David Talbot on the Mainstream Media Being Essentially a Propaganda Arm for the National Security State

[Douglas Caddy]

David Talbot posted this on Facebook today:

 

Triangle of Sadness... In Thursday's New York Times, a writer was bemoaning the death of the independent film because smart moviegoers (like you and me ) have stopped going to theaters and "buzzing" about our favorite new films. Well, I plead guilty, sort of -- I rarely go to theaters these days. BUT I still buzz about the few films that wake me up or make me laugh out loud. Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness" (now streaming) did both to me.

The film -- a rollicking, scathing morality tale about the absurd excesses of modern capitalism -- also contains a stunning commentary about the murderousness of The American Empire. Midway through the film, the drunken captain of a super yacht for billionaire clients (Woody Harrelson) gets on the ship's loudspeaker and tells the awful truth to his pampered patrons --about their rampant greed and tax evasion and the suffering of the world's poor.

The captain also tells his stunned passengers that the U.S. government killed JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy -- and violently overthrew democratic leaders in other countries. This is a stunning moment. Yes, Swedish director Ostlund plays it for comedy, like much of the movie. But it's the truth -- and the filmmaker and his audience know it.

A few years ago, a distinguished list of Americans -- including two of the Parkland Hospital surgeons who worked on the mortally wounded President Kennedy and the chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations -- signed a statement that said the same thing. That JFK -- as well as his brother Bobby, Malcolm X and MLK -- were killed by the national security state for political reasons. The open letter (which I helped organize) was barely covered by the press, but it was still a landmark event.

In 2020, Bob Dylan, our nation's bard, sang the same thing in his chilling "Murder Most Foul."

Our most astute artists know the truth. As poll after poll shows, the American people suspect the truth. And yet the political and media establishments (hello, New York Times) remain adamantly committed to the coverup.

This establishment duplicity is behind the dangerous erosion of belief in expertise and the rise of the loony right. The corporate media is quick to point fingers at this social madness, but it NEVER admits its own responsibility, NEVER examines why the wild charges of "fake news" often stick to them.

The mainstream media in the U.S. -- I'm talking about the Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News etc -- is essentially a propaganda arm for the national security state. When the U.S. is looking for a war to fight or weapons to pour in, you can count on an army of CIA, NSC, Pentagon veterans to flood the airwaves and the Internet, rattling the sabers and frothing for someone else's blood.

As the wise captain tells his wealthy passengers in "Triangle of Sadness," America is first and foremost a war state, not a democracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Douglas Caddy

[Benjamin Cole]

Mainstream Media Being Essentially a Propaganda Arm for the National Security State

And co-opted social media sites as well....

[Guest]

Thank you sharing. It’s funny how when myself or Ben suggest that democracy is an illusion in America, or that the MSM is a controlled extension of “Operation Mockingbird”, people just want to look away or suggest its dystopian fiction. Here is a very respected JFKA author, spelling it out. Good on him. I wonder if he shall now be vilified/canceled. 
 

There are so many figures suggesting this now. Is it really so inconceivable if egos are put aside? 
 

There is an ever increasing suggestion that Fascism is suddenly coming back. Wake up, it’s been here for at least 59 years. It was hanging around long before that in various guises. 
 

[Joe Bauer]

 

Media: Quit coddling the toxic GOP

AMANDA MARCOTTE

[David Andrews]

Great avatar pic, Joe.

Edited December 5, 2022 by David Andrews

[Paul Brancato]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:17 AM, Chris Barnard said:

Thank you sharing. It’s funny how when myself or Ben suggest that democracy is an illusion in America, or that the MSM is a controlled extension of “Operation Mockingbird”, people just want to look away or suggest its dystopian fiction. Here is a very respected JFKA author, spelling it out. Good on him. I wonder if he shall now be vilified/canceled. 
 

There are so many figures suggesting this now. Is it really so inconceivable if egos are put aside? 
 

There is an ever increasing suggestion that Fascism is suddenly coming back. Wake up, it’s been here for at least 59 years. It was hanging around long before that in various guises. 
 

I’m on board with that view, and I’ll bet so is David Talbot. I’m hoping to find a way to see this movie. 

[Matthew Koch]

24 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

I’m on board with that view, and I’ll bet so is David Talbot. I’m hoping to find a way to see this movie. 

Didn't David Talbot create Slate, one of the most partisan publications there is? 

[Paul Brancato]

13 minutes ago, Matthew Koch said:

Didn't David Talbot create Slate, one of the most partisan publications there is? 

He did, but left a long time ago. 

[Joe Bauer]

Did any of our most powerful main stream media giants back in 1963/64 ever even consider doing a seriously well financed and well staffed journalistic investigation into the JFK and Oswald assassinations?

Anything close to our first independent and individual effort investigators and researchers?

Or were they told ( ordered ) by LBJ and Hoover to leave it all alone?

Seems like the only nationally famous MSM personality willing to do so was Dorothy Killgallen. 

