"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts."
This quote from the late Senator (D-NY) reflects a core tenet of Western Civilization since the enlightenment and has been under siege for the last 40 years by the forces of Post-Modernism, Leftist ideologies (including National Socialism which perfected the "Big Lie"), and contemporary Political Correctness. Many Conservatives believe that eventually facts, and reality, will assert themselves, yet there is reason for great concern.
Psychoanalysts recognize that the unconscious mind is much more powerful in shaping our perception of reality than the conscious mind. The concept of Psychic Determinism includes the recognition that our perceptions are shaped to such a degree by our expectations and our fantasies that the most fundamental perceptions themselves are questionable.
The idea that perceptions are influenced by unconscious factors is a reason that even eye-witness testimony must be confirmed before the facts of a case are settled.
A corollary to the concept would include the recognition that rationality is a thin construct, of very recent evolutionary vintage, which rests upon a foundation of instinctually driven irrationality. As just one example, the ability to delay short term gratification in favor of longer term gratifications requires a rational assessment of the risks and rewards of our behavior. Yet for most people, it is much easier to obtain the instant gratification and then use our rational abilities to explain the dysfunctional behavior in ways which do not threaten our self esteem or self concept. An obvious example is the obese person who sees himself as overweight because of his "slow metabolism." Slow metabolism does not explain why someone takes in more calories than they need; it is a partial explanation that allows them to minimize their shame at being unable to control their appetite. In a similar vein, a married man having an affair who convinces himself that his behavior isn't harming anyone (and besides his wife is unresponsive), is merely rationalizing behavior which otherwise would cause intolerable guilt and shame; by such rationalization he is then able to continue to indulge the behavior.
People spend years in therapy trying to understand and change the distorted ways in which they perceive their reality, yet in some extremely significant spheres, we pretend that such problems do not exist. This is as dangerous for our society as such distortion can be for an individual.
Some of our present difficulties in the Middle East are being compounded by the behavior of those who we have always relied upon to inform us of the "facts." That the MSM has been failing for a long time is not news, but the levels of dishonesty and dysfunction are only now, in the age of the Blogosphere, becoming clear.
Flopping Aces was one of the first with the story of how our MSM is allowing itself to be used as a conduit for enemy propaganda. The AP has been printing and disseminating disinformation supplied by enemy agents as if it were factual data from Iraq. This is not just a case of the MSM failing to report "good news" to off set their innumerable "bad news" stories, but actually "reporting" stories made up out of whole cloth to suggest the Iraq theater in the war against Islamic fascism is even more of a disaster than it is! This is a page right out of al Qaeda's play book and the AP, only the most recent and egregious culprit, has still not noticed.
Michelle Malkin has a though round up of news and links.
Patterico has done yeoman work in his post exposing the perfidy of the LA Times: Is the L.A. Times Repeating Enemy Propaganda? Or Is There Another Reason The Paper Is Getting Basic Facts Wrong and Failing to Report the Military’s Side?
The reporting from Iraq is following a Vietnam template; the misreporting from Vietnam led the American people to believe that the war was unwinnable. We eventually abandoned the South and instead of the South Vietnamese having a vibrant, modern society, akin to the South Koreans, we allowed them to fall under the sway of the Communist North; it is only recently that Vietnam has begun to emerge from their disastrous Communist victory. Repeating the MSM "success": in Iraq would be disastrous for our friends in the Middle East, and will eventually exact a tremendously high price around the world. Bruce Kesler links to a New York Sun article which explores the journalistic malpractice of the Vietnam era and asks a pertinent question:
The conclusion is here, that our major media owe us and their owncredibility basic journalistic transparency and standards.
Elemental standards of journalism include that headlines should accurately reflect the story, and that a story should be verifiable and corroborated. Instead, much of the major media is too often engaged in tabloid journalism: rumor-mongering and sensationalism.
The MSM has not been forthcoming about its policies and controls in its use of Iraqi stringers. The MSM has not been forthcoming in verifying the statements of “witnesses”, instead echoing their statements….
The MSM has a responsibility to itself and to Americans to start coming clean and clear about its reporting policies and practices, and enforcing them. Or, admit to being a tabloid journalism, not claim to be reporters of record.
The key question that must be answered is where the funding will come from for a major, credible examination of major media reporting in Iraq? It's not coming from the major media, or J-schools, or J-journals. Their paychecks depend upon not revealing the Emperor's illusory threads. It hasn't come from a Republican Congress and is even less likely from a Democrat one, as politicians avoid retribution for their own selfish survival over their national duty. Where's a patriotic billionaire when one needs one?
It is sadly becoming apparent that when people need reality to support their unconsciously or ideologically driven world view, they will often do grave damage to reality. The fact that this is often done on an unconscious basis is bad enough; when done with full awareness, it is even more execrable. No one is any longer surprised to find that our MSM, in their heedless pursuit of a "higher truth" have become willing to sacrifice all notions of fairness and objectivity in their reporting. Unfortunately, their "created truth" has real world effects. Opinions based on faulty reporting create facts that have real repercussions.
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