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Anarchist Age Weekly Review
Number 637 4th April-10th April 2005 -

Posted here mainly to reminder myself to keep reading and distributing Joe's stuff...



Its Australian Anarchista talk. A weekly summary/comment from Dr Joseph TOSCANO / Libertarian Workers For A Self-Managed Society.

A Snippet:

STOP PRESS: BURIED ALIVE

There´s one way to skin a cat and there´s more than one way to bury a story. The most important report delivered on the state of the planet and the effects the human race has and will have on the health of the planet, turned out to be a one day wonder. Arguably the most extraordinary story of the century wasn´t even picked up by the Murdoch press. Even those media outlets that gave the story an airing dropped it within 24 hours. No in depth analysis, no endless debates, no mention about the role capitalism is playing in the current crisis.



Too many distractions, too much money to be made to give the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment group any space. The death of an old man, whose contribution to the world´s welfare is very questionable, a relatively small earthquake in Indonesia, the horse races, Kylie´s bum, boring pedestrian reality shows, even more boring TV shows and movies are much, much more important than learned opinions of 1350 scientists from 95 countries on the fate of the planet.

News that doesn´t fit the manufactured consensus is soon forgotten. Anything else, the world´s largest pumpkin, the next gruesome crime, the antics of professional sports players, the next whiz bang manufactured need, product placement, all have a much more important role to babble than news that doesn´t fit their own view. The monopoly media´s strength lies in its ability to set the agenda. You don´t need censorship when you enjoy a monopoly on the distribution of information. You don´t need censorship when you can appoint editorial staff that supports your world view. You don´t need censorship when the staff you hire know that if they step out of line they´ll find it difficult to ever find a job in the same industry again.

The only positive note to this dirge of despair is that they will not be able to ignore reality for much longer. The problem is that it may be too late to do anything about reality when they are finally forced to ´see the light´.

Anarchist Age Weekly Review