Hostage of capitalism: American news media
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Dr. Charles Mercieca
THE New Webster's Dictionary describes capitalism as an economic system characterised by private ownership of natural resources and means of production. The same dictionary describes hostage as a person handed over to an enemy as a pledge for the performance of certain conditions. Capitalism, by its very nature, makes the government subservient to private enterprise, in particular to big business or large corporations.
This explains why the United States government never does anything that may be displeasing to the rich and powerful that control the nation's economy. What is outrageous in capitalism is to see how the rich and the powerful control with iron fist the American government. As Pope John Paul II well pointed out during the eighties, the system of capitalism, along with that of communism, advances its causes through the exploitation of people.
Nowadays the world is in a very bad shape because during the twentieth century two vicious systems - communism and capitalism - dominated the world. Communism collapsed and capitalism emerged immediately as the sole vicious element in the world that was determined to control the economic resources of every single nation conceivable. This is initially done through diplomatic means. But when diplomacy fails then the industrial capitalists use their government to wage ruthless and barbaric wars.
Relative to the two vicious systems of communism and capitalism we notice the following difference. While in communism those who are critical of the system disappear from sight, in capitalism those who are critical of the system are completely ignored. The major news media, which is controlled by the rich, would not even say one word about them. In fact, fanatic adherents of capitalism in the USA tend to view those that dare to talk of peace as terrorists!
The three largest corporations in the United States are the weapons industry, the construction companies, and the oil enterprise. They usually work hand in hand in their effort to ccumulate all the money and wealth in the world that is conceivable. They may be viewed as the three legs of a tripod. Each one needs the other for support in the continued accumulation of money and wealth. The weapons industry works on the destruction of the infrastructure of nations, the demolition of historical buildings and places of habitation, the eradication of schools and hospitals as well as the demolition of bridges and roads.
Then the construction companies will step in to rebuild everything from scratch taking billions of dollars mostly from the health care and education of people. In this process, the oil enterprise plans and plots the monopoly of their product on a global scale. In view of this capitalist approach, numerous atrocities are committed mostly against countless millions of innocent people. The vast majority of these are women, children, the elderly and the sick. Millions are starving to death in Africa alone while other millions are suffering from AIDS, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and cancer because all the resources of their nation go to the purchase of weapons and the waging of wars.
Needless to say, the American people are never given the opportunity to learn about the enormous suffering and hardship their capitalistic system has inflicted upon virtually three billion people that compose half of the world's entire population. The reason is simple. The industrial capitalists have purchased all the major news media relative to television stations and newspapers in particular. Such news media are controlled with iron fist. American reporters who seek to be objective are not allowed to bring any news that may instigate a reaction by the American people against the brutal actions of big corporations.
This explains why every American news reporter who dares to bring news critical of the barbaric means the United States uses against other nations is immediately fired from his/her job or given a serious reprimand. You never hear leading television news reporters like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokow, Dan Rather, Ted Koppel and several others uttering one word that is critical of American war policies. They never say anything critical relative to the US handling of its global war policies. They certainly would want to do it but they know they are kept hostage. Their job would be at stake very seriously if they were ever to dare to say one word that is negative about any war that the US is engaged in.
In the early part of the third millennium an article was written entitle: Charlatans of America. Any one that wishes a copy of this article may e-mail a note to mercieca@knology.net This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and it will be sent that very same week. This article demonstrates very clearly how the American news reporters hardly ever give news about the tragedies that are going on in the world, which stem from the exploitation of capitalism especially. Instead of giving a real picture of what is going on in the world, they constantly hammer on the same insignificant topics so as to distract the American people from the sad realities the world is facing.
When in the United States we pick up major newspapers or watch television news, American news-reporters talk regularly of some fault observed in a leading American politician or well-known figure and they continue to hammer on it day in and day out. This may be illustrated by such events ranging from the recent episode of Michael Jackson who has been accused of molesting children to the previous episode of the so-called Clinton-Monica-Sex. For the American news reporters the whole world seems to be the United States. There is hardly any news about the continent of Africa where millions are homeless and they are dying monthly of AIDS, starvation and all kind of diseases.
Besides, when American news reporters bring news on Latin America, such news is always negative with no virtual exception at all. They speak on the traffic of drugs, of coups against legitimate government, and of anything that is destructive in any way possible. For example, they never say anything about the phenomenal progress that took place in Cuba over the past four decades. They never try to show the progress that occurred in Cuba, which had over 90% of its people illiterate and the highest infant mortality in virtually the whole world, along with the fact that it had no virtual native doctors and university professors.
