58% percent of Americans say the Media Are the ‘Enemy of the People’

Media Bias, voting behaviour of journalists.Good news: it’s quite an extraordinary result — six out of ten Americans are saying in the most blunt possible terms, that the media is not only biased, but actively working against the people and with hostile intent.

From this far down, there is no bounce. Only a full about-face with mea culpa and an Augean cleanout would even start to unwind this toxic position. And the Media puppets are not even close to that razing day.

The propaganda is falling on deaf ears and at this point, the harder they push, the worse it gets.

Trust is a precious and fragile thing

58% Of Voters Agree: Media Are ‘Enemy of the People’

Rassmussen Reports

Voters overwhelmingly believe “fake news” is a problem, and a majority agree with former President Donald Trump that the media have become “the enemy of the people.”

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that 58% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat agree that the media are “truly the enemy of the people,” including 34% who Strongly Agree. Thirty-six percent (36%) don’t agree, including 23% who Strongly Disagree. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

So most voting adults don’t want to listen to smug intellectual-babies, or toffee fashionistas tell them how unworthy they are. Civilization is straining at the edges, but the pendulum is swinging back. Resistance is building.

Trump called it Fake News in 2016, and the Media lived up to it. Years ago I remember writing about a survey that seemed astonishing at the time where something like 15% of the USA would describe the UN as “the enemy”. By late November 2020, fully 80% of Republicans described the media as “the enemy”, but now after 8 more months of plastic news, things are even worse. The 40% is nearly 60%.

Hope.

9.8 out of 10 based on 123 ratings

158 comments to 58% percent of Americans say the Media Are the ‘Enemy of the People’

  • #
    John F Hultquist

    Aegean cleanout

    That must be OZ-speak.
    Being from the Appalachian hills, how would I know?

    Great metaphor, though.

    [Ta. Amazing what one finger typing spellchecker creates. 🙂 – Jo]

    250

    • #
      StephenP

      Augean stable most often appears in the phrase “clean the Augean stable,” which usually means “clear away corruption” or “perform a large and unpleasant task that has long called for attention.” Augeas, the mythical king of Elis, kept great stables that held 3,000 oxen and had not been cleaned for thirty years – until Hercules was assigned the job. Hercules accomplished this task by causing two rivers to run through the stables.

      290

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Does that mean we can call Trump “Herculean”? He has enough ego to enjoy that.

        And let’s hope the two rivers didn’t outflow onto a coral reef. 🙂

        20

  • #
    Jojodogfacedboy

    The media is the enemy of the people and is allowing a bold attack to happen on our Senior population.
    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/07/14/over-85/

    Also with the help of the media, the are pushing a experimental injection that they claim is a vaccination, which it is not.
    People are dying from this injection far more than the media wants us to know.

    481

  • #

    Fox news is onto this. They are exposing CNN (and others) fake news stories every day. The Democrats are spinning themselves into oblivion.

    441

    • #
      Curious George

      Unfortunately, they are only reactive so far. The Democrats still have the initiative. The “deadly insurrection of January 6”! It was not deadly – the only person killed was an unarmed protester, and we still don’t know by whom. Welcome to the First Unarmed Insurrection.

      Nancy Pelosi is assembling a Committee to investigate. I hope the Committee discovers a killer’s name. They may also ban deadly fire extinguishers, the only weapon of the insurgents.

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      • #
        Klem

        An insugeance? Looked like a mostly peaceful protest to me.

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      • #
        Lawrie

        Ashli Babbitt was the victim and Lieutenant Michael Leroy Byrd was the shooter. He has a record of doing dumb things such as leaving his loaded service weapon in the men’s wash room. Imagine if Ashli was black and Byrd was white. It would be George Floyd all over but he is black and she was a white Trump supporter. Two standards in Washington these days.

        700

        • #
          OldOzzie

          Lieutenant Michael Leroy Byrd also had his finger on the trigger in the Capitol

          Before killing Ashli, the Officer is seen aiming his firearm at fellow colleagues.

          You can see the Officer disregards nearly every basic firearm safety rule in the book. His finger is wrapped around the trigger, while his firearm is aimed in the direction of his colleagues.

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        • #
          Peter C

          If Lieutenant Michael Leroy Byrd ever gets charged with the killing of Ashli Babbitt he may have to reveal that his gun was loaded with blanks. That would really open things up. The whole script by John O’Sullivan must have taken a lot of planning

          111

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        The fire extinguisher story, that a police officer died after being struck with a fire extinguisher, has been shown to be false. There is no corroborating video to support this and he died the next day after the 6th from natural causes; a stroke I believe.

        110

  • #
    John R Smith

    “Fake News” might not be the best term.
    It is internationally controlled and coordinated, highly sophisticated and pre-planned.
    So it is all too real.
    It is not an accident that there were George Floyd protests in Australia.
    I have Claus Schwab’s book ‘CV 19 and the Great Reset’.
    They were prepared.
    There is no incompetence.
    These people are highly competent.
    Just my opinion.

    560

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Agreed there is undoubtedly organisation cloaked in random chaos.

      351

    • #

      The media and big data are either pawns coerced into becoming the secret police arm of an oppressive regime, they acutally want to be the secret police arm of an oppressive regime or they are that oppressive regime.

      Just because the cancel culture is more humane than what the more notorious secret police do to suppress dissent doesn’t make the underlying ideology any more humane, especially considering why they need a secret police in the first place. Is this what Progressives mean by doing Socialism/Marxism/Communism better this time around?

      250

    • #
      nb

      True. The psychopaths, who demand power over others, realised they were losing control. The various strands of attack are their way of regaining control. The underlying commononalities of the various attacks include removal of property as a concept, destruction of prosperity, and extreme censorship along with floods of false information. The need of the psychopath is to destroy independent human flourishing – to remove independence and freedom of the individual. For the psychopath it is just a need, like food. They will do anything to satisfy it.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Problem defined.

        A great description of things that we need to attend to.

        “The underlying commononalities ,,”

        Could we explore this in greater detail and find ways to push back?

        130

        • #
          nb

          Rule one for direct political action: Set a narrow and appealing target and push relentlessly. I would say the attacks on prosperity in the West are the weakest point.

          One answer I have read is to organise locally. Another answer is to do what Jo does, along with her commenters. I guess there are as many answers as there are talents.

          An element I missed in the description above is that in my experience those who want to dominate are at least partly unaware that their veiw of the world is weirdly distorted, creating their own role as hero. More dangerously, many of the dominated are also unaware of the distortion. Moreover, I have found that ignorance is wilful.
          ‘Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do’ is apposite.

          40

  • #
    Hanrahan

    In fact Trump never said “The media is the enemy of the people”, he said “The fake news media is the enemy of the people”. He was, of course, misquoted.

    It does seem 60% make no distinction between “the media” and “the fake news media” though.

