Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
- A Culture That Condones The Killing Of Children And Teaches Children To Kill
- Slaughter in Connecticut: 20 Children, 6 Adults Dead in Kindergarten Massacre
- How the Mighty (Mississippi) Has Fallen: Historic Drought Plagues US
- Robots and Robber Barons
- The PSY Scandal: Singing about Killing People v. Constantly Doing It
- A Culture That Condones The Killing Of Children And Teaches Children To Kill
- 'I'd Rather Fight Like Hell': Naomi Klein's Fierce New Resolve to Fight for Climate Justice
- Save the Children: Tears and Tragedy in Connecticut
- Study: World's Mighty Giants Dying off at Alarming Rate
- Robots and Robber Barons
Popular content
Today's Top News
How Propaganda Poisons the Mind - and Our Discourse
Last week, on January 3, The Guardian published a scathing Op-Ed by James Richardson blaming WikiLeaks for endangering the life of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the democratic opposition in Zimbabwe. Richardson -- a GOP operative, contributor to RedState.com, and a for-hire corporate spokesman -- pointed to a cable published by WikiLeaks in which American diplomats revealed that Tsvangirai, while publicly opposing American sanctions on his country, had privately urged their continuation as a means of weakening the Mugabe regime: an act likely to be deemed to be treasonous in that country, for obvious reasons. By publishing this cable, "WikiLeaks may have committed its own collateral murder," Richardson wrote. He added: "WikiLeaks ought to leave international relations to those who understand it – at least to those who understand the value of a life."
This accusation against WikiLeaks was repeated far and wide. In The Wall Street Journal, Jamie Kirchick -- the long-time assistant of The New Republic's Marty Peretz -- wrote under this headline: "Julian Assange's reckless behavior could cost Zimbabwe's leading democrat his life." Kirchick explained that "the crusading 'anti-secrecy' website released a diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Harare" which exposed Tsvangirai's support for sanctions. As "a result of the WikiLeaks revelations," Kirchick wrote, the reform leader would likely be charged with treason, and "Mr. Tsvangirai will have someone additional to blame: Julian Assange of WikiLeaks." The Atlantic's Chris Albon, in his piece entitled "How WikiLeaks Just Set Back Democracy in Zimbabwe," echoed the same accusation, claiming "WikiLeaks released [this cable] to the world" and that Assange has thus "provided a tyrant with the ammunition to wound, and perhaps kill, any chance for multiparty democracy." Numerous other outlets predictably mimicked these claims.
There was just one small problem with all of this: it was totally false. It wasn't WikiLeaks which chose that cable to be placed into the public domain, nor was it WikiLeaks which first published it. It was The Guardian that did that. In early December, that newspaper -- not WikiLeaks -- selected and then published the cable in question. This fact led The Guardian -- more than a full week after they published Richardson's accusatory column -- to sheepishly add this obscured though extremely embarrassing "clarification" at the end of his column:
• This article was amended on 11 January 2011 to clarify the fact that the 2009 cable referred to in this article was placed in the public domain by the Guardian, and not as originally implied by WikiLeaks. The photo caption was also amended to reflect this fact.
The way this "clarification" was done was bizarre. The misleading headline still remains ("If Morgan Tsvangirai is charged with treason, WikiLeaks will have earned the ignominy of Robert Mugabe's gratitude"). So do numerous sentences attributing publication to WikiLeaks ("WikiLeaks may have committed its own collateral murder . . . . in the wake of WikiLeaks' release . . . where Mugabe's strong-arming, torture and assassination attempts have failed to eliminate the leading figure of Zimbabwe's democratic opposition, WikiLeaks may yet succeed"). Meanwhile, other sentences originally in the piece were changed without notice: for instance, the claim that "WikiLeaks released last week a classified US state department cable relating to a 2009 meeting between Tsvangirai and American and European ambassadors" was changed to read: "The Guardian released . . . ." And the photo caption was changed from "Zimbabwe's PM Morgan Tsvangirai faces a treason inquiry after WikiLeaks's publication of a US embassy cable" to "after the Guardian's publication."
Read the full article at Salon...
- Posted in
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
42 Comments so far
Show AllDear Mr. Greenwald, you are one of the most courageous, principled journalists/lawyers of our time. Thank you for holding fast to the rule of law and calling out the offenders.
Many in the U.S. will never know that "The Guardian" was the origin of all the false accusations being expertly directed at Julian Assange. How many read "The Guardian?" They will instead hear the U.S. media noise machine echo the false story until rumor replaces truth, and the damage fully done. These assassins of character, economies, and whole nations will stop at nothing.
Whether we refer to "Inverted Totalitarianism" or my favorite expression, "Lock Down, America," powerful forces without respect for liberty, justice, truth, or honesty have taken control of the apparatuses that were intended to act as check-balances against the abuse of power in any one of them.
