FASCIST

AMERICA:

Reflections
Saselst toericn: eflections n Ocwell b KoY

Today e Live In a nation vhere govermment operatives can secretly kit
ou, break you nentally and physically, then dispose of your body, and 1t's
pecfoctly legal, respactable even. fow nany pecple has the govermmmnt caused

o disappea 7 tow many people doos the goverment kidnap, torture, and murder
onch yenr 7 No ane koo, v the usbers the goverment provides (clating
captives (n the Low hundreds, whtle vatcho sgencies 1ike Amesty Intermational
mussest. the muber mmy be five or tan tines as high) are an obvious le. ALL

e Can be cectatn of 1 that there 1s mothing the goverment camot doj mo act
fram whleh 1€ s pronbited. Goveerment pover 13 sbsolute once 1t imokes
“mattoml security”, and legally ve are at their mercy.

Georse Orvell (pennane of Brie. Blatr [1903-1950]), one of the more
srescient thinkers of the 20th Gentury,sev this coning and did his best to
avert 1€, In vorks such as 198 and Al Facn he Laid bare the stratagens and
nethofology of fasciat states, and painted terrifying picture that closely
resenbles many aspects of the oder U.S. and U.K.

Orvell's vision vas of a govermment tntruding into every niche and crevice
of peivate 1ife, invading ooe’s thoughts as aggressively as 1t doss cne's L

pvsical space. 1o 1984 dystoptan hell (30 sintlac to the reality e trbabi),
the govecrment nantpulates the medts and othes forms of commication, chaging
the past to sult present political. needs, and shamlessly distocting the voy
the present 1a portrayed to gain its anda. "Bl Seother” romches fnto every
e theoigh 8 Tiike device, vhich beairmashs citizens vith 1ts messages
25 18 sples on the. Frighteningly, tacmology s med ths viston possile,
" et povers are expanding to anbeace 1t.

n Orve1's move, the population ts ewaveaged to hate s fear the
ver-shiting "aneny”, nd the goverment steives to keep then fn a constant
state of anxtety ad uncertainty. The suposed evee-prssent danger of enemy .
sttacks 15 used o Justity the disappescances, the torture, the geln clavs-
trophoble. stemglebold of the police state.

1 exsence, Orwell sav goverments dantrating thetc pecple through the
s of fear. Covincirg people they vill suffer tercible harn unless they give
5 thef fredon s obey the govecrment "for thetr om protection”, 19 an
cfent trick. It 15 a simple thirg, a3 Orell ut 1t to "nesutralise popular
- dtacontent by charging Lt into vae hystacta”. Thls use of hysterda to control
thn masses ums device of state wil-treun to civilzations of snticulty, am
eesent-day gomerments v ot been shy about ustog 1t espacally the tnited
States.

Thts cyntcal use of fear amd hysterla by the state Ls mt m oddity or
sherration. Rathe 1t 1s part and paccel of @ mch bruader phenmenon - the

fact that governments resecve the clght o use force to thenselves. Threatening
and coercing people 1nto obedience 13 & normal pact of the bustness of goverment.

Coarcion and the use of force to selntaln soclety's rules have became %0
ingratned into the soctal fabeic. they ace oo longer recognized a3 Lmpositions.
Such as the tncredible amcnt of coerclon required by the Lyear (K-12) 3
tratning reginen called the ekeation systen, in which children are indoctrinated
to it doun, shut up, and sbey at the comand of "authority”. O the so-called
“justice systen”, sash in methads of physical torment and restratnt, fros i
Locks and tacs to chains to handcuffs, isposing its vill through the guns vorm
by its agents, announciog, that you will be shot and possibly killed 1€ you
disobey. The same coerciveness domlnates every aspect of soctety. Every human
relationship in the best 1s viewd through this bodly skewd lens of control
nd pover.

The never-ending Litany of govecrment demands for ohedience, enforced by
threats and violence, {nevitably geverates a backlash. feople cesct violently
hen they are cosrced and stused, and vhen freod of goverment oppression (ot
hen pushed beyond thele ability to cope) take revenge any way they can.

ne of Orvell's profaund insights ves that soclety extsts caly becasse
of coercion. The caly difference between socleties, as far a3 Orvell vas
concernad, vas the degree of violence used by states against their own populations.