    CNN has suffered terribly in the ratings. Last I read they had no programme in the top 20. NSMBC’s Mad Cow is the only fake news anchor who has kept her audience, in spite of surviving a defamation lawsuit with the defence:

    Maddow Tells Them What They Want To Hear …

    Search domain paulcraigroberts.orghttps://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/06/25/maddow-tells-them-what-they-want-to-hear/
    “Maddow’s own viewers, ruled the court, not only expect but desire that she will not provide the news in factual form but will exaggerate and even distort reality in order to shape her opinion-driven analysis.” In sum, ruled the court, Rachel Maddow is among those “speakers whose statements cannot reasonably be interpreted as allegations of fact.” In other words, what Trump called …

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    • #
      David Wojick

      What a great characterization: “speakers whose statements cannot reasonably be interpreted as allegations of fact.”

      No doubt a long list.

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    • #
      Yonason

      Yes, John. And one of the strongest proofs of their collusion with each other and with the government, is when they all use, verbatim, the same talking-points.

      320

      • #
        Yonason

        ‘‘This was supposed to be a reply to John R Smith. I’m not sure how it ended up here.

        60

      • #
        David Wojick

        Even the same slogans. I consistently see different news reports that say (nonsensically) we need to hit the 1.5 degree target “in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change”. It is like they do not understand the language they are speaking. The worst effects occur at the greatest warming, say above 6 degrees of warming. So anything less than 6 degrees will avoid them.

        It is a mindless slogan that they use because there is simply no good reason to aim for the arbitrary 1.5 degrees.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        After Trump’s inaugural speech they all used the descriptor “dark”. No doubt that was in the talking points.

        140

      • #
        Custer Van Cleef

        they all use, verbatim, the same talking-points.

        Yes it’s almost as if there is a hidden bunker somewhere: Lefty Central Headquarters, sending out the new catchphrase each day … to be used by all politicians and pundits on their side.

        Not surprising really, from the Left, they are the fad-followers. Chanting in unison helps them to bond together. Many of them are so dumb they need 2 or 3 words they can’t screw up when they talk in public.

        They’re also the Language N@zis: always looking for another phrase or word, to banish, hence the nonsense around referring to “colored people” versus “people of color”. (What does the “CP” in NAACP stand for again?)

        They really don’t like free speech. They just pretended to while they rose up to become our new ruling class.

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        • #
          Ted1

          It’s there alright. I call it OxBridge. But it is much wider than just our leading academies. It’s anywhere they can milk public funding.

          90

    • #
      Ian

      Interestingly you don’t give the entire picture.

      This link does
      https://greenwald.substack.com/p/a-court-ruled-rachel-maddows-viewers

      In Maddows case the judge said “:the court dismissed the lawsuit on the ground that, given Maddow’s conduct and her audience’s awareness of who she is and what she does, “the Court finds that the contested statement is an opinion that cannot serve as the basis for a defamation claim.”the Court finds that the contested statement is an opinion that cannot serve as the basis for a defamation claim.”

      What makes this particularly notable and ironic is that a similar argument was made a year later by lawyers for Fox News when defending a segment that appeared on the program of its highest-rated program, Tucker Carlson Tonight. That was part of a lawsuit brought by the former model Karen McDougal, who claimed Carlson slandered her by saying she “extorted” former President Trump by demanding payments in exchange for her silence about an extramarital affair she claimed to have with him.

      McDougal’s lawsuit was dismissed in September, 2020, by Trump-appointed judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, based on arguments made by Fox’s lawyers that were virtually identical to those made by MSNBC’s lawyers when defending Maddow.

      In particular, the court accepted Fox’s arguments that when Carlson used the word “extortion,” he meant it in a colloquial and dramatic sense, and that his viewers would have understood that he was not literally accusing her of a crime but rather offering his own subjective characterizations and opinions, particularly since viewers understand that Carlson offers political commentary”

      In other words what Trump called “Fake News”.

      320

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Tucker has never pretended to be news, he calls himself an editorial presenter.

        And why not “a year later” use precedent in your defence?

        180

        • #
          Ian

          “Tucker has never pretended to be news,” Neither has Maddow.

          Maddow made the allegedly defamatory statement on her own talk show news segment where she is invited and encouraged to share her opinions with her viewers. Maddow does not keep her political views a secret, and therefore, audiences could expect her to use subjective language that comports with her political opinions.

          “And why not “a year later” use precedent in your defence?”

          Why not indeed? It would be foolish not to. The fact that Tucker won his case using the same defence as Maddow indicates both Maddow and Carlson are editorial presenters. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

          312

      • #
        Annie

        Accidental green while scrolling.

        11

      • #
        Roger Knights

        The National Review columnist who characterized Mann’s hockey stick as fraudulent I think also employed the rhetorical, not literal language defense, approximately, IIRC.

        10

    • #
      TdeF

      ‘In fact Trump never said “The media is the enemy of the people”, he said “The fake news media is the enemy of the people”. He was, of course, misquoted.’

      This important comment confirms proves the problem. The fake news media even misreports comments on their misreporting. And that in turn confirms that it was not an accident but a policy.

      190

      • #
        Ian

        “‘In fact Trump never said “The media is the enemy of the people”, he said “The fake news media is the enemy of the people”. He was, of course, misquoted.’”

        You are quite correct. He was indeed misquoted as he never did say “the media is the enemy of the people” what he actually said, in April 2019, was the press is “truly the enemy of the people,”

        Here’s the link

        https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/437610-trump-calls-press-the-enemy-of-the-people

        02

        • #
          Hanrahan

          At the press briefing when the ORIGINAL statement was made, and which caused such a ruckus, it was as I quoted. Have you got the video of that?

          70

          • #
            Ian

            Thanks for the information. I have now looked at the video from February 25 2017 in which Trump claims he was misquoted. However on February 17 2019 Trump tweeted ”

            The Fake News media (failed @NYTimes@CNN@NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy it is the enemy of the American people.SICK!

            https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html

            15

            • #
              wal1957

              The Fake News media (failed @NYTimes@CNN@NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy it is the enemy of the American people.

              Trump referring to the fake news of CNN, NBC and NYTimes.
              I fail to see the problem. He was correct then and is still correct.

              130

            • #
              Hanrahan

              The Fake News media (failed @NYTimes@CNN@NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy it is the enemy of the American people.SICK!

              More correct but it is absolutely clear that he spoke of organisations spreading FAKE bloody NEWS as the enemy not the media in general. I stand by my assertion that he was misquoted.

              70

            • #
              clarence.t

              I agree it is “SICK!” the way that CNN, NBC, NYTimes etc propagate fake news with a highly leftist bias.

              But if it was real news, the bias wouldn’t be there, would it.!

              60

        • #
          bobn

          and he was right!

          00

  • #
    Wixy

    Progressives are the result of a marriage between poor parenting and a marxist education system! The only way to stop it is through the hip pocket… when the money runs out.

    220

    • #

      It does get more and more oppressive as the money runs out, but financial hardship alone isn’t enough to get over the fear of retribution for speaking out, especially when your entire family tree is at risk. Just look at North Korea.

