There is a problem with all media in the West, though. We are constantly told that there is a ‘marketplace of ideas’ as if this is sufficient to counter the overbearing presence of a single viewpoint. It is not.
Alternative media, of the ‘left’ and right, still relies on the mainstream (curated) news cycle for it’s stories and rarely if ever escapes the paradigms set up by that mainstream news cycle. (This largely includes social media, whether classed as mainstream or alternative media.)
If one person does manage to avoid these stories from ‘news’ sources, they see the same stories, anyway, in entertainment media (movies, series, books, music, theatre, games, etc), or hear the same in everyday conversation. So it is not enough to be wary of mainstream (news) media.
In all these realms, Michael Parenti argues, the ‘anti-communist impulse’ kicks in. A negative spin is put on every event. If there are churches or mosques, the citizens must be forced to attend and be religious. If there are no churches or mosques, it’s evidence of religious oppression. This impulse is wired in over a lifetime of living in the West, and regularly topped up even (especially, maybe) by voices that are sold as ‘critical’ or ‘alternative’.
What seems to be required is a critical framework that allows people to challenge the very premises of any given story or idea. Unfortunately most people are uninterested in developing this framework or do not know that they need to.
If you are willing to listen, you may want to watch some Michael Parenti lectures on YouTube. In particular, search for ‘inventing reality’, ‘wagon trains’, ‘swarthy hordes’, or ‘media’ with his name.
If you’ve heard of Chomsky and Herman’s idea of manufacturing consent, some of Parenti will be familiar. Parenti wrote about a similar idea but in a much more rigorous and entertaining way at least a year before Manufacturing Consent was published. Chomsky and Herman did not cite Parenti and have never since acknowledged his work (to my knowledge). The fact that most people have heard of manufacturing consent but not inventing reality is just another example of the problem with news production and distribution.
There is a problem with all media in the West, though. We are constantly told that there is a ‘marketplace of ideas’ as if this is sufficient to counter the overbearing presence of a single viewpoint. It is not.
Alternative media, of the ‘left’ and right, still relies on the mainstream (curated) news cycle for it’s stories and rarely if ever escapes the paradigms set up by that mainstream news cycle. (This largely includes social media, whether classed as mainstream or alternative media.)
If one person does manage to avoid these stories from ‘news’ sources, they see the same stories, anyway, in entertainment media (movies, series, books, music, theatre, games, etc), or hear the same in everyday conversation. So it is not enough to be wary of mainstream (news) media.
In all these realms, Michael Parenti argues, the ‘anti-communist impulse’ kicks in. A negative spin is put on every event. If there are churches or mosques, the citizens must be forced to attend and be religious. If there are no churches or mosques, it’s evidence of religious oppression. This impulse is wired in over a lifetime of living in the West, and regularly topped up even (especially, maybe) by voices that are sold as ‘critical’ or ‘alternative’.
What seems to be required is a critical framework that allows people to challenge the very premises of any given story or idea. Unfortunately most people are uninterested in developing this framework or do not know that they need to.
If you are willing to listen, you may want to watch some Michael Parenti lectures on YouTube. In particular, search for ‘inventing reality’, ‘wagon trains’, ‘swarthy hordes’, or ‘media’ with his name.
If you’ve heard of Chomsky and Herman’s idea of manufacturing consent, some of Parenti will be familiar. Parenti wrote about a similar idea but in a much more rigorous and entertaining way at least a year before Manufacturing Consent was published. Chomsky and Herman did not cite Parenti and have never since acknowledged his work (to my knowledge). The fact that most people have heard of manufacturing consent but not inventing reality is just another example of the problem with news production and distribution.