The American news media never reports on the positive aspects of this Island nation. For example, today in Cuba there are no homeless people, over 90% of the population are literate, while people everywhere are provided with a free health care system and free education that includes also the university level. Besides, Cuba nowadays has the lowest infant morality rate in virtually the whole world, even lower than that of the United States, and it provides more medical doctors to developing nations than any other country on earth, including the United States. Besides, Cuba took a gigantic step forward in making its military used mostly for constructive and humanitarian purposes.
When it comes to Europe and Asia, American news reporters give news that deal with those nations where the United States is involved militarily or otherwise. When this happens, the intention is never to let the American people know about what is going on in the world. On the contrary, the sole purpose would be to promote the exclusive interests of the American rich and powerful who control the entire country. American news reporters of the leading news media try to manipulate the minds of the American people as to make them more subservient to greedy and heartless capitalists.
As stated earlier, American reporters, out of fear that they may lose their job or be seriously reprimanded by their rich capitalist bosses who feel they own not only the American nation but the world as well, do this intentionally. In view of this, it is obvious that American news reporters, no matter what a façade they try to portray, they have become total hostages of capitalism, which is revealed in their inability to criticise constantly in the open US belligerent foreign policies that have made millions go to their grave already and that have inflicted on several other millions in Africa, South America, and around the world at large so much needless pain and suffering.
However, we should not get discouraged at all with this unpleasant picture. Ascetical writers tell us that we advance in life in proportion to the problems we encounter. The time for the abrupt collapse of capitalism is behind the corner. It will happen same way as it happened to communism: all of a sudden at a time least expected. At that time, American news reporters will take a big sigh of relief. For the first time in several decades they find then that they could bring to the American people the news as it meant to be, that is, based exclusively on the realities, which surround the world, not only negatively but also positively.
We do find positive and constructive articles in a number of journals and newspapers that happen to have small circulation. Big corporations or industries own widely circulated media that would reach millions of people. Their news-reporters are strictly prohibited to bring any news critical of their product. This explains why in the United States the major television networks and newspapers never say one word critical of weapons and wars. In fact, those that show to be sympathetic to weapons and wars are viewed as patriotic! The American people need to realise that they themselves have become hostages as well. They need to take drastic steps to whip things into order properly, the sooner the better.
Internet
THE New Webster's Dictionary describes capitalism as an economic system characterised by private ownership of natural resources and means of production. The same dictionary describes hostage as a person handed over to an enemy as a pledge for the performance of certain conditions. Capitalism, by its very nature, makes the government subservient to private enterprise, in particular to big business or large corporations.
This explains why the United States government never does anything that may be displeasing to the rich and powerful that control the nation's economy. What is outrageous in capitalism is to see how the rich and the powerful control with iron fist the American government. As Pope John Paul II well pointed out during the eighties, the system of capitalism, along with that of communism, advances its causes through the exploitation of people.
Nowadays the world is in a very bad shape because during the twentieth century two vicious systems - communism and capitalism - dominated the world. Communism collapsed and capitalism emerged immediately as the sole vicious element in the world that was determined to control the economic resources of every single nation conceivable. This is initially done through diplomatic means. But when diplomacy fails then the industrial capitalists use their government to wage ruthless and barbaric wars.
Relative to the two vicious systems of communism and capitalism we notice the following difference. While in communism those who are critical of the system disappear from sight, in capitalism those who are critical of the system are completely ignored. The major news media, which is controlled by the rich, would not even say one word about them. In fact, fanatic adherents of capitalism in the USA tend to view those that dare to talk of peace as terrorists!
The three largest corporations in the United States are the weapons industry, the construction companies, and the oil enterprise. They usually work hand in hand in their effort to ccumulate all the money and wealth in the world that is conceivable. They may be viewed as the three legs of a tripod. Each one needs the other for support in the continued accumulation of money and wealth. The weapons industry works on the destruction of the infrastructure of nations, the demolition of historical buildings and places of habitation, the eradication of schools and hospitals as well as the demolition of bridges and roads.
Then the construction companies will step in to rebuild everything from scratch taking billions of dollars mostly from the health care and education of people. In this process, the oil enterprise plans and plots the monopoly of their product on a global scale. In view of this capitalist approach, numerous atrocities are committed mostly against countless millions of innocent people. The vast majority of these are women, children, the elderly and the sick. Millions are starving to death in Africa alone while other millions are suffering from AIDS, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and cancer because all the resources of their nation go to the purchase of weapons and the waging of wars.