A mment of reflection 1z sufficlent to shov the truth of Orvell's tnsight.
A fou minutes without electricity at night i an average U.S. city 1s eoogh
to spark looting and clots; the sbeence of Lav enforcemmnt in an urban aces,
1€ advertised, as 1n a police strike, quickly devolves nto Incidents of
Violenca and sayhen, snd sadly the threst and use of force by the suthorities
1s the only thing restraining the mass robbery and theft of property (and
even 50, robbery and theft. are excestingly comcn).

Mot anly doss the social contract evaporate at the first sign of disorder,
bt soctety Ltsel€ has grow incredibly violent and unstable, becosing de-
formed under the pressure of Lntense coerclon felt 1n every realn of human
intecaction. Delays in trafflc are sufflctent to lgnite honicidal rages and
attacks on other deivers; sass mirders, typically massacces at vorkplaces,
srcools and malls, snd sertal killings have become very ordinary throughout
the U.5., and hundreds of thausands of people are vouned and killed anoually
by s n the U.S. These ace symptans of a scciety comwlsed by violence,
reacting violently to all the coerclon feom shich people suffer, and maio-
cained only by the threat of acce violemce still.

The culture 1s 8 crazyqutl of pettems of doatoance and aggression, axd
the govermment reflects this by carcylng the coltural sickness to 1ts logical
end. Consider the povers the govermment has arrogated to 1tself vhich have
transformad the U.S. into a victual police state.
The government currently sets up and runs secret prisons vhere 1t tortures
K113 people. The U.S. also makes & habit of kidnappirg people {t doesn't
ke in forelgn countrles, m dragging. them off to dugeons 1n "friendly”
ations where they ace tortured and e to "disappeac”. The U.S. openly
ssassinates pecple using Predator deones vithout apology, often killing
irmocents along with the targets (shan the targets are present, 8 matter of
0 douibt), and mirders cowntless civilians - 1¢ dossn't even bother b
besp rack of the mmbers, a3 pact of "normal” atlitary operations. This is
Jost the t1p of the Lcsbers; far more nefarious activities are taking ploce
that the goverment keaps seccet.

Domestically the U.S. o clatms the cight to hold people as pelsoners
detinitely, vithout legal process of recourse. The goverrment has given
it5e1 the pover o secretly search citizen's hones nd bustnesses; dectdes
“ho can and can't travel by afr, bus or traln; seizes property and assets
from people on mece susplcion (and returms then only after costly, hard-
fouht Lavsuts, L6 at alll, and steips pecpl of thetr cltizenship at vill.
The court systes, in & mockery of justice, has conststently upheld these
Hideous atuses of pover as legal.

ALL of this takes place at the behest of an unknown, secret buremcracy
vhose doctaions can't be challenged, acts vithout evidence, and operates

- Atheut ceal oversight. The U.S. has bacane a totalitartan state through
s Iows, thouh an Uluston of freedon 1s maintained because the majortty
Of the nlddle class fs oot severely affacted, vherens the poor (dho are)
e Long became accustomed to fascist oppression and o longer constdnr
i€ conarkable.

The soctal clinate i3 likevise that of a mintam sacurity peisen.
School chtldren are treated like felons, vith metal detectors placed at
school entcances, seacches of stsents by police vith deug-smieing dogs,
7 cesular “lockdoms" vhere stuxents ace confined to rooms on one pretert
o mother, good training o 1iSe In a penal colony. At serk, drug tests
b urinalysts have becose fumtLiating noem, polygraphs ace Frequently used
ot hieing intervievs, and backgeount checks are stadard. Cameras are every-
where In public and pelvate, and sppvace Ls routinely tnetallad on comptecs
t0 montor worker's sctivities.

Police have morphed fnto parastlitary nts, careylng assault Fifles
nd brtally tovading pecple’s hanes, uhile SWAT teams are called out on
the slightest excuse. Life sentences are handed out for mfmor crises like
“hopli€eing 1€ @ person has a Selony rocord, and the peisons are ursting
vith parsle violators who've anly broken petty rules, not Lavs, such as
zetting a traffle ticket, or belng caght drinking a beer. Soctaty s ntent
0 catcheting U the violence agatnst the poor and any vho defy the rules.

