A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain

Histories of war, politics and science are generally of the noisiest and best dressed. Communities vote for familiar faces, follow fashions and trust well known brands. Advertising and public relations agencies buy positions in public consciousness from the media to place these images.

Commercial and military interests can profit from harmful enterprises as long as they maintain an appearance of benevolence or at least cast doubt on public concerns. When they get good press it can seem impolite, risky or ridiculous to question them. When they seem well connected everyone else tags along.

Individuals, organisations or countries who control the media can over-ride their communities to write history and create public reality to get what they want. They tend to blame others while becoming blind to their own failures. Without the discipline and feedback of independent public opinion, they tend to gradually to lose their competence, over extend themselves, exhaust their credibility and given enough rope eventually collapse spectacularly.

disinformation
Our media shelters us from the real world. Most of the corporate media is ingenuously silent on the real costs and risks of the Western lifestyle. It talks up popular enemies while real disasters creep up on us unforeseen and unannounced.

Newspapers, TV and websites increasingly copy stories designed to attract readers without a lot of attention to accuracy. References and research claims need cross-checking and comparing with independent sources to see if they make sense.

Churches, monetary authorities, academia, governments and the media are so aligned with commercial interests that they are not always impartial or accurate sources of information.

The white noise of more and more websites promoting commercial and national interests make reliable information increasingly difficult to find as commentators, researchers and public relations agencies are paid to release disinformation.

Hour after hour of television war lies masquerade as news and commentary. It can be hard to work out what is really happening. Genocide is peacekeeping. Allies are heroes. War is peace. Freedom fighters are terrorists. Atrocities are incidents - unreported or distant curiosities. Foreigners are degraded. Their motives and political systems are questioned and maligned. They are accused of activities and intentions that better describe their accusers.

independent media
A few bookmarked independent or varied news sites gives a quicker and more comprehensive overview. A reality check. They contain links to further sources. If we are aware of the world around us we are more likely to survive the rapid changes ahead that are being obscured by the disinformation that enmeshes us in illusions.

mediawatch
Not everyone wants everyone else to know whats going on

news

Publish your story, pictures, audio and video from home onto this worldwide network of sites. Major events have been reported here before cover-ups had time to appear in the mainstream media.

magazines and commentary
Factual in-depth reporting, conspiracy theories.

copyright (C) John Brasted 2008
updated 7. Nov. 2011

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