With the press dutifully obeyind the commands of its corrupt masters, not enough people are being led to that gateway where the truth might set them free.
If Julian goes down, Mr. Greenwald, please watch your back. The Dark Side, largely in control of America's government & press, appears to be on a blood-thirsty course. Therefore ANYONE who speaks up for truth in a compelling enough way, will be targeted. Perhaps a loved one will buy you a bullet-proof vest for your birthday?
auto auctions
The USG "invents falsehoods" for propaganda sake. It's the war against truth. Another great falsehood, for example, was South Vietnam. There never was a 'south' Vietnam it was concocted up in the minds of the USG for the war profiteers. Every official mention, including the MSM, of 'south' Vietnam was a falsehood and their were millions of mentions of 'south' Vietnam by 100,000's of thousands of people. There was/is only a Vietnam, selected to be the target of Pentagon weapons testing for no good reason other than that. Ho Chi Mihn fought against the Japanese while the French Vichy government collaborated with the Japanese there. The fact that they were non whites made Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos cannon fodder for Corporate profits.
"People devoted to a corrupt cause necessarily rely on falsehoods to advance it."
Mr. Greenwald has been a consistent voice in exposing the many angles of the propaganda that has pervaded this country for decades now.
But what to do about it?
One avenue that I all of us can take part in is to utilize and speak in perspectives that are above and beyond the reach of their propaganda.
Don't try and argue against the think tank minions and their media marionettes using the terms they give us, the rationales they concoct and the "common wisdoms" they try and make us accept as truth.
Instead make them argue against truths that can't be debated such as these:
You are stealing from us.
You are killing us.
You are killing our kids.
You are killing our planet.
How would this work?
Minion: We have to reduce the budget deficit...we have to sign this free trade agreement...we have to lower taxes on the rich...
You are stealing from us.
Minion: We have to have a free market for health care...we have to allow hydraulic fracking...we must have offshore drilling...
You are killing us.
Minion: We must stay in Afghanistan...we must spend more on defense...we must invade Pakistan...
You are killing our kids.
Minion: We can't sign onto the Kyoto protocol...we can't afford green energy...global warming is a hoax
You are killing our planet.
I understand that killing innocent others should also be one, but if we can't even argue in our own defense first as Americans then how can possible hope to save innocent people around the globe that are adversely affected by our policies.
If with every topic in our national discourse these four simple points are immediately thought about before engaging in any debate or discourse we might begin to crack the propagandistic fishbowl we have been trapped in for far too long.
" understand that killing innocent others should also be one, but if we can't even argue in our own defense first as Americans then how can possible hope to save innocent people around the globe that are adversely affected by our policies."
One does not exclude the other.
There is no reason not to add one more to your list of boiled down truths:
"You have killed millions. Stop killing"
I think this is right on. We must speak what is happening in these raw terms to cut through all the bs obfuscation in the media.
And then they are on the defensive for a change to show why this is not so.
Whenever an USG, think tank spokesmen, MSM USG propaganda reciter, tells that the American people think, 'the American people think..........' thus and so it's insulting, condescending, arrogant and with hubris because those whom tell me/us, what/how I think when I know they have not asked any other American other than their yes men in government what/how they think and they have been bribed to tell us what/how we think without ever asking us. It's to the point now that the politicians, Gates, Clinton, Napolitano just come out and tell the public that what they think doesn't even matter, meaning that they have our 'forced contribution', withholding taxes, and they will continue their criminal ways and fuck you public.
If the editorial vetting process is the one Glenn Greenwald describes - Wikileaks gives the Guardian and a few other selected big mainstream newspapers the raw classified data, then Wikileaks posts it online into the public domain only after one of the print news outlets first publishes it, with Wikileaks simultaneously incorporating whatever editorial redactions the newspaper used - then there is absolutely no coherent way in the world to argue Wikileaks is engaged in a reckless "document dump" rather than engaged in journalism entitled to full First Amendment protection.
State Department spokesman Crowley should explain why Wikileaks allegedly "violated US law." The New York Times did not violate US law when it published the (classified, Daniel Ellsberg-leaked) Pentagon Papers. What's the difference? The Nixon White House sought an injunction. The current Justice Department is using national security letters and the criminal grand jury process. The targeted activity still enjoys consitutional protection.
Tell me please, Mr. Crowley, what US law is violated when journalists disseminate authentic, truthful information to the public that is simply embarrassing to government decision makers in high places?
There is no federal statute which trumps the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press. That is settled law, courtesy of the Pentagon Papers case.
Bill from Saginaw
"Bill from Saginaw"
I believe there is nothing more seditious than the idea that any government can "classify" any information.
Those who believe in secrecy in government do not believe that the people are part of the government. They believe we are the government's subjects and that we must submit to their schemes.