      These kinds of ideologies need to be overthrown by collective courage which is what the cancel culture is designed to suppress.

      160

      • #
        Wixy

        Collective courage is in short supply nowadays! Sometimes a backbone is only discovered when someone’s belt buckle is rubbing against their own spine.

        110

  • #
    David Wojick

    One problem with this survey is that both left and right use the term fake news to refer to reports of the other side’s views. The term is perfectly ambiguous, an epithet not a descriptor.

    261

    • #
      Yonason

      That’s an excellent point. Have you written anywhere to elaborate on it? Clarification is indeed needed!

      120

    • #
      William Astley

      I agree 100%. The general public are clueless about what is going on. What is at stake. Where this tragic story is going if no action is taken.

      There is fake ice cream. That is not a tragedy. Fake does not communicate what is at stake, what is happening.

      We are being attacked internally by the Democratic party and by the CCP.

      The CCP with the help of their friends the Dems are controlling/using US/world companies to very specifically censor the electronic content of the entire internet by controlling companies like Facebook, Google, CNN, and so on…

      Legislation that allows more than a week to vote, has voting on Sunday, requires vote ID, to stopping cheating in US elections is not Jim Crow on steroids. Facts are facts. Lies are lies.

      The only way newly emerging Viruses can learn how to defeat the human immune system is by infecting people for decades or ‘evolution’ in a laboratory using lab animals that have been biologically altered to mimic the human immune system or evolution using computer software and a super computer.

      Covid was super contiguous from day 1. That is impossible if covid was ‘natural’. There are no near relatives of covid that have been circulating for decades to enable covid to naturally learn how to defeat the human immune system.

      Fact: Covid has specific genome structure, un-evolved virus code from its ‘source’ species, that is unchanged in specific genome locations, because that is the only biochemical way covid could cause specific dangerous symptoms. The covid ‘evolved’ genome structure can only be created using software and a super computer. i.e. Natural wet evolution of covid in a lab using lab animals would have caused genome changes in randomly in all locations which would have made covid less dangerous.

      Based on the above fact… Covid was 100% designed using software and a super computer that can mimic the human immune system and a virus’ evolution/changes. After computer design/evolution someone made a wet copy of the designed virus and then releasing the wet copy of the computer designed virus, in China.

      160

      • #
        Hanrahan

        The general public are clueless …….

        I used to think Watters, Dice and co asking simple questions of passersby and getting dumb answers was heavily edited. Now I’m not so sure.

        The most recent I saw was Dice asking what job O’Biden had before being elected and no one knew without prompting.

        I have no doubt I know more than the average US citizen does about their elections and constitution. I suspect, but it is a mere suspicion, that Mr Average in the US knows Sweet Fanny Adams about it.

        The funniest [????] I remember was Dice with a map of the world asking who the US should nuke. The pins went everywhere, including Australia, but no one said “Hell no!”. There seemed to be a belief that the US has authority to nuke whom ever displeases them.

        We need the US but they scare the crap outta me at the same time.

        30

        • #
          Hanrahan

          It’s not only Joe Sixpack doesn’t understand elections, most commentators don’t either.

          There was a recent controversy over a “ranked” ballot with all sorts of conspiracy theories put forward about it. Hey! It’s simply preferential voting, a system we have had for a couple of hundred years which works well. Conservatives here hate it because, without it, few labor pollies would get in as would be the case with “first past the post”. So be it. You take the good with the bad. With it there might be some “cross benchers” in congress prompting a softening of the HARD two party politics.

          Also, with it the French Presidential election would be done and dusted in one day with a higher likelihood that Marine LePenn would have won.

          The Georgia senate runoffs that were such a disaster would have been unnecessary too, which would have meant a slim senate majority for the GOP.

          20

  • #
    Graham Richards

    The 58% are very slow learners. Can you imagine how slow the remaining brainwashed deadbeats are. This applies to all western democracies where the media are actually running the countries.
    Australia & its government actually encourage the media. Take the ABC for instance, the tax payer actually pays them to lie & undermine the government that feeds them. The government is actually self brainwashed, a situation which can only be inherited from UK & their BBC monster. Maybe it’s a self destructive genetic problem.

    250

    • #
      nb

      The passivity is remarkable. Many people can’t even recognise that there is a power structure that is doing them over.

      230

      • #
        el gordo

        Climate Change was the Trojan Horse, emotive propaganda works best and has universal appeal.

        192

        • #
          PeterS

          Everything up to know is a Trojan Horse, including the current vaccination scare. The real deal will occur eventually as the enemy wants to achieve a final result by cementing victory, if we allow the enemy to do so. Will we allow it to happen? I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know. Time will tell but I would hope Australians will eventually rise to the occasion and fight the evil with conviction before it all goes totally pear shaped.

          120

          • #
            el gordo

            Mixing memes confuses people, but otherwise your manifesto is sound.

            “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.” (Karl Marx)

            30

      • #
        Graham Richards

        Agreed NB. Problem is we’re too bloody civilised to do anything about it, For now!!

        20

  • #
    Yonason

    As obvious as it is, I would have thought that the percentage ought to be higher.

    170

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    A few days ago, while driving, I listened to some interviews on their ABCCCC for an hours entertainment.

    The verbiage was “reasoned woke” and terms like the example given here on the blog:

    “mostly safe alternative” were the norm.

    That phrase, from memory, was used by someone to minimise the potential dangers of large scale battery storage of renewable energy: aka electricity. Perhaps only one house in a thousand would be burnt to the ground and then only every three years, or something.

    For those people the truth is in the tone of voice and follow-up agreement from the interviewer, and to a believer, listening to that station, it could safely be stored away as gospel.

    I no longer watch T.V. but suspect that well presented hosts of these news/discussion/information sessions would confirm woke concepts and statements with lots of noddies and smiles of agreement.

    Disclaimer;
    Any relationship of these presentations to reality is purely coincidental and unintentional.

    Government by misdirection.

    200

    • #
      OldOzzie

      That phrase, from memory, was used by someone to minimise the potential dangers of large scale battery storage of renewable energy: aka electricity. Perhaps only one house in a thousand would be burnt to the ground and then only every three years, or something.

      From Open Thread above

      RicDre
      July 15, 2021 at 9:02 am · Reply
      GM warns some Bolt EV owners: Don’t park them inside or charge them unattended overnight
      PUBLISHED WED, JUL 14 20213:23
      Michael Wayland

      KEY POINTS

      General Motors is telling some owners of 2017-2019 Bolt EVs not to park their vehicles inside or charge them unattended overnight.

      Two of the vehicles caught fire after they were repaired as part of a recall meant to address fire risks.

      GM and NHTSA announced a recall of nearly 69,000 Bolt EVs from the 2017-2019 model years in November.

      https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/14/gm-warns-some-bolt-ev-owners-dont-park-them-inside-or-charge-them-unattended-overnight.html

      80

  • #
    Penguinite

    Now, for the exponential consolidation of this realisation! The worm has turned!

    31

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Back in the day, this was known as semiotics.

