Gatekeeper Cockburn (CounterPunch) is at it again
MEDUSA, INDEED
Crimes of the State Blog
"Conspiracism is raising its Medusa’s head again, her lethal visage wreathed with hissing absurdities, immobilizing judgement, melting intellect to pumice." --Alexander Cockburn (ignoring all evidence that is contrary to his irrational biases)
Blather at new heights of cognitive dissonance over at CounterPunch this weekend. Cockburn uses the term "conspiracism", as if that were a real thing, to mock any and all comers, even in a piece about the minutiae of some Wall Street fraud (Bernie Madoff).
But how can he get away with this childish mocking about the JFK assassination, without having to address even one piece of evidence at all?
Here is the entirety of what Cockburn says about "conspiracism" and the JFK assassination in that piece:
"Journalist Russ Baker suggests in a new book, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It In The White House, And What Their Influence Means for America, “the strong possibility” (I quote from a respectful resume of his conclusions) that the 41st president, G.H.W.Bush, father of the present resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, “was involved in assassinating President Kennedy, and that Bush was involved in staging the Watergate break-in (and the break-in at Dan Ellsberg's psychiatrist's) with the purpose of having these break-ins exposed and the blame placed on President Nixon.”
We’re back with the old notion of a secret, all-powerful permanent government, engendered in the WASP-nest of Skull and Bones, headquartered in Langley and locked in alternate collusion and combat with another permanent secret all-powerful government, headquartered in Zion and, if we are to believe the conspiracists, exultant at this hour at the tremendous coup of Bernie Madoff’s supposed victims."
No, idiot. We're "back" at looking at shady cia-connected characters and what they were doing in the 1960s and 70s. Cockburn uses Bush's status as former president as some kind of legal defense which automatically places him on the right side of the law. Quite odd for a left wing, revolutionary rag like CounterPunch. No?
You would think, from Cockburn's tone, that there was no controversy surrounding the JFK assassination. Is that the audience he's preaching to? Because Noam Chomsky accepts the Warren Commission, that makes it an honest investigation, magic bullet and all? Is that what Cockburn is shoveling?
This is beyond ridiculous. Cockburn feels no need to back up anything he says, and like Bill O'Reilly, or Rush Limbaugh, can simply sneer and mock with impunity.
The US Congress, by the way, also came to the conclusion that there was most likely a conspiracy to kill Kennedy (while continuing to white-wash and protect the guilty). This was 30 years ago, and yet still to this day, the term "conspiracism" is wielded like a rubber chicken.
Cockburn is a dishonest propagandist, apparently shilling for the criminal deep state. He makes no attempt to get at the truth of the matters, yet takes fevered sides, and attempts with hystrionics and ridicule to paint the opposition as insane. This is a recurring pattern, not an isolated incident.
Recall that Cockburn investigated CIA connected drug smuggling that actually happened (conspiracy) during the Iran Contra period. That's a very dangerous road to take. Did he go too far? Was he warned off? Is he in fear for his life, and is he now in the position of taking orders when they arrive regarding certain no-touch subjects?
Cockburn's book Whiteout: CIA, Drugs and the Press is available at Amazon -- but is conspicuously removed and absent from CounterPunch and their books section...
Where is the CounterPunch equivalent to Daniel Hopsicker's explosive series on CIA connected planes dropping out of the sky in Mexico full of cocaine?
Nothing of the sort appears in CounterPunch these days.
Have I solved it?
This does not absolve Cockburn for his dishonest propaganda. He doesn't have to be so accomodating at demonizing "conspiracy theories" for his handlers. But, perhaps, he does it so ineptly and blatantly that one could easily see through the charade if one wanted to research a few basic facts?
I'm going to have a drink and toast Alexander Cockburn, for at least making it entertaining.
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911 Blogger Pomotes Cockburn?
There's no reason to put the Cockburn slish on the front page of 9/11 Blogger. Why?
Because it gives Cockburn just what he engineered to achieve....a front page slot for his own sick noteriety.
WEBSITE: http://gators911truth.org
YOUTUBE: http://youtube.com/gators911truth
YOUTUBE: http://youtube.com/Hsaive
Who's afraid of Cockburn?
Especially when he's doing us a favor? See my post for an explanation of this otherwise cryptic statement.