More and more, when those "in power" swear to uphold and defend the constitution, I am convinced their definition of "the constitution" does not include any of the amendments.
As with corporate-think, laws only matter as long as they can be used to their advantage.
The ends are all that matter to those who worship power and monetary profits.
The fact that Obama (who is typical) was proud to call himself a "pragmatist" is indicative of the lack of commitment to anything beyond power and monetary profits.
"There is no federal statute which trumps the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press. That is settled law, courtesy of the Pentagon Papers case." Oh yea? The Constitution to these thugs is nothing more then a GOD DAMN piece of paper remember?
Bill from Saginaw fittingly illustrates what we have lost.
Perhaps someday we will return to the Rule of Law. We can only HOPE for such a CHANGE (i.e. restoration).
It's good of CD to mirror GG's outstanding essays, but it doesn't mirror all of them; so, I do hope people visit his site to read what they've missed, which are all as important as this item, http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/
It is very clear that the federal government and its allied Propaganda System are attempting to make the USA into what is known as a Garrison State, which are fundamentally authoritarian despite outward appearances or rhetoric--think USSR with its very Liberal but utterly worthless Constitution, until the very end when the SSRs were able to cite it and thus make their secession legal while that of the Chechens was not. I would say the leader of the Hate Speech movement is the federal government itself as it helps it to further consolidate power once deemed off limits.
The same media that has dropped investigative journalism and caused reader drop out, now attacks Wikileaks while decrying the lack of sympathy of a dumbed-down public for print media's declining readership.
would be funny if not horrific.
"People devoted to a corrupt cause necessarily rely on falsehoods to advance it."
The above quote by GG should be burned permanently into our memory. It explains how the corporate state, our corrupt political system and mainstream (corporate) media are able to convince the American people of the lie that we live in a representative democracy.
Just like the two factions of the business party (Democratic and Republican Parties), corporate media serves corporate interests - period. The number one goal of any business is to maximize profits; what does that have to do with being the "watchdog of democracy"? We don't need to reform the M$M; we should abandon it. The greatest success of US propaganda is the notion that we don't have propaganda. The crazy fact is that - even through the obvious propaganda of the Bush years - the American people have believed corporate media for so long.
Again, a crucial reminder: this isn't the Bush administration anymore. This is Obama and the Democrats.
Tom nails it!
Their arguments are a desperate attempt to save their power..truth has no place in this manipulation game..millions killed by them have no value,only when truth is exposed and a few of their commissars get hurt is it important..WOW are we in trouble with these pathological, greedy power brokers in charge.
word.
Glenn, as always, is perceptive and right on the mark. His truth-telling must be causing major consternation amongst the US elite.
I'll make a prediction here. Critics of the US government and it's propaganda arm, the corporate media, will find themselves out of a job and silenced. Give it 2-3 years.
The US definition of terrorism and sedition will be "expanded" to include any public reporting of government documents that are classified. Ditto whistleblowing.
Journalists and writers who express public support for these treasonous activities will be considered accessories to a crime.
And the geographical extent of who can be accused of these crimes will encompass anyone, anywhere. So a parliamentarian in Iceland or a journalist in Sweden will be tried and convicted in the US on charges of "treason" and "terrorism".
Count on it.
I think you may very well be right.
If that is true they have taken over the world...I hope and believe that is impossible...read your history..
I have indeed read my history...including the recent variety such as the documents still available for download from the "Project for the New American Century".
They (Bush-Obama-Corporations-Wealthy) may not have taken over the world, but they are trying. Will they fail, ultimately? Of course. Empires have ALWAYS collapsed. Always. That's history from as far back as Polybius' Histories.
USians believe they are morally superior to everyone else; and that therefore they really can't do bad things, especially to each other.
But between now and then, I believe we will see violence and hatred unleashed; destruction, oppression, torture, murder, war crimes, theft and absolute criminality that will make the European insanity of 1912-1945 look like an appetizer.
A dying empire is the most dangerous animal on the planet.
You'll see.
You are more pessimistic than I am, but I suspect you may be right. The only psychological consolation for me is that the folks now up top will not able to escape from this if it does indeed go down (and I do mean down) that way. There is a chance that humanity will have a sudden widespread in-the-nick-of-time coming to their senses. For some silly ass reason I retain a faint glimmer of unsubstantiated hope.
There is a paragraph in Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War that describes a social breakdown well, saying the ruthless and brutal have a big advantage because they lack hesitancy. One these days I've got to read through it again and post it here just to keep people from forgetting about worst case scenarios. I've read a fair amount of history and have yet to run across any that doesn't play out like you said.
Damn! I said I wasn't going to post any more. It's addictive. There ought to be some sort of rehab.
Who is "they?" What "history" should I read?
How come it's OK for you to ask questions but a wrong approach when I do it? If you don't remember what you replied to me about that I could Edit Copy Paste it here.
