Saturday, February 18, 2017

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP NAMES SOME PRESS AS ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE - AN EXAGGERATION CONTAINING A GREAT DEAL OF TRUTH - HERE ARE THE REAL REASONS FOR THIS SITUATION - I WISH HIM WELL BUT CHANGING IT IS A TASK FOR THE GODS


COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON ZERO HEDGE



‘Trump Declares CNN, NYT, CBS, ABC And NBC Are "The Enemy of The American People"’

Well, of course, it is an exaggeration.

But not such an exaggeration as to be untrue.

Constantly misinforming people about important matters is a very pernicious practice.

It certainly does not support democracy or respect for rights or good government. It does support secrecy, bad government decisions, and a sense of privilege in a class of people.

However, the corporate press only does what it does because of a long history of encouragement and cooperation with government. There have even been demands by government at times.

And there has always been a filthy underground relationship between the press and security services like CIA. Trump has just been stung by that very thing.

America has a fundamental lack of honesty in all of its national institutions. Not too much can change unless that underlying reality is changed.

The reason for that is that every government, no matter which party, is doing things for which the people never voted. Indeed, it is often doing things that hurt or disadvantage ordinary people, including wars, coups, dark operations, and supporting tyrants and monarchs of every description.

Since WWII the United States has been almost continuously at war. None of it was about defense. None of it was in the interests of the American people as a whole. None of it brought any benefits to ordinary Americans. All of it wasted immense wealth and plenty of lives. And all of it was about the insider ruling establishment enjoying the game of pushing people around all over the planet.

We all know the clichéd stories of Europe’s privileged classes in the 17th or 18th century. A peasant who was in the road in front of a Duke’s carriage became “roadkill.” What too many Americans do not in the least understand is that that is exactly how their government behaves abroad. Exactly. That’s why the same flag many Americans honor at home is literally hated abroad as a symbol of violence and oppression.

What the press has done has helped this all to happen, but it didn’t happen because of the press. It happened because of government after government serving the narrow interests of the power establishment. But that is the environment which helped “grow” the terrible press that America has.

And that utterly bent press has treated Donald Trump with that same attitude carried over. He has been viewed as a threat to the power establishment and its dirty little insider games of re-ordering the planet for its benefit and to its liking.

You cannot have it both ways, be a world empire and a decent country at home. The two realities are utterly incompatible, and I’m not sure that most Americans truly understand that.

It will be an immense task to change enough in America’s government to even begin to undoing the behavior of the press and other institutions.

I wish the President well in the effort, but it is a task for the gods.