If the 911 Truth movement ever grows into something more broad-based, it would be the Cockburns of this world who will be afraid, as they will get wide exposure as the propagandists and/or denialists that they are.
http://www.therealnews.com
http://www.pdamerica.org
http://www.change-congress.org
Cockburn...
Has done this FOR YEARS. I'm sure people like Peter Dale Scott, and other JFK researchers have some things to say about Cockburn.
Do these people deserve to know how and why their loved ones were murdered? Do we deserve to know how and why 9/11 happened?
Cockburn is doing us a favor
Cockburn is showing what 911 truthers can expect from the left media.
The 911 Truth movement should grow into a Truth in Government and Media movement, as I called for (though not in so many words) here :
http://911blogger.com/node/18908?page=2 ("Missing the Bigger Picture")
Although I didn't mention it, left gatekeeping and left gatekeepers should be exposed, also. (BTW, I meant do this each and every year.) To make this more explicit, as I did with other near term goals that I listed, I will also call for:
3b) reach out to 100% of college freshmen with articles about left gatekeeping. One noteworthy article about left gatekeeping is from Peter Phillips and Project Censored, who have done some preliminary (and frankly skimpy, though still very promising) research into the phenomena. See their paper Left Progressive Media Inside the Propaganda Model at http://s31076.gridserver.com/assets-managed/pdf/LeftProgressiveMediaInsi... .
On p. 10, this article has a table which rates the coverage of 8 issues (only 2 of which are 911 related), in 10 different left media. Of course, this approach makes far more sense than trying to come to some sort of judgement based on a single issue, as a litmus test. Shockingly, the issue of 'US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq' is not covered in 6 of the 10 left media! (In These Times, Buzz Flash, The Progressive, Alternet, The Nation, and Democracy Now.) Some leftists these guys are!
The fact that, in spite of the mountains of evidence for conspiracy in the JFK assassination, the Cockburns of this world will have the temerity to mock the very idea of it, shows you something about what 911 Truthers should expect about left gatekeepers (not to mention the flamboyant and insulting right wingers like Bill O'Reilly). They should be expecting continued mocking and/or skewed framing and/or conspicuous (to those in the know) omissions in the recital of government-friendly myths, for decades to come. .
IMO, the right way to combat this is analogous to a physician prescribing a broad-spectrum antibiotic. At this late date, pushing "911 was an inside job" strikes me as vastly inferior to pushing the meme of "Your government is lying to you, and the media is helping them do it. Here is a catalog of the lies, omissions, distortions and crimes .... and here is what you can do about it......"
If 911 activists don't want to end up like so many other activists - spinning their wheels doing feel good actions that don't actually change anything - then I suggest that they at least attempt a controlled experiment, where they approach some people simply with 911 truth material, others with the sort of broad scope material I suggest, and then follow up both groups (somehow) to see which group changed it's behavior more towards positive citizenship and truthful information seeking and consumption.
.
http://www.therealnews.com
http://www.pdamerica.org
http://www.change-congress.org
But exposing the 9/11 FRAUD is KEY
The important thing is that we actively endeavor to expose the frauds.
"At this late date, pushing "911 was an inside job" strikes me as vastly inferior to pushing the meme of "Your government is lying to you, and the media is helping them do it. Here is a catalog of the lies, omissions, distortions and crimes .... and here is what you can do about it......"
9/11 and the "War on Terror" along with atrocities that were enabled are current, in our face almost daily.
The masses have heard the "rumors" and are primed to investigate.
Every Government lie exposed brings the masses closer to taking the final step.
The Evidence for 9/11 Fraud is plentiful, easy to grasp, and epiphanic.
Every person who learns the Truth makes it easier for the next person to learn it.
The 9/11 Fraud is gateway to Total Fraud. Most people I know who accepted the truth of 9/11
did not stop there.
The Truth has the inherent power to stop the insanity.
Rupert Sheldrake and Morphogenic Fields
http://www.mgtaylor.com/delphi/sheldrake.html
"The quantum world is teasing and enticing in many ways. Fields fit right in. They are, as biologist Rupert Sheldrake describes them, 'invisible, intangible, inaudible, tasteless and odorless' (1981, 72). They are often unapproachable through our five senses; yet in quantum theory, they are as real as particles. . . This leads to a puzzling situation. Physical reality is not only material. Fields are considered real, but they are non-material.