And that poor woman ( mother of a young child ) was found dead, sitting up fully dressed and made up ( still wearing her hair piece ) in a bed and air conditioning on full blast bedroom she rarely used, with a book sitting in front of her upside down, a water glass on a bed table beyond her reach and after telling her closest confidants she was about to blow the Jack Ruby trial story wide open ???

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

5 hours ago, David Andrews said:

Great avatar pic, Joe.

DA

I really think Marjoe Greene would make a great "Loana" in a remake of the film 1 MILLION BC.

She already has that heavy brow/ broad nosed/ small narrow-eyed Cro-Magnon/ Neanderthal look. No need for make up.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis could play the two loin cloth wearing cavemen fighting for her affections characters.

[James DiEugenio]

David Talbot did not create Slate.  I think that was part of the Microsoft network.

Talbot created Salon, which was a really interesting site for a number of years.  They did battle with the MSM on the so called "Arkansas Clinton scandals" with writers like Joe Conason and Murray Waas.

He eventually sold Salon to, I think, the Ny Times.

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by James DiEugenio

[Joe Bauer]

On 12/2/2022 at 2:05 PM, Douglas Caddy said:

David Talbot posted this on Facebook today:

 

Triangle of Sadness... In Thursday's New York Times, a writer was bemoaning the death of the independent film because smart moviegoers (like you and me ) have stopped going to theaters and "buzzing" about our favorite new films. Well, I plead guilty, sort of -- I rarely go to theaters these days. BUT I still buzz about the few films that wake me up or make me laugh out loud. Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness" (now streaming) did both to me.

The film -- a rollicking, scathing morality tale about the absurd excesses of modern capitalism -- also contains a stunning commentary about the murderousness of The American Empire. Midway through the film, the drunken captain of a super yacht for billionaire clients (Woody Harrelson) gets on the ship's loudspeaker and tells the awful truth to his pampered patrons --about their rampant greed and tax evasion and the suffering of the world's poor.

The captain also tells his stunned passengers that the U.S. government killed JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy -- and violently overthrew democratic leaders in other countries. This is a stunning moment. Yes, Swedish director Ostlund plays it for comedy, like much of the movie. But it's the truth -- and the filmmaker and his audience know it.

A few years ago, a distinguished list of Americans -- including two of the Parkland Hospital surgeons who worked on the mortally wounded President Kennedy and the chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations -- signed a statement that said the same thing. That JFK -- as well as his brother Bobby, Malcolm X and MLK -- were killed by the national security state for political reasons. The open letter (which I helped organize) was barely covered by the press, but it was still a landmark event.

In 2020, Bob Dylan, our nation's bard, sang the same thing in his chilling "Murder Most Foul."

Our most astute artists know the truth. As poll after poll shows, the American people suspect the truth. And yet the political and media establishments (hello, New York Times) remain adamantly committed to the coverup.

This establishment duplicity is behind the dangerous erosion of belief in expertise and the rise of the loony right. The corporate media is quick to point fingers at this social madness, but it NEVER admits its own responsibility, NEVER examines why the wild charges of "fake news" often stick to them.

The mainstream media in the U.S. -- I'm talking about the Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News etc -- is essentially a propaganda arm for the national security state. When the U.S. is looking for a war to fight or weapons to pour in, you can count on an army of CIA, NSC, Pentagon veterans to flood the airwaves and the Internet, rattling the sabers and frothing for someone else's blood.

As the wise captain tells his wealthy passengers in "Triangle of Sadness," America is first and foremost a war state, not a democracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2:50

Triangle of Sadness Trailer #1 (2022)

227.2K views · 3 months ago

 

 

 

 

[Matthew Koch]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

David Talbot did not create Slate.  I think that was part of the Microsoft network.

Talbot created Salon, which was a really interesting site for a number of years.  They did battle with the MSM on the so called "Arkansas Clinton scandals" with writers like Joe Conason and Murray Waas.

He eventually sold Salon to, I think, the Ny Times.

 

Thanks for clearing my misconception up.  

[James DiEugenio]

Happens to the best of us.

[W. Niederhut]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:17 AM, Chris Barnard said:

Thank you sharing. It’s funny how when myself or Ben suggest that democracy is an illusion in America, or that the MSM is a controlled extension of “Operation Mockingbird”, people just want to look away or suggest its dystopian fiction.
 

Huh?  Reality check, Chris.  Speaking of illusions...

I've been posting about Operation Mockingbird and its modern permutations for several years here-- including references to the work of the late Udo Ulfkotte on the subject.

In contrast, Ben expressed skepticism about whether Mockingbird was still operational when I raised the subject during the premier of JFK Revisited at Cannes.

As I suggested at the time, the coverage of JFK Revisited by the M$M would be a kind of acid test for the continued existence of Operation Mockingbird in the U.S.

And what did we observe?  NYT largely blacked out coverage of the film, and WaPo published a completely erroneous review/hit piece by What's-Her-Face, Fred Littwin's favorite Professor from Louisiana State University, Alecia P. Long.

That summer, we also witnessed similar Mockingbird censorship of Spike Lee's documentary interviews of the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

So, yes, CIA Operation Mockingbird is alive and well in the U.S. mainstream media.