Blood Libel and the new Media Bullies

The American Media continues to seek new lows in what it calls news coverage. A Democrat is shot by a seriously disturbed mentally ill young man and suddenly a Republican is 'blamed' for the shooting because Republicans "targeted" Democrats who were likely to lose in the coming elections.
If the media were arrested for every time they used metaphor and it was misunderstood then not a single reporter would be allowed out of prison today. Further the cartoonists of Norway would be jihadded to the collective applause of the world, humor would be outlawed and we'd all lose Jerry Seinfeld and the Simpsons. If that is the world the media of America wants then I would gladly take Sarah Pallins Alaska on any day.
When John Hinckley shot Republican President Reagan it was as clearly Democrats inciting Hinckley to kill the President. Today's media would have us believe that Jodie Foster should not be allowed to appear in movies.
When Saudi Ossama bin Laden attacked America on 9-11, Bush saw this as opportunity for America to invade Iraq which ironically was not Saudi but Saud's rival. It made no sense at the time and it makes even less sense today. Only the BBC appeared to notice that something was just a little off with the American media especially when the Weapons of Mass Destruction lie persisted without Americans even being allowed to know. Is there any 'Independent" "non partisan" mainstream media left in America today?
The Nature of politics and war is deceit. A big lie is even better than a little lie. The media news was supposed to tell us the 'truth', "the facts" and then discussion was supposed to debate with equal representation of competing views. American media is more and more propaganda. The sad truth today is the media is no longer reporting the truth but fabricating it's own lies for it's own ends.
The trouble is this young man was insane. If you tell an insane person not to kill somebody they are as liable to kill that person as if you were to tell them to kill. Insanity is paradoxical. It's irrational. This young person killed the Democrat because like so many people in America today he was feeling irrelevant and marginalized and wanted attention. He wanted to be real. He wanted to be a media person. He wanted Andy Warhol's 20 minutes. Life in America today is such that people want to be in the media , any other world than the world of their reality. The media world of America is now the Peter Pan Lost Boys world and it's even developing it's own unreal "media logic". The media appears not to want to report the reality.
This young man was poor in attention so he killed someone rich in attention. It's the primitive way. Take by violence what you can't get yourself. The media naturally gives meaning this week to this poor sick young man as it did a few weeks back to some crazy preacher who was attacking Moslems living near the site of 9-11. American media celebrates the most insane behavior and makes those insane marginalized people 'real' in the media world. Today's media encourages violences and bizarre behavior and no longer can that be said to be 'reporting' the news.
There is a direct scientifically supported link between the wide distribution by media of images of violence and the violence of those who are severely mentally ill or brain damaged. Given the ubiquity of drug and alcohol abuse in the United States and the further direct link between violence and drug and alcohol abuse which causes reversible brain damage and impaired reality testing, the media must be held accountable for countless deaths in the United States alone.
We know this young man was mentally ill by his action but what we don't know is why. From his own blog it appeared he was likely 'addicted' to media and living in the Tron world of digital matrix where morality does not exist. Given the increasing numbers of people living in these phony media worlds it's time that the media is required to take some responsibility for it's fear mongering and violence perpetrating messages. Given the media's negative portrayal of reality it's not surprising that so many young people escape into the insaniety of the media logic of violence and fame. A responsible media would encourage people to participate in the real world of human community. This young man's isolation and alienation was palpable.
More insane people kill themselves and others with cars yet no one says we should shut down Ford because Johnny Little Shit from Akron in road rage over the latest Simpson episode drove his red mustang at Harry Smiths police car.
The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates your Brain, by Dan Gardner shows clearly that media reporting of 9-11 caused more unnecessary accidental deaths in the following 6 months than the actual terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre did.
If we trust the media on this one, Americans will lose even more freedom. Along with the freedom of speech, they will lose the freedom to think, if they haven't lost that already. It's certainly time in America for serious reflection on the media's role in perpetrating violence.
Get ready for the copy cat killings of more American politicians, thanks to the American media. Media reporters should further be required to pass a Piagian IQ tests that at least shows they've passed from concrete thinking in black and white abstract thinking of colours and signs and symbols. Today's media bullies would outlaw metaphor. Naturally they must hate poetry and would crucify Leonard Cohen right along side Sarah Pallin. Blood libel is Shakespeare. I'm afraid it's soared right over the heads of today's American military. And that's scary. Scarier even than Alaska.



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