Needless to say, the American people are never given the opportunity to learn about the enormous suffering and hardship their capitalistic system has inflicted upon virtually three billion people that compose half of the world's entire population. The reason is simple. The industrial capitalists have purchased all the major news media relative to television stations and newspapers in particular. Such news media are controlled with iron fist. American reporters who seek to be objective are not allowed to bring any news that may instigate a reaction by the American people against the brutal actions of big corporations.
This explains why every American news reporter who dares to bring news critical of the barbaric means the United States uses against other nations is immediately fired from his/her job or given a serious reprimand. You never hear leading television news reporters like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokow, Dan Rather, Ted Koppel and several others uttering one word that is critical of American war policies. They never say anything critical relative to the US handling of its global war policies. They certainly would want to do it but they know they are kept hostage. Their job would be at stake very seriously if they were ever to dare to say one word that is negative about any war that the US is engaged in.
In the early part of the third millennium an article was written entitle: Charlatans of America. Any one that wishes a copy of this article may e-mail a note to mercieca@knology.net This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and it will be sent that very same week. This article demonstrates very clearly how the American news reporters hardly ever give news about the tragedies that are going on in the world, which stem from the exploitation of capitalism especially. Instead of giving a real picture of what is going on in the world, they constantly hammer on the same insignificant topics so as to distract the American people from the sad realities the world is facing.
When in the United States we pick up major newspapers or watch television news, American news-reporters talk regularly of some fault observed in a leading American politician or well-known figure and they continue to hammer on it day in and day out. This may be illustrated by such events ranging from the recent episode of Michael Jackson who has been accused of molesting children to the previous episode of the so-called Clinton-Monica-Sex. For the American news reporters the whole world seems to be the United States. There is hardly any news about the continent of Africa where millions are homeless and they are dying monthly of AIDS, starvation and all kind of diseases.
Besides, when American news reporters bring news on Latin America, such news is always negative with no virtual exception at all. They speak on the traffic of drugs, of coups against legitimate government, and of anything that is destructive in any way possible. For example, they never say anything about the phenomenal progress that took place in Cuba over the past four decades. They never try to show the progress that occurred in Cuba, which had over 90% of its people illiterate and the highest infant mortality in virtually the whole world, along with the fact that it had no virtual native doctors and university professors.
The American news media never reports on the positive aspects of this Island nation. For example, today in Cuba there are no homeless people, over 90% of the population are literate, while people everywhere are provided with a free health care system and free education that includes also the university level. Besides, Cuba nowadays has the lowest infant morality rate in virtually the whole world, even lower than that of the United States, and it provides more medical doctors to developing nations than any other country on earth, including the United States. Besides, Cuba took a gigantic step forward in making its military used mostly for constructive and humanitarian purposes.
When it comes to Europe and Asia, American news reporters give news that deal with those nations where the United States is involved militarily or otherwise. When this happens, the intention is never to let the American people know about what is going on in the world. On the contrary, the sole purpose would be to promote the exclusive interests of the American rich and powerful who control the entire country. American news reporters of the leading news media try to manipulate the minds of the American people as to make them more subservient to greedy and heartless capitalists.
As stated earlier, American reporters, out of fear that they may lose their job or be seriously reprimanded by their rich capitalist bosses who feel they own not only the American nation but the world as well, do this intentionally. In view of this, it is obvious that American news reporters, no matter what a façade they try to portray, they have become total hostages of capitalism, which is revealed in their inability to criticise constantly in the open US belligerent foreign policies that have made millions go to their grave already and that have inflicted on several other millions in Africa, South America, and around the world at large so much needless pain and suffering.
However, we should not get discouraged at all with this unpleasant picture. Ascetical writers tell us that we advance in life in proportion to the problems we encounter. The time for the abrupt collapse of capitalism is behind the corner. It will happen same way as it happened to communism: all of a sudden at a time least expected. At that time, American news reporters will take a big sigh of relief. For the first time in several decades they find then that they could bring to the American people the news as it meant to be, that is, based exclusively on the realities, which surround the world, not only negatively but also positively.
We do find positive and constructive articles in a number of journals and newspapers that happen to have small circulation. Big corporations or industries own widely circulated media that would reach millions of people. Their news-reporters are strictly prohibited to bring any news critical of their product. This explains why in the United States the major television networks and newspapers never say one word critical of weapons and wars. In fact, those that show to be sympathetic to weapons and wars are viewed as patriotic! The American people need to realise that they themselves have become hostages as well. They need to take drastic steps to whip things into order properly, the sooner the better.
Internet