Comments for The Disinformation Society at http://atlanticfreepress.com , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://atlanticfreepress.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:17:30 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2373-the-disinformation-society.html#comment-3065 I am a retired Exploration Director. I once had a discussion with our marketing VP about CERA's notoriously bad predictions. He agreed and had argued that they not be renewed because their predictions were worthless. So, not all in the oil industry think Yergin and Co. are doing a good job Glenn Morton - a guest Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:12:50 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2373-the-disinformation-society.html#comment-2995 Kunstler is very insightful, but his "allergy" is also his blind spot. He doesn't see the connection between Wall Street and the CIA but the execs and high ranking officials from those two powerhouses appear to be playing a constant game of musical chairs. The corporate, government, and the media ties are deep - at this point verging on the original definition of fascism. These closely knit groups have collaborated for their mutual benefit and selective advantage, it is the logical outgrowth of our society's fundamental organization. What about the important analyses and research done by Chomsky on the process of "manufacturing consent"? It may be comforting to discount Chomsky and others as paranoics but they have verifiable evidence including an extensive paper trail. If the basic media problem of limited transparency is not widely understood, then we will never have the type of open discourse that leads to an informed citizenry. Yes, it is true that Americans are often too lazy look into the details surrounding important topics and they struggle to make sense of a constant feed of seemingly unconnected information. However, we don't need to set up a false dichotomy to explain why the mainstream media refuses to adequately or accurately cover the important issues, focusing instead on inflammatory issues like stem cell research or gay marriage. Ultimately, the media conglomerates continue to herd and corral public opinion, the task made all the more easier given that a large segment of the public tends to be easily sated with overly simplistic explanations and pointless distractions. - a guest Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:11:00 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2373-the-disinformation-society.html#comment-2993 Jim K. is clearly right: America has in large measure disinformed itself and works increasingly hard at becoming totally ignorant as fast as possible. I think it all started with Vietnam, where we were told it was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it. But the Reagan administration, so far as I know, gets credit for the idea of self-administered lobotomization. It was the Reaganites, remember, who quit counting the unemployed as soon as the unemployed used up their unemployment benefits. It was the Reaganites who dropped rational tax policy in favor of a gizmo called "The Laffer Curve". The Reaganites, in sum, made great strides toward perfect, self-inflicted ignorance, and subsequent administrations have worked very hard not to be outdone in that (dis)regard. "A Guest" (2) is also right: Conspiracies are surely to blame for many of our current problems -- even if some of them were conspiracies of one. If or when someone starts digging into the financial disaster that's now shrieking down upon us, that someone will probably find that the person who profited most from the disaster was Alan Greenspan -- the very same man who people (experts, I presume) are lining up to blame for the ongoing disaster. Did Cheney and his pals conspire to create the energy policy that makes Cheney and his pals richer moment by moment? Did Cheney and his pals conspire to start the Iraq War on false pretenses? Did they not conspire to fight the war in a way that would make them all richer moment by moment? All in all, I think that the multitudinous messes in which America now stews provide an ample number of things for any contrarian to gloat over: We saw these messes coming; we told the country what would happen; and damn their eyes they didn't listen. Ain't we smart? Now if we could only figure a way out of having to suffer along with the rest of us yahoos -- Wait a minute! Did I say that right? Damn, I didn't mean. . . . Yes I did. So maybe we contrarians should quit calling ourselves yahoos and start calling ourselves googles. The liberals, remember, have started calling themselves progressives. That seems to work for them. So all I ask is that we just think about it, OK? Wouldn't it be a wise thing -- when the mob comes to your door looking for yahoos -- if you could say reflexively, "I'm not a yahoo! I'm a google!" Live long and prosper. - Jimmy Montague Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:31:10 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2373-the-disinformation-society.html#comment-2986 Although I do agree in general that "American culture has become self-dis-informing," it is naive to think that the brightest minds in the tallest of Ivory towers within the increasingly fascist US government couldn't see the current colamity coming. It is called predatory capitalism. They are the predators and this time we are the prey. Does Mr. Kunstler beleive that it is a coicidence that the clearly phony Global War On Terrorism is occuring at the same time as global economic collapse due to peak oil? If so, he should take something for that "allergy". Then he will be able to recognize that the term "conspiracy theorist" has lost all meaning in the modern world when it used to describe people who question the 9/11 Omission Report (does not even mention that 7WTC collapsed AT ALL!). - a guest Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:04:22 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2373-the-disinformation-society.html#comment-2983 Jim, I am playing the devil's advocate here, but haven't oil companies been finding new fields over the past few years which will help offset the onset of peak oil significantly? How sure are you that world oil production peaked? How sure are we that there are no really big oil fields left? Could it be that refining capacity is responsible for the inability to raise production levels? On the other hand, the much-lauded discovery of an oil field off the coast of Brazil is estimated to contain approximately 700 million barrels, but world demand is at 25 gigabarrels/yr and growing so this is discovery and others like it seem like drops in the bucket. The fact that some people get so enthused by discoveries of this magnitude is not a good sign. - a guest Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:36:52 +0100