Are you talking about how the news was perceived as “fact based” in the past? If so, I agree it was definitely much more accepted that way. But, I wouldn’t say it actually was.
The Internet has largely made the ability of the media, to form a universal narrative about the acts of US imperialism, much more difficult. That is why the media landscape has had to largely shift from a form of direct propaganda (forming a universal narrative for the majority of the population to believe) to a form of multiple sets of propaganda. The media today is not really lying any less than it did in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, etc. It just has to lie with multiple narratives. It’s less about forming a unifying narrative than it is about making it feel like “the truth” is unattainable.
The “post truth world” is not implying that we once lived in a world of truth and facts. It’s describing the shift in how people feel about the world. They use to feel comfortable in believing “the truth” about Communism. Or “the truth” about how “they hate us for our freedoms” (when we suffered the consequences of blowback on 9/11).
The media has largely gone from manufacturing consent through forming “the truth” of a single narrative to, instead, manufacturing consent through
confusion. The Genocide of Palestine was “complicated” and “Israel denies”.
It’s why our world is filled with doomerism and apathy. We are no longer kept passive by a comforting lie that made us feel good. We are now kept passive in an uncomfortable feeling of powerlessness as we witness the crimes of our country live in 4k.
The only “comfort” we feel is that maybe things can “go back” to how they use to be. When, in reality, they were never that way to begin with. And, well, that’s the hardest thing these days to get people to understand. They want to believe it’s “the digital age” that caused it. They want to believe that Trump is a special evil and that once he’s gone we won’t be so awful.
Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Palestine. These are not new forms of evil that the American empire is engaging in. Trump is only putting his own (very unapologetic) style onto crimes the US has been engaging in for a long time.
Are you talking about how the news was perceived as “fact based” in the past? If so, I agree it was definitely much more accepted that way. But, I wouldn’t say it actually was.
The Internet has largely made the ability of the media, to form a universal narrative about the acts of US imperialism, much more difficult. That is why the media landscape has had to largely shift from a form of direct propaganda (forming a universal narrative for the majority of the population to believe) to a form of multiple sets of propaganda. The media today is not really lying any less than it did in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, etc. It just has to lie with multiple narratives. It’s less about forming a unifying narrative than it is about making it feel like “the truth” is unattainable.
The “post truth world” is not implying that we once lived in a world of truth and facts. It’s describing the shift in how people feel about the world. They use to feel comfortable in believing “the truth” about Communism. Or “the truth” about how “they hate us for our freedoms” (when we suffered the consequences of blowback on 9/11).
The media has largely gone from manufacturing consent through forming “the truth” of a single narrative to, instead, manufacturing consent through confusion. The Genocide of Palestine was “complicated” and “Israel denies”.
It’s why our world is filled with doomerism and apathy. We are no longer kept passive by a comforting lie that made us feel good. We are now kept passive in an uncomfortable feeling of powerlessness as we witness the crimes of our country live in 4k.
The only “comfort” we feel is that maybe things can “go back” to how they use to be. When, in reality, they were never that way to begin with. And, well, that’s the hardest thing these days to get people to understand. They want to believe it’s “the digital age” that caused it. They want to believe that Trump is a special evil and that once he’s gone we won’t be so awful.
Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Palestine. These are not new forms of evil that the American empire is engaging in. Trump is only putting his own (very unapologetic) style onto crimes the US has been engaging in for a long time.
Well said