Ths totalitarian nightnare has been {mposed on the population, then

rgigacao

SEFBFRE

g*
stble,
nat

50ld to then as vaging » "Mar of Druga", and nore recently, waging & "ac
on Tecror". hat everyone knove o mispacts about these excuses for fasclen,
the unspoken "truths” oo coe vants to Cace, can be platnly seen regardless
of the relentless nedia campaign teying to canvince people othervise.
Truths such as the fact that declarirg "sar” on drugs has resulted in
el Levels of viclence and corruption {n the U.S. , and has spaveed &
Plethora of evils in v, politics, and tens of atllions of people’s ives.
Eqully stupld and futtle Ls the "ac” an terror. Attacking a strategy 1s
the act of a fool, were that its true purpose. Strategles such a3 tervorim
are a standard part of asymetric vacfare (uhete ane side Ls vastly scrongec
than the other, and the wesker uses means destgned to millify that advantage).

Attack one strategy, and an enomy w1l just shift to amother.

Further, a Ve on Terroc” ignores the obvious truth that the U.S. is
6501t a rogue state, either supporting those who use terrorism as & eagon,
uch as Iscael and Indonesta, or directly engaging In terrorlst attacks itsel,
25 vith the aany unprovoked wars 1t has pursued in South and Centeal Anerica,
in Asta, and 1n the Middle East. There are fev comtries around the world
that have avotded secious destrvction and stlitary bullylng by the 0.5
one tim or another. That the U.S. govermment has the gall to declare wac
on terrorism would be contc, 1 1t veren't so Loathacme and hypeceitical.

Aoother uelcane bt videly recognized truth 1s hov nallesble the
definition of "terrorist” tends to be. On the one hand, old CIA terroriss,

Like the assassination of Selvador Allenda in Ghile in 1973, oF the atcocicies
comittad by Cla-trainad, acoed and sponsored teoops fn the civil vaes i

EL Salvador and Guatenala, are ot considered tercocism at all by the U.S.,
and those comitting vac crises ace safely shielded from ever facing Justice
in foretgn tribunals.

Goversel, sctivities that are a “roceal” pact of vacfare when comicted
by U.5. enentes are selzed upon a8 outrages, such as Ln the never-ending it
for tat viciousness in the Iscaeli-Palestinian canflict. The atrocitiss pac-
petrated by Tsrael, condomed around the wrld, torture {n its pelsons, ass-
‘asstnations abwosd and in the Occupled Tereltorles, murdarous attacks on civ-
14, etc., are never critictzed and ace often Justifted by the U.S., vhereas
Palestintan ailitary actions - bousings and kiduapplngs, are alueys “tervorisa’”
that must be pntsbed.

Domestically anyone dacing to dissent against U.. corporate/govecnment
polictes may te Labeled a tarrorist. This incluskes those asrely defending
thele Land agatnst Lvading FBI ot ATF agents, swch as the Aperican Indlan
Movenent.1n the 1970's, or the attack on the Dravidians et beco, on to
aninal vights advocates and enviromental activists today, so-called eco-
tecvoctats' (despite the fact these eco-novaments have never killed, and very

cacely hammed anyone, except corporate property and profits).
It's also well ko and taken for granted by the majorlty that the v
o Tecror, and the tae on Drugs, ace thinly vetled Justiicattons for govern-

“oent aclam, xenoptobla, and attacks on those the elite domm a threat. In
ol this (elules lcks, Lakios, the 1o of avmey ey, st 4
nyone opposed to corporations and thelr proxtes.

CLetl disobedience, like poverty, has boen ceiminaltzed, and challonging
corparate control of the govermment or the right of the nilitary-indsteisl
omplex to hog, the nation's resources 1s grounds for famediate violent
retaltation by goverrment sgents.

CIvLL Liberties have boen crushed, the BILL of Rights ept may as an
archatc frrelevancy, as corporations and govermment have conspired to crente
2 survelllance state. The entire Life of today's citizen ts Lald bare, uttecly
exposed £ the merciless stace of the state, and subject to imediate arcest
€ deviant behavtor 1s detected.

