Whenever something is fervently supported or opposed in the media I like to stop and ask a few questions: Whose interest is it in? Who benefits from supporting or opposing it? And why do they have to support or oppose it?
Example 1: Publicly Funded Universal Health Care
Whose interest would it be in? Well, everybody’s, but especially the millions of people who do not have coverage right now. The poor, the small business owners, the unemployed and even the middle class. Even the folks with insurance who pay hundreds of dollars per month for family coverage (and still have to fight every single claim and bill during their “free” time) would greatly benefit by having most of that money back in their bank accounts. Folks who have avoided following their dreams because they needed to work a job with insurance benefits could now pursue their true interests.
Who benefits from opposing it? The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies that make tremendous amounts of profit from the privatized system. They don’t want to give up their cash crop just to let us all live healthier and longer lives.
Why do they oppose it? Because it has been proven to work and if witnessed it would be tremendously popular. They must spend millions of dollars on media campaigns to misinform the public about “socialized medicine” because they know that it is an actual threat to their current racket. If it were really such a bad system would they feel inclined to spend so much time and money to convince us of it?
The media blitz is used to dissuade public support for a popular idea.
Example 2: The Invasion of
Whose interest was it in? Well, nobody’s, except the weapons manufacturers, private military contractors and the oil industry. It was easily foreseen that absolutely nothing good would come from the invasion and occupation., even Dick Cheney knew that in 1991.
Who benefited from supporting it? Who “profited” from it? These were the “unbiased” military and intelligence experts who are now all heads of their own for-profit security contracting or consulting firms raking in multi-million dollar government contracts. The oil companies who have been seeing constant growth and record profits. The destruction and reconstruction companies.
Why did they have to support it? Because the public was opposed to it. In January 2003 only 31% of Americans supported invasion. Two out of three Americans wanted to let the UN weapons inspectors continue their search. (NY Times/CBS poll)
The media blitz is used to rally support for an unpopular idea.
Example 3: Democratic Socialism
Whose interest is it in? Everybody’s, except the very small fraction of super-rich capitalists.
Who benefits from opposing it? The top 20% of our society that owns 80% of the wealth, but especially the 1% that owns 51% of the wealth. They don’t want to give up their extremely ridiculous amounts of inherited wealth and settle for a very comfortable upper-middle class existence. They might actually have to work a little.
Why do they oppose it? Because the ideals of socialism are wildly popular: social security, universal health care, unemployment insurance, living wages, affordable housing and a sustainable energy future. They use the media to separate these programs from the category of socialist when they are in support of them. They effectively turn the “S” word into a curse by attaching it to the former
The media is used to make a popular ideal unpopular and dissociate it’s core elements from it.
Like all things that you see, read or hear, including this, it is always a good idea to examine it from opposing perspectives. Who is saying what and why. By doing this you will be able to come to your own informed opinions and make good democratic decisions accordingly.
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