Is the American Mass Media today presenting a true picture of its own society? (Part III)
For the last 20 to 30 years, the American public as well as people around the world, have been bombarded by the American Mass Media (A.M.M.) about how democratic American culture and American politics are, and about how it is the sacred duty of every American citizen to protect the democratic ideals of their “Constitution”. That it is their natural god-given “right” to export these American humanistic ideals to the rest of the world, even if this is accomplished by the power of force and economic domination. The A.M.M. with its formidable global network and propaganda means ranging from financial newspapers to internet services, and from television news programs to big budget Hollywood movies and T.V. shows, has been able to convince, mostly Americans, that there is no ideological or political contradiction between a democratic nation – state and a military empire which disposes hundreds of military bases around the world, most of them located on independent foreign soil. I believe the same type of political dilemma and ideological contradiction have existed in the leftist political movements whose leadership promoted the idea of social revolution in order to acquire political hegemony. In both instances, the ideological contradictions are so enormous that the societies affected have had to accept a life of “virtual reality” in almost every aspect of their existence, with dire consequences to their long term welfare, their social cohesion and balance.
Having spent almost half of my life on the North American continent, I am well aware of the power of the American Mass Media (A.M.M), especially American Television, to influence, to cajole and to brainwash, as well as to selectively inform its American audience about what is happening beyond its own national borders. Being part of the 60s generation, and also having lived in other continents, I find the A.M.M. today as compared to the 60s and 70s has honestly deteriorated both in content and in purpose.