    What is more interesting is the age profile of those consuming broadcast and print news services, and the decline in eyeballs, circulation for those traditional outlets.

    Nowadays, narrowcasting is all the rage. (JoNova is an example)

    131

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Obviously the only semiotics you took notice of was a hammer and sickle.

      290

    • #
      Harves

      So Peter, why are you so scared of Murdoch if only a few old people read print media? Is it MDS?

      20

    • #
      clarence.t

      Maybe, one day, your mind will grow past the extreme left tunnel vision it is now locked into.

      Maybe the words “balance” and “common-sense” will become part of your everyday life..

      … but probably not!

      280

    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      Back in the day, this was known as semiotics.

      Ahh … brings back fond memories of media studies courses in the 1970s, when semiotics (semiology) were all the rage … and all those obscure Froggy linguists and philosophers. Roland Barthes etc. The “sign” indeed.

      14

    • #
      el gordo

      The rapidly changing platforms are having a profound effect.

      ‘For teens, Facebook was by far the most popular social media site for getting news with over half (51%) using it for this purpose. For children, YouTube was by far the social media platform used most for news. 37% got news from this site.’ (The Conversation)

      50

    • #
      PeterS

      Here’s a good definition I’ve found for narrowcasting.

      Narrowcast means aiming a broadcast at a narrowly defined audience or area. Narrowcasting is a specific transmission of information to a selected small group of people. An example of this is an advertisement that is broadcasted specifically for the female individuals in a specific shopping mall.
      A broadcast is generally intended to please most of the people that it reaches, while a narrowcast aims to deliver a message towards a small number of people who are most likely to be interested in that content.

      When applied to discussion groups, such as the Insiders, it means “our” ABC is narrowecasting since it is specific to a left-wing audience using left-wing presenters. It also makes sites like Jo’s more like a real broadcaster since it is open to all and both sides of an argument are allowed to be presented and discussed. Proof of that is you posting your comments and being discussed without being blocked. It would take a miracle for that sort of discussion to happen on the ABC in an amicable way let alone happen at all and not being blocked in the first place.

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      • #
        clarence.t

        Just Peter attempting to play the pathetic “victim” card, yet again. !

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Very true PeterS.

        Conservatives are not employed on their platforms such as ABC and the comments of conservatives are frequently censored.

        On the other hand, Jo allows everyone to post here as long as they’re polite.

        And yet, being a private organisation, Jo doesn’t have to do that, but does.

        Their ABC, being publically funded, is obliged to be impartial but isn’t.

        Jo is a Broadcaster.

        Their ABC is a Narrowcaster.

        Leftists are TERRIFIED of alternative opinions, conservatives are not.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Peter, I think you are not using the word “semiotics correctly.

      I think you are thinking about Semiotic Marxism.

      The Rise of Semiotic Marxism

      Albert Bergesen

      First Published March 1, 1993 Research Article

      https://doi.org/10.2307/1389439

      Abstract

      This paper identifies four distinct stages in the 20th century emergence of a new direction in Marxian theory. Called here “Semiotic Marxism,” its central assumption is a reversal of the classic base/superstructure logic of determinate relations between the economic base and the political and ideological superstructure. Each stage builds upon the theoretical reconstitutions of the previous stage. To illustrate this step-by-step transformation, the theoretical logic of a representative Marxist theorist is explicated. These four stages in the emergence of a Semiotic Marxism are: (1) the initial inversion of base/superstructure logic (Gramsci), (2) the expansion of the logic of the ideological downward to merge with the logic of the political (Althusser), (3) the further expansion downward of the logic of the now merged ideological/political sphere to absorb the logic of the economic sphere (Poulantzas), and finally, (4) the recasting of the once Marxian social formation comprised of social relations in production, into the new Semiotic Marxist “discursive formation” composed of linguistic relations between subject identities (Laclau and Mouffe).

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      • #
        David Maddison

        And see:

        https://semioticon.com/seo/I/ideology.html

        ‘Ideology’ has a long history in political discourse, its value and meaning hotly disputed. This article will suggest it makes best sense understood as semiotic theory generated from political struggles. This gives it its characteristic confusions and contradictions, making it a topic which mainstream semiotics might contribute much to, and from which it has much to learn.

        Etymologically it comes from Greek idea (image, form, idea) and logos (system of thought, discipline). It can refer (Williams 1977:55) to a ‘system of beliefs common to a particular group’, a ‘system of illusory beliefs’, or the ‘general process of the production of meanings and ideas’, which is similar to semiosis, the production and circulation of signs. All carry the idea of logos.

        Many people suppose it was coined by Karl Marx, but he only adopted the term uncritically from others, and re-used it polemically, inconsistently and without defining it. It was invented by French Enlightenment thinker Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), to mean the science of ideas. He understood ‘ideas’ in a semiotic sense, before semiotics existed. Destutt de Tracy was a materialist who, following Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715-1780), derived all ideas from sensory impressions. His philosophy angered Napoleon, who influentially trashed ‘ideology’ and ‘ideologues’. Marx took over Napoleon’s negative spin, and used ‘ideology’ to critique German philosophers, whose ‘idealist’ philosophy was exactly the opposite of Destutt de Tracy’s materialism.

        In Marx’s polemic, ‘ideology’ was the systematic, limited, perverse thinking of opponents he saw as intellectual tools of corrupt regimes. It is poor practice to limit definitions of words to polemic uses, yet this has been the fate of ‘ideology’. Many argue (e.g. Thompson 1984) that connection with the dominant should be part of its definition. One consequence of this is the too common practice of distinguishing ‘ideology’ (of opposing groups) from ‘science’ or ‘truth’ (what my group think).

        Yet something like the etymological meaning, referring more neutrally to systems of ideas of specific groups, not only survived Marx’s attack, but runs alongside it as a major meaning (see Williams above). This combines Destutt de Tracy’s and Marx’s contributions, in different proportions, tying systems of thought to identifiable social groups and interests.

        ‘Ideology’ is invaluable to socially-oriented semiotics because it identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as ‘ideology’. Foucault’s ‘episteme’ is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His ‘discourse’, popular because it covers some of ‘ideology’s’ terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. ‘Worldview’ is too metaphysical, ‘propaganda’ too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, ‘ideology’ still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life.

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          Tilba Tilba

          ‘Ideology’ is invaluable to socially-oriented semiotics because it identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as ‘ideology’. Foucault’s ‘episteme’ is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His ‘discourse’, popular because it covers some of ‘ideology’s’ terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. ‘Worldview’ is too metaphysical, ‘propaganda’ too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, ‘ideology’ still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life.

          Do you know what this means? Asking for a friend.

          02

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        of course if you take a specific definition, for a particular philosophy, then as a pedant, you can crisitise my point, but David, I was using the general definition.

        012

    • #
      yarpos

      seriously? 28 red thumbs, jeez get a grip people

      I am at odds with PF on most topics but that was a pretty generic comment

      and people say progs get triggered

      10

  • #
    Lance

    Not “All” of the Media are Fake News, but far too many are.
    Too much is really nothing but propaganda, lazy sloppy reporting, and indoctrination.