What?
I answered all of your questions, patiently and laboriously. Did you read my response yet? Why the interjection here on this thread?
Just seeing if you were paying attention. Your "answers" may have been patient and laborious but to me they weren't answers at all. I'm entitled to think that. You really stay on top of CD to have put up such a rapid response. Interesting.
I liked the "did you read my response" question. No I never actually read the stuff I reply to. I obviously didn't read it the way you seemingly would have me do, nodding in worshipful impressed acknowledgment of the presence of the superior mind.
I am sorry you are upset. I will avoid you in the future.
"Upset". You don't know the half of it. I'm almost in tears. Avoid me if you can't take it, but I may be unable to overcome the addictive urge to reply. I'd love to be able to respond to you while you don't answer back out of compassion for my sensitivity and easily hurt feelings. But I do hope I will be able to stop posting here even though it's been a great outlet for someone like me who isn't heard anywhere else. Still it's these kind of back and forths that make me like CD way less than I used to.
To anyone else following this I'm sorry I let myself get drawn into this. Usually the iPad doesn't send and receive as well as it 's doing tonight.
TA, your apology is accepted with all the graciousness I can muster.
I truly am sorry and had no idea.
As usual Glenn Greenwald is right on the mark.
AD
"Last week, on January 3, The Guardian published a scathing Op-Ed by James Richardson blaming WikiLeaks for endangering the life of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the democratic opposition in Zimbabwe. "
Just one nitpick, I would not call the piece an "Op-Ed".
It is a piece published in the Guardian's "Comment is Free" section, where they publish a whole bunch of articles, on stuff ranging from International Relations, to articles arguing against and for the wearing of suits and ties, to articles on sex work and feminism, to articles on the religion, to articles on names, to articles on the (improper) use of statistics in the reporting of science by the MSM, etc.
Focusing on the micro will not tell you whats happening on the macro level..most story's are disinformation and manipulative propaganda anyway..so how do you penetrate or change that?
The term "Op-Ed" refers to "opinion and/or editorial" and, in this case, is accurate whether the piece appears in the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, the middle of a Good Housekeeping recipe or the back of a cocktail napkin.
Quoting the fifth paragraph of the above article.
[Moreover, Guardian's Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger objected last night to my attributing Richardson's piece to "The Guardian," insisting that the section where it appeared was comparable to an open forum such as Salon's Open Salon; but that comparison is quite inaccurate, since columns published in The Guardian's "Comment is Free" section are reserved for pieces solicited or accepted by Guardian Editors and published only with their prior approval]
Way to read the whole article... :) (on edit, I hope the smilie is visible, I'm just teasing you a bit)
a few days ago vanity fair http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/02/the-guardian-201102?currentPage=all published an interesting piece by sarah ellison.
according to ms. ellison some anonymous wikileaks' volunteer also is providing info. the guadian mamagement feels that since julian is not their only source, the paper is not bound by their contract with assange.
it's a good piece. kind of an investigative journalistic exposé on investigative journalism.
Our federal lawlessness is also having a trickle-down effect domestically. And once-locally-owned media, bought up by large chains, now have overworked and underpaid skeleton crews.
A mundane example: almost overnight, a massive Wal*Mart superstore appears on the edge of town and the old one in town closes, helping to gut a business district. Were there public hearings? Who knew?
Years ago the editor of my hometown newspaper covered almost every City Council meeting himself. Today that newspaper rarely reports on Council meetings but happily takes the agate-type Legal Notices paid for by taxpayers, most of which are now foreclosure notices.
Funny how, now that one of their own has been cut down, members of our wonderful Congress are calling for civility as their policies eviscerate us.
So, it's not just the propaganda that poisons our discourse as Glenn's article suggests: it is the increasing absence of any discourse at all that creates the sense of void and alienation.
-30-
I join in the praise of Mr. Greenwald. Thanks, man, for continuing to work for truth, justice, peace. Right on!
A very well done article, I suppose there's not many comments because most of us agree with what he has to say. I know I do.
yup, the same old story repeating all around the globe, over and over again, like a clock work.
still, every time our suspicion is confirmed like this, we can't help being surprised at the appalling truth.
the real criminals always outdo our worst suspicion.
Glenn is just awesome as ever!
One element I disagree with though, is the idea it's a bad thing to publish this issue.
If someone claims to be on the side of the people, runs as a politician, decrying such sanctions - yet is secretly encouraging them and adding to the hardship of the people he claims to be helping, why NOT publish that?
A politician campaigning on a pack of lies is not a crittur I feel inclined to protect.
It's right up there with "We'll keep our boys out of any European wars", while plotting with Churchill to bring about such involvement.
Democracy based on lies and telling the people only what they want to hear isn't any democracy at all.
N.