Tuesday, February 4, 2014

[Phil] TMZ and the use of scandal by the Fascist Right and the Deep State

Let us say that, hypothetically the NSA, CIA and other agencies of the deep state of the American Empire are using evidence of scandal to get law makers to vote in their favor.

What evidence might we have of this?

Well...we know that John Clapper, National Director of Intelligence, lied to congress and has yet to be prosecuted.

We know that the NSA and Obama administration went to extraordinary lengths to get Edward Snowden, even at the potential cost of severe damage to its diplomatic relations.

We know that while there is call for reform in the congress, the intelligence committees have all defended these questionable programs, even though we know they are blatantly illegal.

We live in a scandal culture, where sex sells.  Destroying celebrities is a billion dollar business.  We love to see the powerful fall.  News of Justin Beiber and Britney Spears slags across the screens and we egg them on.

Leaving aside the disgusting things this says about our society, when you spread gossip about politicians and celebrities that isn't about actually EVIL behavior but that is merely scandalous, you increase the leverage that those in power, who monitor everything we do, can use to blackmail politicians.

There will always be scandal, but there are degrees.  In France, for example, it took a long time for politicians to fall due to sex scandals.  Also remember that Scandal Journalism is popular with Ruprect Murdoch and other right wing rags.

When you spread celebrity gossip, you empower the NSA's ability to blackmail.  So maybe you can't join Occupy.  Maybe you don't believe your vote matters.

Maybe it doesn't.

But you can stop contributing to the problem.  Stop spreading or talking about celebrity gossip. You can't stop it, but you can stop making it worse.




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