Sheldrake has created an intriguing concept of fields in biology. He has postulated the existence of morphogenic fields that govern the behavior of species. This type of field possesses very little energy, but it is able to take energy from another source and shape it. The field acts as a geometrical influence, shaping behavior. Morphogenic fields are built up through the accumulated behaviors of species' members (Sheldrake 1981, 60)."
Morphogenetic Fields
http://www.experiencefestival.com/morphogenetic_fields
Morphogenetic fields are basically non-physical blueprints that give birth to forms.
According to its founder, the biologist Rupert Sheldrake, a morphogenetic field, is an equivalent to an electromagnetic field that carries information only, not energy, and are available throughout time and space without any loss of intensity after they have been created.
Morphogenetic fields are created by the patterns of physical forms. They help guide the formation of later similar systems where a newly forming system "tunes into" a previous system by having within it a "seed" that resonates with a similar seed in the earlier form.
Morphogenetic fields can be used to describe how the human consciousness is shared. The Morphogenetic fields therefore play the main role in the idea that humanity at one point in time will go thru a dramatic collective shift in consciousness. A shift that will happen when the critical mass for a shift is reached, or in other words, when a certain number of spiritually awakened individuals are reached.
*****************************************************************************************************************
*In January North Texans for 911 Truth will participate in TWO MLK parades
http://www.911blogger.com/node/18866 where we will distribute
more than 1000 DVDs and Broadsheets http://www.911blogger.com/node/18142
to people who are aware that their Government lies to them.
If it's really "key", then you will be eager to do my experiment
Doing my proposed experiment would allow you to prove the truth of your assertion. Or disprove it, as the case may be.
Certainly, if you're a "truther", you will be interested in the truth of the matter regarding which approach is most effective. Correct?
In case you didn't read my other posts, I wasn't suggesting that 911 not be a part of the broader scope approach. But whether you like it or not, many of the people you talk to will simply not be able to wrap their minds around 911. And the reason for that is not simply that 911 truth arguments are not sterling, or debunker arguments are. If you're raised in a culture of lying, deceit and false history, your mental model of the world is not going to be as receptive to contradictions of your internalized "truths" as would be the case, otherwise. This is the case regardless of how true those contradictions may be!
Because 911 was so over the top, to such a person, 911 Truth claims are also strange. I refer to them as "high strangeness". If you can reach such people, fine, but if you can't? And what about changing our government? With the current class of clowns in Washington, D.C., it's folly to expect a serious re-investigation of 911. I also made my suggestions with a view towards improving our government, which does have the power to compel testimony, release evidence it's hiding from the public, etc.
http://www.therealnews.com
http://www.pdamerica.org
http://www.change-congress.org
Better Idea!....You Do It.
I am busy informing others.
I've got nothing against the experiment. I personally believe that we continue to go after it from every lawful angle. That is what we see throughout the movement. It is working. Our greatest impediments are the left gatekeepers and the controlled media.
Our group has held many public Film screenings.
Brought W Rodriguez to our city.
Distributed over 30,000 DVDs
Marched in parades
Participated in several Peace/anti-war rallies
Flown a Banner over the Byron Nelson (Plane Truth Project)
Created and distributed 20,000+ 4 page broadsheets (A Broadsheet with a DVD works well)
Spoke on the radio
Presented to an environmental group
Presented material to important authors (J Scahill, James Douglass, Col Ann Wright, John Perkins)
Presented info packets to Churches and Firehouses throughout the city.
Created websites, message groups, videos
Were "visible" at Dealey Plaza for months
When you have proof of the ultimate means of changing minds I will definitely use it.
When I find someone who wishes to remain ignorant I move on.
North Texans for 911 Truth
http://www.northtexas911truth.com/
North Texans for 911 Truth Meetup Site
http://9-11.meetup.com/249/
"When you have proof of the ultimate means of changing minds..."
"When you have proof of the ultimate means of changing minds I will definitely use it."
I don't have such proof. Nor do I have plans to procure such proof in the coming year.
Unfortunately, I also have no proof that, in spite of many people's best efforts (and let me say here and now that your list of contributions impresses me), there has been any change in Washington, D.C. that leads me to believe we will get a serious re-investigation of 911 any time over the next 4 years, or that our government will become significantly more ethical.