    To get Old School / Real investigative reporting, critical objective and balanced analysis, one usually must go the alternative media / blogs to find out what has been hidden.

    For instance. We are told incessantly how safe and wonderful the mRNA vax is.

    Here’s a lady who acquired Guillane-Barre syndrome after her first injection. She called the Moderna representative, recorded the call, and was informed that “95% of vaccines are never approved” and that she “is now part of the Phase III Trials” and the vax is Not FDA Approved.

    https://vidmax.com/video/205736-moderna-rep-admits-during-phone-call-that-everyone-getting-vaccinated-is-part-of-phase-3-of-trails

    And here’s the slide from 10/20/2020 shown for less than a second at an FDA Hearing on the vax. It shows a wide range of nasty side effects.

    https://media.patriots.win/post/b948LJ2G.jpeg

    You’ll not find these things in the popular media. It took amateur journalists and bloggers to ferret out such things. If major/commercial media did their jobs, they’d earn a bit more trust. Thus far, they haven’t.

    240

    • #
      Hanrahan

      The general public are clueless

      None are scrupulously honest, even Fox USA is very guilty of censorship by omission. Outright lying? Not so much.

      The liberal leaning of the Murdoch sons shows on election nights when they call results too early.

      60

  • #
    Tilba Tilba

    Rasmussen has rather a “reputation” for being very conservative, and for asking questions in a way that delivers the desired result.

    Plus it’s hardly breaking news. Nearly all media for a century or more have had their individual editorial policies and political positions. And mostly it has been conservative, pro-business, anti-taxation, and so on.

    Hardly surprising – since major media are big businesses themselves, and usually owned by extremely wealthy conservative men – often in long family dynasties.

    Look at Murdoch – very far-right media owner who has enormous power and done enormous harm, making the world an uglier, more selfish, coarse, dishonest, distorted place,

    I wonder what percentage of Rasmussen’s purported “58%” are Fox-watching devotees? The station that brings you the election big lie, Trump worship, CRT demonisation, BLM vilification, climate change denial, Covid-19 vaccine fear-mongering, Gates-Soros-Fauci bashing, build-the-wall racism and xenophobia, and all-round white supremacy. Thanks Tucker!

    No wonder a percentage of the public think that the media are the “enemy of the people” … but the threat is from the right, not the left. There are hardly any “left” media anyway … as noted they are conservative or centrist big business.

    Even the allegedly most liberal – MSNBC, CNN, NYT, and Washington Post – are essentially pretty conservative. Being anti-Trump or pro-Democrat hardly makes one “left” LOL. They have to be fairly middle of the road in order to appeal to and hopefully grow their audience, the market.

    Being extreme either way in general isn’t good for business. I’m sceptical and critical of all media stories I read and consume (just as I am being here) – but believing they are “the enemy of the people” is wingnut conspiracy thinking, to my mind.

    04

    • #
      yarpos

      Rasmussen has a reputation to being closer to reality than the other pollsters. They arent there to tell you what you want to hear.

      20

  • #
    tom

    Driving to the job site today, we had the radio on. National news came on. 3 stories all related to the VIRUS. No mention of Cubans protesting, SA burning, just the virus.
    Hard to imagine there are places still under lockdown. We were set free in early May 2020. Have never owned a face diaper, no need for a jab. Somehow we are still alive and kicking.

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      Tilba Tilba

      Hard to imagine there are places still under lockdown. We were set free in early May 2020.

      Well, lucky you, but what is your point? There are millions who live in high-infection areas, with hospitals overwhelmed, and significant numbers of severe illness and deaths. Lockdowns have been shown to work, along with testing and contact-tracing. And masks.

      And something like 99% of Covid-19 hospitalisations & deaths are now among the unvaccinated. So jabs work as well.

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      • #
        R.B.

        I can’t find any evidence for your 99% claim. Israel had 84% of 70+ get two shots of Pfizer by February.

        JAMA Network HomeJAMA
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        News From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
        April 27, 2021
        Israel’s Real-life Evidence That Vaccine Can Prevent Severe COVID-19
        Bridget M. Kuehn, MSJ
        JAMA. 2021;325(16):1603. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.5617
        COVID-19 Resource Center
        After Israel’s national campaign vaccinated more than three-fourths of adults 70 years or older against SARS-CoV-2, the need for mechanical ventilation among patients with COVID-19 in that age group declined dramatically.

        Image description not available.
        Barry Slaven/sciencesource.com
        The country’s vaccination campaign began in December 2020 by prioritizing adults 60 years or older, health care workers, and those whose chronic medical conditions increased their risk of severe COVID-19. By February, 84% of adults 70 years or older had received 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. To determine whether the vaccinations prevented severe disease, researchers calculated the ratio of patients aged 70 years or older to those aged 50 years or younger with COVID-19 who required mechanical ventilation. The younger group was chosen as a comparator because its 2-dose vaccination coverage was only about 10% as of February.

        From October to December 2020, before the vaccination campaign began, a daily median of 84 patients aged 70 years or older required mechanical ventilation compared with 15 patients aged 50 years or younger—a ratio of about 6 to 1. By February, that ratio fell by two-thirds to about 2 to 1. The authors noted that their analysis, along with preliminary evidence posted on a preprint server, provide real-world evidence that the vaccines effectively protect against severe disease.

        Clearly, the vaccine has an effect but not 99%.

        10

      • #
        tom

        simple, we were never overwhelmed, our hospitals were bleeding $$ as they sat idle, somehow the grave digger kept up.
        If lockdowns work so well, why should we ever end them? What is the threshold? When suicides are greater than virus? just one life saved?

        50

      • #
        Lucky

        “Lockdowns have been shown to work”
        The government of Victoria Australia agrees.
        More is more.

        The stats on Victorian overwhelmed hospitals .. .?

        00

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        Tilba
        You may want to back up that 99% figure – complete and utter rubbish.

        In the UK we have more dying from covid vaccinated than unvaccinated.

        Ivermectin works, and more effectively than the vaccines, with a much better number needed to treat factor than any of the vaccines. And it does not have the baggage of all sorts of syndromes, deaths and adverse reactions.

        50

  • #
    Zigmaster

    60% seems to correlate closely with the real number of votes that Trump should’ve got, so this media trust figure is no surprise.

    160

  • #
    Neville

    So how much should we trust their ABC and so much of their political garbage and fantasies?
    What a pity that so called historians and Anthropologists etc take so long to correct obvious errors and stupidity.
    This Dark Emu nonsense has been allowed an access to children’s + some so called adult’s imaginations for far too long.
    Now even the SMH and The Age have allowed experts to challenge these fantasies and yet 250,000 of these books have been sold and the author has received Vic+ NSW Premier’s literary awards and years of promotion, support and adoration by their ABC etc.
    Andrew Bolt called out this nonsense years ago and had the support of Prof Blainey etc. That anyone believes that Aborigines have been residing in Australia for 120,000+ years is bizarre and the fantasy of any type of farming and animal enclosures etc is laughable and a very sick joke. Here’s the SMH link and I also feel the sense of outrage with Prof Sutton etc.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/anthropologist-and-archaeologist-say-dark-emu-was-littered-with-weak-evidence-and-unsourced-claims-20210611-p58089.html

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    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      Andrew Bolt called out this nonsense years ago and had the support of Prof Blainey etc.

