THE NARRATIVE
by Malik Isasis










Imagine if you will, a playground.

There are lots of children.

George W. Bush is like that kid who would do anything if you dared him because he believes his actions would substitute as bravery and cover for his intellectual and emotional short-comings; the corporate media is like that kid on the playground who eggs-on others by cheering on the foolish acts. Once a foolish act is committed, it is rewarded by praise.

For months now, I’ve stated in several columns that Bush will not listen to Congress or the American people. He doesn’t have to, the media eggs him on, and he ups the ante by doing more foolish acts. It’s a sick cycle that is perpetuated by the corporate media. The symbiotic relationship works because the media helps Bush to create 'monsters' around the world such as President Hugo Chavez of Venezula and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, and then challenges him, “What are you going to do about it?”

As the United States’ Occupation of Iraq falls apart, the corporate media continues to use the narrative, ‘Support the troops.’ What in the hell does ‘Support the troops’, mean? Well, absolutely nothing. Nothing, because ‘Support the troops’ is a well-researched slogan designed by the neocons to stop debate, and to stop the opposition from uncovering one of the largest war-profiteering-money-laundering schemes the world has ever seen.

The media uses ‘Support the troops’, language to box in the battered-wife syndrome Democratic Party. It works too; because the Democrats don’t frame their own debates or create their own narrative, they like the media, use the Republicans’ and neocons’ narratives.

Back to the playground.

Like those bullies who are able to see others weaknesses and eggs-on self-destructive behaviors; the corporate media are able to be kingmakers, take Barack Obama for instance. Since revealing that he would run for president, the corporate media have built him up good, boy—just so they can pick a fight with Hillary Clinton. Most of cable news is keeping political score between Barack and Hillary with weekly, sometimes daily polls. Hillary and Barack are purposely being overexposed so that they can be easily marginalized.

This is all distraction, as the current president is picking a fight with Iran and using the same tired reasoning that was used to invade Iraq.

PUNDITRY

There is a very special place in hell for pundits like Glenn Beck, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, all of Fox News’ on-air talent, Dick Morris, and all of radio conservative talk show hosts.

When George W. Bush takes a shit, they are what fall into the toilet.

The punditry-class is responsible for the destructive right-wing echo chamber. Source Watch defines echo chamber, as a colloquial term used to describe a group of media outlets that tend to parrot each other's uncritical reports on the views of a single source, or that otherwise relies on unquestioning repetition of official sources.

The right-wing pundits just make shit up, for instance blaming the Clinton Campaign for an Obama smear. Right-wing pundits feeds misinformation into the mainstream media, and the corporate pundits then vomits this bile out as news. A good insight into the anatomy of the right wing echo chamber is documented by a Media Matters’ investigation. Look at the timeline.

The mighty turd Rush Limbaugh, has referred to Barack Obama as ‘Halfrican’, ‘Odumbo’ , and ‘Obama-Osama’.

People like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Dick Morris and Sean Hannity are petulant, and spread ideological simplemindedness in the form of bigoted-racist propaganda against people of color, the new black: Mexicans and Muslims.

Day after day, they plague the airwaves with ideological sickness, which shapes the narrative of the mainstream punditry such as Tim Russert and George Stephanopulous who give credence to misinformation by the Bush Public Relations Administration. Russert and Stephanopulous often recite neocons’ talking points when discussing Iraq with Democratic politicians. The Democratic politicians then shamelessly, frame the debate with these pundits using the same narrative that was created by the Republican Party. As argued in my earlier column When the Rainbow Isn’t Enough, There is no Iraq war. There is an Iraq Occupation. A military occupation is defined as a condition in which territory is under the effective control of a foreign-armed force. This is a fact on the ground, and a fact the Democrats have to use to accurately define policy in Iraq.

The pundits are nothing more than a sewing circle, creating whispering campaigns, and misinformation that is picked up by the mainstream corporate media.

Republican? Then it must be true.

Since the Iraq invasion and now the Iraq Occupation, progressives, and liberals have spoken out about how the Bush Public Relations Administration has failed in Iraq due to ineptitude. For years, this has been the stance. Now that Chuck Hagel has challenged Bush’s blood lust, the corporate media’s ass-kissery is shameless:

Second, as his stock goes down among Republicans, it goes up among independents. Even liberals might conclude that it will take a certified war hero - Hagel won two Purple Hearts in Vietnam - to make a credible exit from Iraq.

Even the battered-wife syndrome Democratic Party sight Hagel and other Republicans to bolster and legitimized their position against the escalation of the Iraq Occupation. Another example of Democrats using Republican talking points to advance policy.

The New Danger

The corporate media is one of the most destructive forces in American culture. Remember the Roman gladiatorial combats? Man versus man—man versus beast? Thousands would pack the coliseum just to watch the bloody carnage; what about some of the theocratic governments in the Middle East where there are government sponsored stonings or beheadings in a soccer stadium? Or how about in the early 20th century America, where people would get dressed in their Sunday’s best to see a lynching?

This is what the corporate media tries to tap into, humanity’s morbid fascination with violence, destruction and death. The corporate media has a way of transforming this carnage into heroism. The Bush Public Relations Administration has tapped into this distorted heroism.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney sit at their thrones in the Iraqi Coliseum, high atop their ivory towers, poised to attack Iran, using the same Iraq strategy. Bush and Cheney are engorged with power; they are self-indulgent; they are mad. Bush and Cheney feast on the flesh of the weak Congress. They have deficated on the Constitution, while the American people are awakening to Bush's petulance, the Congress are still trying to find their backbone. If we were witnessing this strange dynamic in another country we would question why the people aren't rising up; the people aren't rising up because in the words of media critic Ben Bagdikian, "At issue is the possession of power to surround almost every man, woman and child in the country with controlled images and words, to socialize each new generation of Americans, to alter the political agenda of the country."

Since most Americans get their news from the television, it's time to turn off the television.

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