Thomas Mann ("The Magic Mountain") saw nazism unfolding in Germany and left before the time he knew his writing would be banned. Here in the US her sent back radio broadcasts to Germany via BBC broadcasts, he wrote essays that were delivered and distributed surreptitiously due to nazi censorship, and gave speeches both warning about and …
Thomas Mann ("The Magic Mountain") saw nazism unfolding in Germany and left before the time he knew his writing would be banned. Here in the US her sent back radio broadcasts to Germany via BBC broadcasts, he wrote essays that were delivered and distributed surreptitiously due to nazi censorship, and gave speeches both warning about and denouncing Hitler and nazism. He was one of many prominent Germans who smelled the rising scent of sulfur. But clearly warnings were not enough, as the German people fell under the sway of nazi revenge fantasies. We cannot depend on the commercial MSM to work against this threat. We must go loud and hard against it and not fall into a slumber as we are distracted by wars abroad. We must work to influence all the young people we know to let them know this must be their generation's war, their future. Dog knows three older generations have messed things up enough to allow this right wing plague to take hold. The young and their phones are the new Voice of America.* Forward Tom's work along with some others now.
* We were sleeping when In 2018, Trump proposed cutting Voice of America's budget, but Congress did not approve the cuts. In 2020, he signed a law increasing oversight of VOA spending after threatening to veto a defense bill that funded it. Then he nominated Michael Pack of the Heritage Foundation to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees VOA. The appointment of pro-Trump allies to oversee VOA showed the agency was being politicized and turned into state media.
Fortunately, Pack resigned shortly after Biden took office and the new USAGM leadership reversed most changes.
I am so glad you brought this up Judy! VOA is the voice of conscience of America that freedom loving people in many countries in the world whose source of information is snuffed/manipulated by their government propaganda , listen to for "real" unbiased news - equivalent to BBC and our precious NPR. The USA is still for now the beacon of freedom in our much shaken world.
Thank you Tom for zeroing in on the messaging of MSM. The issue is $. Flirting with normalizing Trump/MAGAted Republicans has been profitable in this age of competition for survival. Screaming headlines "National Inquirer style" attract eyeballs for Left and Right. We get sucked in, by our own biases. That's the only way I can explain the 70 millions of my fellow Americans who voted for MAGAted Republican in 2020.
We have three war fronts to fight: Putin, Israel & Hamas, and the Information War for 2024 election. The hearts & minds of the voters are up for grabs. This playing with fire by the MSM is playing with the future of our country for $, and right into the hands of the American oligarchs and the Christian fundamentalists - who hold the purse strings to corrupt our SCOTUS, and hell bent on winding back the clocks on all fronts. The capitalist system of profit above all, has this Achilles heel: money speaks - and also corrupts.
If we no longer have the rules of law, it will self destruct a la MAGAted Republican style. So when Republicans try to scare voters with labeling Democrats as socialists/communists//rats/ snowflakes/vermins...
the MSM is being played for its very own precarious existence.
Thomas Mann ("The Magic Mountain") saw nazism unfolding in Germany and left before the time he knew his writing would be banned. Here in the US her sent back radio broadcasts to Germany via BBC broadcasts, he wrote essays that were delivered and distributed surreptitiously due to nazi censorship, and gave speeches both warning about and denouncing Hitler and nazism. He was one of many prominent Germans who smelled the rising scent of sulfur. But clearly warnings were not enough, as the German people fell under the sway of nazi revenge fantasies. We cannot depend on the commercial MSM to work against this threat. We must go loud and hard against it and not fall into a slumber as we are distracted by wars abroad. We must work to influence all the young people we know to let them know this must be their generation's war, their future. Dog knows three older generations have messed things up enough to allow this right wing plague to take hold. The young and their phones are the new Voice of America.* Forward Tom's work along with some others now.
* We were sleeping when In 2018, Trump proposed cutting Voice of America's budget, but Congress did not approve the cuts. In 2020, he signed a law increasing oversight of VOA spending after threatening to veto a defense bill that funded it. Then he nominated Michael Pack of the Heritage Foundation to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees VOA. The appointment of pro-Trump allies to oversee VOA showed the agency was being politicized and turned into state media.
Fortunately, Pack resigned shortly after Biden took office and the new USAGM leadership reversed most changes.
I am so glad you brought this up Judy! VOA is the voice of conscience of America that freedom loving people in many countries in the world whose source of information is snuffed/manipulated by their government propaganda , listen to for "real" unbiased news - equivalent to BBC and our precious NPR. The USA is still for now the beacon of freedom in our much shaken world.
Thank you Tom for zeroing in on the messaging of MSM. The issue is $. Flirting with normalizing Trump/MAGAted Republicans has been profitable in this age of competition for survival. Screaming headlines "National Inquirer style" attract eyeballs for Left and Right. We get sucked in, by our own biases. That's the only way I can explain the 70 millions of my fellow Americans who voted for MAGAted Republican in 2020.
We have three war fronts to fight: Putin, Israel & Hamas, and the Information War for 2024 election. The hearts & minds of the voters are up for grabs. This playing with fire by the MSM is playing with the future of our country for $, and right into the hands of the American oligarchs and the Christian fundamentalists - who hold the purse strings to corrupt our SCOTUS, and hell bent on winding back the clocks on all fronts. The capitalist system of profit above all, has this Achilles heel: money speaks - and also corrupts.
If we no longer have the rules of law, it will self destruct a la MAGAted Republican style. So when Republicans try to scare voters with labeling Democrats as socialists/communists//rats/ snowflakes/vermins...
the MSM is being played for its very own precarious existence.