      [Snip insults speculation -J] Much prefer to read Professor Peter Sutton … he knows the field.

      The 120,000 years of occupancy claim is certainly possible, but you need some evidence to support it. We have fairly solid evidence for 60,000 years … isn’t that sufficiently impressive?

      03

  • #
    PeterS

    This is just anecdotal evidence (below the actual evidence that exists and we discussed before) that demonstrates the election was a fraud since most Americans surely are not stupid. The other anecdotal evidence are the crowds that Trump has been and still is drawing at his speeches compare to those of Biden both before and after the election. All this and more are coming together and one of two things will occur. One, Americans are patient and will elect Trump at the next general election with a landslide that no voter fraud can prevent without being too obvious. Two, Americans are not patient and at some point they will say enough is enough and turn violent leading possibly to a civil war. Time will tell which outcome comes to fruition. Of course there is a third option but it doesn’t fit in with the anecdotal evidence. That unlikely option is too many Americans are asleep and so the enemy wins. I can’t see that happening given the nature of America’s history. It could happen in many years to come if immigration is allowe3d to run rampant, as is the case in some places in Europe, but that will be way beyond the next election if at all.

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  • #
    Neville

    The Bolter has come out swinging against Pascoe and in support of the Academic’s claims in the SMH. And he also used the F word.
    But will their ABC +Premiers+ Teachers etc and all the other delusional donkeys really apologise and admit that for years they believed in these stupid fairy tales?
    Here’s the Bolt quote.

    “ACADEMICS SAVAGE BRUCE PASCOE: ‘DISTORTS AND EXAGGERATES’

    “To me, white “Aboriginal historian” Bruce Pascoe is the biggest fra-d in Australian literary history. Now the Sydney Morning Herald admits two top academics prove his book Dark Emu, claiming Aborigines were actually farmers in towns, actually “distorts and exaggerates” and is “riddled with errors of fact”. Will the ABC finally say sorry”?
    BTW I deleted the u in Andrew’s F word above in case I end up in moderation again.

    150

  • #
    Ruairi

    We expected the fourth estate,
    To curb the might of the state
    Nearly all now agree,
    With the powers that be,
    But with ordinary folk can’t relate.

    140

  • #
    Rob

    The free world is suffering mightily from the disintegration of its Fourth Estate.
    The paucity of courageous, intelligent, and well informed journalists, clearly apparent in the discussion of “renewables”, is an example of mass public ignorance.
    On so many fronts, most people have no idea of what is coming at them. When it arrives, the level of angst and outrage will be horrendous.
    Until someone starts properly educating tomorrow’s journalists, ignorance will feed on ignorance with any pushback being cancelled.

    120

    • #
      PeterS

      Good summary of the situation the West is in. The decay started decades ago and it was very slow but effective at taking away a lot of values and standards the West used to fight and protect for in two world wars. It’s now at the stage the true nature of the dark forces among us is becoming too obvious for some but the decay has gone on for so long and so deep I find it hard to see how we can turn things around. In any case, there is more decay to come in the same fashion, slowly but surely. The longer this goes on the harder it will be to turn things around, assuming it’s not already too late. It all comes down to the proportion of people who are still willing to defend and die for the values and standards of the West of old, and not cave in to the West of today, which bares little resemblance.

      60

    • #
      Dave in the States

      It is the immorality of the “ends justify the means.” They are true believers in their own BS so they think that to lie a little here and there or take advantage of somebody because of their words is justified.

      40

    • #
      el gordo

      The invention of the interwebs saw the loss of journalist jobs around the world. Once the intellectual elite in society, not so much anymore.

      20

    • #
      Greg

      Rob for some time now I have called so called journos …..Repeaters.Its all from the same script repeated over all the major networks.

      40

      • #
        yarpos

        The main qualifications seems to be the ability to cut and paste, analysis and critical thinking not so much

        30

  • #
    OldOzzie

    The Establishment Democratic Media Complex Is Utter Garbage

    If you’ve been reading this blog, very little in Darryl Cooper’s piece (coming here via Glenn Greenwald) will be new to you. Everything here (the Russian collusion fantasy, the gaslighting, the massive Democratic Media Complex bias, the FISA abuse, the FBI corruption, etc.) has been covered before. However, Cooper’s value is in boiling down the obvious evidence of corruption in a way that everyone outside the Democratic Media Complex bubble can understand, as indicated by Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump both referencing the Twitter thread version.

    The value of the Cooper piece is that it gets us all on the same page.

    60

    • #
      PeterS

      Yes, as I said earlier the evilness of the established and growing elements of our Western society are becoming more and more brazen. They are no longer hiding their true colours. It’s so much easier now to tell who our real enemies are. Yet nothing is done about it. The ABC, for example still engage relentlessly in their propaganda and fake news, and in fact their tempo is increasing. I wonder how far they can go before our government says enough is enough. It appears never, which means the ABC can go as far as they like. They might as well fly the CCP flag. Perhaps they will eventually. It would not surprise me one iota.

      100

  • #
    Furiously Curious

    The Maricopa AZ recount results aren’t far off, and it’s pretty obvious it’s going to be a scandal. The Reps are saying they are double checking everything, as there will be law suits. Other states may well follow on with recounts. But I just can’t get excited at a re election of Trump. Lovely guy, no problem, but he just stumbled fortuitously into the phenomenon of a huge number or disenchanted voters, and he was able to rally them into a powerful force. But it takes more than one person to run a country, and he had few like minded people ( often due to his own personality) I reckon the fabled Solomon would struggle to untangle this mess. Short of razing Washington to the ground, and rebuilding in Kansas, with a ban on college educated, it’s all a fantasy.

    51

    • #
      Lance

      Right on Cue. The Democrats in the US Congress are opening up their “damage control” machine.

      “The 2020 U.S. election was filled with fraud; in order to retain that fraud, extreme measures are now being taken to impede, block, halt and stop any election audit that will reveal the corrupt activity. ”

      https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/07/14/house-democrats-launch-investigation-into-maricopa-county-audit/

      70

      • #
        PeterS

        The decay their is too deep. There are only one of two ways to resolve the issue and stop the deliberate plan to destroy the West. Either people stand up and fight (hopefully not), or better still at the next election Trump is elected in such a landslide victory it would set the stage for a complete flush out of the swamp even if it takes 10 years, which means Trump ought to do what other Presidents have done around the world; stay President for as long as it takes. That goes against the Constitution but so what. The Constitution doesn’t matter any more because it has already been smashed at the last election. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

        91

      • #
        yarpos

        Just the simple resistance to an open audit is the biggest of red flags. What better way to put all that to bed and get on with governing?

