.

The 1893 revolt of the Georgists Against Henry George

I reported the 1890 Formulation of the Georgist platform in my last post and how his 1890-1892 platform supported attacking monopoly at it's source. Modern Georgists don't seem interested in that part of his efforts. Well the Georgist movement revolted against Henry George on this issue!

The Nine Trolls

The word "troll" has positive as well as negative meanings. But in internet discussion groups the term Troll is a visual aid for identifying noxious behavior. Like with hacking the word has positive meanings too. But when we talk about trolling we usually mean it in it's pejorative sense.

Key is to recognize the troll within -- and spray him!

I came up with 9 Archetypes of troll behavior. These "Troll Spirits" may infect any of us at one time or another: