Your Big Brother Will Protect You From the Truth

Here's a good article from Reuters drawing comparisons between the blunting of reality after the use of atomic bombs in Japan and what's happening in the present day. The author notes how the U.S. government didn't allow footage of the aftermath of the atomic bomb blasts to be released to the public and points out how the Pentagon is using similar tactics today to protect people from the harsh realities of war. I think people should be constantly reminded about the horrors of war and hopefully remember that they elected the people who started this fantastic fuckfest. To forget or pretend that war is anything less than that only denigrates the value of all the lives lost and destroyed by the war.

"There's a mixture of censorship and self-censorship. In an information age, unfortunately what is missing is truthful and factual information," said Yahya Kamalipour, a communications professor at Purdue University in Indiana and author of "Bring 'Em On: Media and Politics in the Iraq War."

Examples of overt censorship are the Pentagon's ban on filming the coffins of dead servicemen and women being brought back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as well as its continuing legal fight to prevent the publication of photographs and videos of detainee abuse in Abu Ghraib prison.

Self-censorship happens when individual editors decide not to run photographs or footage of casualties because they deem them "too shocking" for readers or because they wish to avoid controversy or criticism.

"So much of the media is owned by big corporations and they would much rather focus on making money than setting themselves up for criticism from the White House and Congress," said Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN correspondent, now a journalism professor at the University of Delaware.

I initially thought this was just another case of thoughtblock encouraged by the current administration and just chose a silly picture. After writing this up and thinking more about it, it really doesn't match my mood cause I'm just hella pissed off now but oh well... Hope this link to Reuters lasts.