        20

  • #
    Flok

    56% is not just America. Same narratives are on the screens of all countries. Different languages at the same time.

    For your daily dose of depression turn the telly on. There you can find telephone numbers of all agencies that help people deal with issues that might bring up emotions. How good is that?

    10

  • #
    Alice Thermopolis

    One sign of media-rot surely is the relentless, strident and increasingly desperate “how great and good we are self-promotion, at least on the ABC, and also the BBC.

    120

  • #
    Ross

    Social media pretty well drives all journalism these days. Twitter in particular just leads to lazy sensationalist journalism in an echo chamber. Thankfully there’s a lot of people who can see through this. Even the younger generation realise that memes on Instagram or trends on Twitter are not realistic views of the real world. If you are a centre-right type politician you don’t have much choice. The inherent lefty bias in journalism which was always present is just now magnified. Trump tried to bypass the legacy press by using Twitter. Out of 220m people on Twitter Trump had 80m followers. So, it was successful for a while until the tech oligarchs just banned him. It seems like centre right politicians may need to go old fashioned to get their message out. Perhaps that’s why Trump still does rallies etc. Maybe back on soap boxes in the city square or handing out leaflets.

    100

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘Even the younger generation realise …..’

      Only half can differentiate, sorting the facts from junk by reading between the lines.

      Young people are influenced by parents views on news and teachers also have a big influence. Unfortunately the green/left bias of teachers has destroyed the hopes dreams and ambitions of a generation or two, this has to be rectified.

      71

  • #
    TdeF

    I blame Google.

    There was a time when the Age in Melbourne was one of the world’s best newspapers. And in all the classic, famous mastheads around the world journalism was a respected profession and journalists were famous and generally ethical, sticklers for the absolute truth and savage with lies. They needed ethics and courage, fearless. It was all funded by massive incomes from advertising.

    Like so many others, I used to wait outside the Age for the massive Saturday morning Classifieds. You bought everything from those advertisements and we could not imagine this changing. Then it all changed.

    Google is now the world’s biggest advertiser and the internet has spawned Alibaba and Amazon and Facebook must be close behind google. Even twitter. It is all driven by trillions in world advertising because without advertising most businesses cannot be found and would fail. 18th Century entrepreneurs Sears and Roebuck started with a catalog and trains for a unique distribution. It was revolutionary. Two years ago the company filed for bankruptcy.

    So well funded fiercely independent journalists no longer exist. We now have teenagers with opinions based on their life’s experience. So nothing at all. Degrees in arrogance and flippancy and socialism, maybe.

    Worse, the Michelle Grattan (Age Melbourne) school of journalism was about completely ignoring the facts and just telling people what you, the journalist think. So we have to read of what ‘senior’ journalists think of issues like Global warming. Paul Kelly. Alan Kohler. And of course in the rampage though the universities and the press, communists (who always call themselves socialists) always control the truth first. We are told Paul Kelly’s opinions are that of a senior man who has been doing the job for fifty years. Which does not mean he has a clue on Global Warming. Fundamentally no one pays for the truth any more. Or they do, but it is not what they get.

    In Australia in particular, their ABC has no interest in the facts, the truth or what politicians said. They openly abuse Prime Ministers and politicians who have different views. And what they present to the public is their extraordinary version of the truth. Trump was a fascist monster and Joe Biden is a saintly old man trying to repair the damage and save the planet.

    There is no real journalism, real reporting, no profession, no career. We are being lectured by political activists and in the case of the ABC/SBS, we are paying $30 million a week for Fake News and their Leftist views. And the only hope most people have for balance is in people like Andrew Bolt and Peta Credlin. And Andrew was a former Labor party member.

    For myself, I have to read between the lines, ferret out the facts and get my news from fiercely independent channels like Breitbart. The real journalists are independent, not cadres of any party.

    And when the Republicans take the house in 18 months, Biden will be impeached. Not least for what he did openly in Ukraine.

    200

    • #
      TdeF

      In Australia, I have been starved for news on China. Our Prime Minister presented the list of 14 major demands/complaints from China in their trade war with Australia, obviously for daring to question the origin of the Wuhan Flu, not even its rapid distribution to the rest of the world with the active cooperation of the Chinese controlled WHO. And now we know it was a French built laboratory for the CCP and funded at least in part by Dr Fauci in the US. The G7 group in the UK were allegedly shocked and horrified at the list and Britain has sent their new aircraft carrier based task force to the Asian Pacific region. So what did our newspapers tell us? Nothing.

      150

      • #
        Hanrahan

        The Poms don’t have enough aircraft to go with their carrier, they have a number of US Marine F 35s on board. The Poms will learn a lot from the Yanks so it’s all good.

        20

      • #
        Peter C

        Fundamentally No one pays for the truth anymore

        Or as my friend says :Why should I Pay money to be lied to?
        I cancelled my subscription to The Age and ordered the Epoch Times instead

        10

    • #
      Hanrahan

      And when the Republicans take the house in 18 months, Biden will be impeached.

      Wouldn’t it be delicious if Trump was Speaker? He is said to be responsive to the idea. DeSantis as President two years later would be great.

      70

  • #
    Brenda Spence

    What gets my goat (good kiwi expression) is the censorship by the media. They only ever present one side of the story.

    Try writing a comment in the Australian about Ivermectin, gene altering “vacines”, Americas Frontline Doctors, or natural climate variation, or the corruption in US elections, and you get rejected. Someone even has a username “Rejected” :-)).

    All the research being done on treatments for Covid is never mentioned likewise with climate change/global warming debunking.

    I have long given up on the rubbish West Australian and now, the Australian.

    On the groupthink think thing, the comment “extremely rare clotting side effect” comes out all the time.

    Thank goodness for the internet!

    150

    • #
      clarence.t

      Isn’t there something called a “D-Dimer test” that some doctor used, and found that a high proportion of vaccine test-subjects, had evidence of blood clotting ?

      (yes, that is what anyone that gets the GMO vaccine is, a test subject)

      80

    • #
      Annie

      What gets my goat (an expression we used for years in the UK!) is the endless repetition of ‘extremely rare clotting side effect’ and ‘safe and effective’. I’m utterly sick of hearing them and my inward thought each time is ‘Yeah, right! Who are you kidding?!’.

      60

      • #
        Hanrahan

        I have just now read that with the Delta variant it is death that is an “extremely rare” side effect. The case fatality rate, official stats from your home land, is 0.2% OR about 10% of the Alpha variant OR about that of the seasonal flu.

        This is a blessing in disguise.

        40

    • #
      Ross

      Likewise. If you even mention there are possible treatments for COVID your comment is rejected. Yet for decades if you fronted up to your GP suffering from “long flu” he/she would mutter something about a virus infection and then give you a script to antibiotics. Why, because the medical profession knows antibiotics not only work vs bacteria infection but also help with virus infection. Probably via the zinc ionophore effect. Try putting that in as a comment and its rejected. Or not actually rejected initially but probably not viewed by others and then rejected later. You can usually tell because the comment wont attract any likes.