Also, I don't particularly care what people think about 911, compared to what they think about the government as a whole. And furthermore, I don't particularly care what they think about the government as a whole (i.e., whether it's systemically corrupt), compared to what they're willing to do about whatever level of dysfunction/corruption/evil that they believe exists therein.
As my nephew used to say (jokingly) when he was 7 years old, and he had to wait for something more than a minute : "I'm getting old!".
I've been around much longer than 7 years, and I don't see many changes for the better. Even if you are too busy informing others, would you be willing to ask your group to consider doing my proposed experiment?
http://www.therealnews.com
http://www.pdamerica.org
http://www.change-congress.org
"Also, I don't particularly
"Also, I don't particularly care what people think about 911, compared to what they think about the government as a whole. And furthermore, I don't particularly care what they think about the government as a whole (i.e., whether it's systemically corrupt), compared to what they're willing to do about whatever level of dysfunction/corruption/evil that they believe exists therein."
Most people I meet know that the government is corrupt. Sadly, lots of people think we are in for some change with Obama. The Ron Paul Revolutionaries and the Two Naomis are good examples of how people are becoming aware. I don't what it will take to get people to do something/anything. All I know is that I can help grow the mind devoted to finding solutions by showing them just how bad things are.
When talking with people we often will talk about how we all know now how we were lied into WARS for profit.
Once the TRUTH about 9/11 is grasped the near total corruption soon follows. Even then, it is a rare bird that overcomes their programming and does something.
North Texans for 911 Truth
http://www.northtexas911truth.com/
North Texans for 911 Truth Meetup Site
http://9-11.meetup.com/249/
I performed this "experiment" on a small scale
I have a friend who has resolutely resisted all my efforts to wake him up. His ability to shut out the obvious has to be seen to be believed.
However, the other night we watched the documentary Vaccine Nation, and he was able to take in that the media are lying to us about this.
I am going to continue in this vein, with more documentaries about subjects less inflammatory than 9/11. Once he has grasped the extent to which the media cannot be trusted, I may have more luck with 9/11.
Once I learned about 9/11, my whole worldview changed. Others may need to first change their worldview before they can understand 9/11. For someone who has never looked into the 60s assassinations, or OKC, or 7/7, or any of dozens of mysterious deaths, it's as if the truth about 9/11 can't be assimilated because they have nowhere to put it. It doesn't fit into the architecture of their brain.
Also, we truthers have been so badly tarnished by the propaganda campaign against us, we might have to take an alternate route with certain types of people, who immediately put up a wall when confronted with "9/11 conspiracy theories."
The effort to discredit us has been pervasive, relentless and mostly successful. I can see this when I wear my "9/11 was an inside job" T shirt in public. People look at the T-shirt, then look away, or even edge away. They won't look me in the eye. It's almost as if I'm a leper.
However I live in an area with a lot of CIA and military.
Easy Does it
"Why We Fight"
"Orwell Rolls in his Grave"
"The Corporation"
"The Power of Nightmares"
Joe, we are really on the same wavelength
"Orwell Rolls in his Grave" and "The Corporation" are the two most influential documentaries I've ever seen. I watched "Orwell" three times and could easily watch it again. It is amazing.
"WHY WE FIGHT"
Thanks, I've seen "why we fight"
and thought it was good. But it wasn't the stunner for me that the other two were, perhaps cause I was already fairly aware of the profit incentive, that had already been widely reported re. Halliburton, Blackwater, etc.
As for "power of nightmares," I started it but never finished it. I find many of those BBC documentaries to be too darn long and slow. I know many others have recommended it. Can you say what you got out of it? Maybe then I'll feel an incentive to try it again.
The production values in "Orwell" are actually fairly low, but the information is so important I just didn't care. Pappas vividly paints the picture of campaign contributions and favorable new coverage from the media monopolies, buying more lenient rules for those same monopolies from the politicians, buying more campaign contributions and more favorable news coverage, and on and on.
Elsewhere I posted this about "Orwell:"
Orwell Rolls in His Grave is so packed with ideas and great interviews that I've watched it four times.