      50

    • #
      Wirebird

      I did try to offer a comment on Ivermectin to The Australian, and it was indeed rejected! Only said that unlike the experiments on viruses in a petri dish, Ivermectin treatments used similar amounts to those used to treat parasites. Such a mild thing to say, surprised to be censored.

      60

  • #

    If I may,a slight modifier.
    58% of those who bothered to take the poll do not trust the media.

    For Who still trusts the Pollsters?

    After all the push polls and fabricated results to promote and drive their agenda..Who still wastes their time talking to pollsters?
    I would sooner watch paint dry,especially when so many polls are preshaped to obtain the desired results,truthful answers never seem to have a place in the “choices” offered up..

    So perhaps a less dim view of our fellow man might be in order,for an awful lot of practical conservative people have no time for pollsters.
    Or politicians.

    90

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Poop soup: China dumps sewage onto coral reefs, turns South China Sea into toilet

    Communist countries are renowned for their pollution, but China is taking it to a new level.

    Here’s their latest, which comes of their expansion into the South China Sea, according to WION of India:

    Swarms of Chinese vessels have dumped human waste and wastewater for years in a disputed area of the South China Sea, causing algae blooms that have damaged coral reefs and threatened fish in an unfolding catastrophe, a US-based expert said Monday.

    Satellite images over the last five years show how human waste, sewage and wastewater have accumulated and caused algae in a cluster of reefs in the Spratlys region where hundreds of Chinese fishing ships have anchored in batches, said Liz Derr, who heads Simularity Inc, a software company creating artificial intelligence technologies for satellite imagery analysis.

    90

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Algae blooms caused by high nutrient levels are far more damaging to coral than a little sun or heat.

      The efforts to reduce agricultural runoff were worthy but has long reached the point of diminished returns. Better agricultural practices save farmers fertiliser costs. Expensive fertiliser washed out to sea is a waste.

      20

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Here, tourist boats which are mere specs in the ocean must bring their sewerage back with them. Nothing they can do about the vomit on the decks but wash it overboard though. 🙂

        20

        • #
          clarence.t

          Used to refer to that as “berley

          20

          • #
            WXcycles

            If you ever worked at sea and had to hang your buttocks over the side each day, look down and you usually saw a congregation of small fish feasting at the high-table. Nothing gets wasted in a coral reef system. Least of all human fecal matter, the locals love it.

            60

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      That’s serious.

      00

  • #
    Serge Wright

    This is bigger than the media. The Democrats, the media, big tech and the government institutions have become the enemy of the people. The media are simply doing the bidding of their masters. The Marxist deep state has overtaken the entire nation and as Trump found out the hard way, these people will use any means required to win.

    100

  • #
    Rob Jones

    Were it not for the ABCoz, I believe I would have given up swearing some years ago. It is little more than vertically integrated, campaign pitch, mind rotting, civilization ending, Cultural Marxism which infests not only the News,Current Affairs, & Docos, but also their drama, comedy,religion/ethics–even the bloody gardening programs for Christ’s sake. Oh, and profanities too–swearing AND profanities.

    121

    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      [The ABC] is little more than vertically integrated, campaign pitch, mind rotting, civilization ending, Cultural Marxism which infests not only the News, Current Affairs, & Docos, but also their drama, comedy, religion/ethics–even the bloody gardening programs for Christ’s sake.

      That’s interesting … I actually love the ABC on so many levels … I can’t imagine life without it. It sets us apart from all those poverty-stricken countries that don’t have such a service … one that isn’t a total tool of capitalism.

      17

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        yarpos

        mmmmmm they can only aspire to be taxed to pay for a total tool of left wing indoctrination

        40

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        clarence.t

        Yes, the self-proclaimed victims of this world really love the ABC, it helps their tiny minds think that they are such good virtuous woke people.

        Cultural totalitarian marxism oozes from your every post TT, you reek in it. !

        But in reality, you know you couldn’t exist without capitalism.

        30

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    Dennis

    Please read the excellent book, Author Peter Sheehan – journalist: The Electronic Whorehouse…

    “I think we are dealing with an octopus …. advertising as news. It’s skilfully done. The methods of seducing the media, the ingenuity of the spin has reached a point where we, as a general public, have never been lied to by such sophisticated means as now.”

    John le Carre to Paul Sheehan

    “Lies, fabrications, character assassinations, reputational rapes, point scoring, axe grinding, sneering, smearing and generalised weaselling have become standard fare in the media.

    This is the terrain of the Electronic Whorehouse.”

    Paul Sheehan

    80

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    Tides of Mudgee

    The other night on commercial television news the grim reporting of the Covid spread included “that it has now spread to the regions (plural)”. Turns out ONE man, a builder from Sydney working on a project in Goulburn, had tested positive. ONE man!!!!! And that means it has spread to the regions. All ONE of it. Keep’em scared and keep’em under control. ToM

    80

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    Michael Hammer

    when the 4th estate becomes a 5th column

    50

  • #
    Ronin

    Surging cases, deadly covid…… the meeja tells us so.

    10

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  • #

    Given that typically these sort of polls underestimate conservative feelings (the shy conservative syndrome) its clear that a large majority have no faith in our media anymore.

    The most pressing issue here in AU is the ABC. Cease its ridiculous policy of wilfully refusing to follow the Charter on Climate Change, and remove half of its leftist staff and replace with conservatives. Install a Charter Compliance Officer to keep tabs on compliance and report to the Board and MD on adherence and ensure balanced programming and commentary, and have teeth to terminate serial offenders.

    Then we actually need Scott Morrisons ministers to step up and attack falsehoods from the media. And they are legion…Covid is a fertile ground of falsehoods, misinformation and outright lying by numerous parties in the media, and, sadly, govt.

    The BOM and CSIRO need to have the riot act read related to diligent application of the scientific method and an end to ideologically, rather than scientifically based, reporting.

    Pigs might fly? I believe you will find that the average Australian does not appreciate the ABC lectures and smarmy presenters only interested in their own warped version of the universe, a version which is completely alien to the vast majority of Australians. I actually believe that people want to hear the truth, and that being honest on covid (start with Ivermectin, add in who is at risk and the dangers of the vaccines would be a good start) is the best way to run the country rather than hysterical statements and TV ads.

    60

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    gowest

    Latest Tucker Carlson shows Jennifer Rene Psaki telling everyone that their govt is working with Facebook etc to remove mis-information .. The war is real and it is live!

    70

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    CHRIS

    The ABC, CSIRO and the BOM are the triumverate of left-wing bias. All three entities should be privatised, so that the wage-protected public serpents of these disgraces be made to find some other way of earning a living.

    31

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    Ronin

    The look on that abc tool Anthony Greens face when labor lost the unloseable election was gold, just goes to show how biased our so called election results are
    broadcast to us.

    10