However I wouldn't say it's about breaking down emotional barriers. "Orwell" breaks down the main intellectual barrier to understanding 9/11: the belief that we have a free media who would've been all over it by now. I think that is the main sticking point for many people, which keeps them from even looking at or seriously considering our evidence.
I know that was the case with me. I considered myself well informed because I spent several hours each day consuming a variety of media such as: the Nation, New Republic, NY Times, Huffington Post, TruthDig, Talking Point Memo, Crooks and Liars, Alternet, Buzzflash, Salon, Slate, Daily Kos, Jon Stewart, and on and on.
Unfortunately none of these media are telling the truth about the things that really matter: our shadow government and how they use murder, intimidation and false flag attacks to pursue their evil agenda.
But once I read DRG's "new pearl harbor," I realized they had all been lying to me about 9/11. Even as "well informed" as I was, it took six years after 9/11 for me to see it for what it was!
People think of propaganda as something that happens to other people, not themselves. They are so reluctant to admit they've been conned. But good propaganda, like good acting, doesn't call attention to itself. It can only be effective when it's believed to be the truth.
Likewise, I have friends who adore Obama because he is so "sincere." Have they never heard of acting?
Cool. Any thoughts on outreach in large numbers?
Do you have any thoughts as to how to reach the masses in large numbers? The masses are being indoctrinated in large numbers via the media throughout their lives, and through the educational system when they are youngsters. (BTW, William Pepper recently talked about how history can be re-written via truth-tellers dying off, while the textbooks continue to tell an alternate, fantasist history, here: http://blackopradio.com/archives2008.html - Show #405 )
A broad spectrum approach to deprogramming the US public needs to address both students being fed a false history, and adults having the false history they learned as youngsters reinforced through TV and other media.
Are you familiar with therealnews.com? While they also tend to shy away from "conspiracy theories", they don't completely avoid such topics, and their truth telling and reporting shows up the main stream media quite well.
http://www.therealnews.com
http://www.pdamerica.org
http://www.change-congress.org
You could help with the Creek
Metamars,
Is the Rock Creek Free Press being distributed in your area? The Creek wakes people up to government and media lies in many area, including health. We have recently done some muckraking in the area of AIDS and HIV. If people read the Creek regularly they will soon realize how badly they are being bamboozled by almost all other media.
If you want to know more about this, you can email me privately at my blog at http://www.sheilacasey.com
thanks!
>>BTW, William Pepper
>>BTW, William Pepper recently talked about how history can be re-written via truth-tellers dying off, while the textbooks continue to tell an alternate, fantasist history, here: http://blackopradio.com/archives2008.html - Show #405 )
FYI, "Blackopradio" has often hosted Jim Fetzer, even in 2008. Real "Black Ops" it seems.
Show #405
Original airdate: Dec 18th, 2008
Guest: William Pepper / Jim DiEugenio / Jim Fetzer
Topics: Assassination Research
http://www.blackopradio.com/archives2008.html
I filmed the 1st Nation
I filmed the 1st Nation cruise. There I met Hitchens, Cockburn and poet Robert Bly. Hitchens and Cockburn were tearing each others throats out in the seminars. I asked Bly why these two progressives went after each other with such verbal violence, Bly said it was from British schooling which encourages this type of debate style. Cockburn looses alot of stature when he lets ill-thought out opinion, overwhelm his mind. I'd love to see Michael Parenti and Cockburn debate the muddy water of the Kennedy assassination. Parenti would put Cockburn in his place rather craftily.
Alex-centric
Cockburn's problem is that he is absolutely certain that every particle of the universe revolves around him. Only; he can understand the world and only he can recognize the modest findings of others and promote them to his high plane. Therefore any notion of a conspiracy anywhere and anyhow is completely impossible. Case Closed.
J Edgar Hoover and USA governance by mutual blackmail
J Edgar Hoover made governance by mutual blackmail the primary means of achieving power in the US. Nothing has changed since Hoover was FBI director for life. They got some tawdry something or other on Cockburn shortly after "Whiteout" came out, and they remind him they still have that tawdry bit of Cockburn's past whenever they need him to play his role as gatekeeper.
As you pointed out, Bernie Madoff introduced another 50 Billion pieces of evidence against Cockburns ridiculous claim that there are no conspiracies in the good Ol' USA.