Conteol 13 inposed by mmcshalling near inconcetvable wmnts of information,
whch ace now routinely collected and scamad for thalr resssblance to vartous
patterns. Fron comon patterns of conmmer purchises and prefecences tarpeted
v sdvectisers, to patterns of financial transactions that inplicate des
dealecs and crininals, to patterms of fund transfers that suggest. teerorist
pe—

These patterns have proven adept at predicting behavior, and kooving.
the ntimate detatls of a person's life s tantamumt to knoving o persen's
thomhts, bellefs, activities. Corporations in the U.S. are fesely sbie to
collect and mntpulate veritable mountains of persaral data, and tcmsfors
that data {nto predictions of a consumee's behavior with nanic sathusiamm.
lonk carda, credit and deblt cards, shopper loyalty cards, RFID tags (Radio-
Froency Tdentification miceochips) ewedded in host of prodets, all
vield on ocean of incommation. Tine and type of purchase, smomts spent,

o Location at » pactlcular tim and place, your patterms of shopping,

211 this and more becomes a corporate dosster on every conmmer. This 19
then mtched up vith other records gathered elther openly or surreptitiously.
“roit history, medical and dental racords, propecty ovnershtp, tneurance.
Frcorls, suto cepiateation and deivec's tecord, court records ot ertminal
History, utdlity usage and payments, teavel records, book purchases and
ibeary selections, mnd swny moce types of inforsation are comiled and
ollated.

These dosslers ace purchased by the U.5. govermment, and ace conbined
¥ith the massive database of Lnfo gathersd by the NSA (Mattonal Securtty
faency). This is o staggeringly large horde of data, the raw prodct of vy
Bhone conversation, every e-natl, all Internat searches, and a signtficant
Foctton of all online activity, udreds of biLlions of sessages and exchanges

g8 TS Lo

I E e

2R

§8 §ig9y

that
datly. A softvare progees called "EEhelon’ 1s ko to pectors this assring
(s momsteous) feat. The data 1s then sifted and ispoctant bits plucked
out for the attention of higher-upe tn the KA.

e resilting spec-osster s ehamcad vith yet more data; 8 parson's
mvenents in cesl-tine, culled from trcking cell pooes, GFS mnitocs 1
cars (mch as the "On-Stac” tracking "service”), RFID chip data, public
i private survetllace caneeas, axd 30 o, 7

A1 thls tnformatton provides » datatled prottle of your e history,
youe profereces, Likes and dislikes, habits, celacionshipe, and the minucise
of dally Mfe. This 1s scamed and malysed by “incelligent sgents”, also
called "boks’, softvare programs that {xitate beatn activity. They are able
o learm from expartence, and constantly seacch for patterns that are
abnormal® o reveal deviance. Bots have Lo, been used by nmcance companies
o mff out fraud and by Lnvestoent barks seacching for sacket patterns.
ost. are fomiae vich bots hough secvices like Jeeves, that track evey
anline purchase and oty you vhen an 1tan you favor goes on sale, o
services that custantze searches for informtian. hatever patterns these
ot discove are i to your ligttal doaslr, from » tedency tomrds
ovecestanding your credlt, to sewal deviarey, (o cadical Leaning 1 olitics,
a1l 12 covealed.

Ao 1 this veren’ anough, the U.S. gaveroment 1s ewiows of the
"bing o Steel” the Beicish govecoment has {n place In Loodon; over & alllion
Victually tmestctible camras sucvetlling over 96T of ublic spaces, net-
vockad togethae and acnioced com centeal factlicy. The tmmges ace tesched
ron camra to camecs, and axe satchad with softuace for factal recogaition,
8t recopnition, thermal. asging, nd other tachmlogies to recognize
dividuals, 1 tum Unked vith databeses of Laages of ki pecaons. Hdeeds
o thousand of nev paople are added datly. Michasl Bloombarg, mayor of fev
- York City, has amounced b fntention to bulld a siailar "King of Stesl”
In Mo York, after the Tines Square bosb atterpt provided a Likely excuse.

s is generally the case vith cepeessive amasures, other smjor U.5. cities
VALL o0 follow in tnatalling netserks of camras in public places to
erack thte epolaticns.

The U.5. government alceady uses satellites nd softsare peogress
sintla 20 Google Earth (svatlable to the public, vhere ane 1s sble to "som
12" on any ot on the planet, and ses vt hagpenirg, 1n that neighbochund),
o track nd obearve pecple a1l over the vorld, lntted cnly by the tim i
takes to sift through the Lmmense volume of informaticn 1t collecta.

This 13m0t & nightaacish antasy o somm sci-f1 visien of the future.
his 1a the curcent, "ocmal” level of murvetllance spplied to U.S. citizens
and resident. A huge dosster {n cybecspace follovs » paracn's evey purchase
w stivity, exposing cna's hopes, desmes, asplaticns, coe's veskmesses,

aully Contivues where olers LeCt off. .. .
and one's intinate relations with others.

Should you becane an object of suspicion, hovever, & whole nev level
of intrusive surveillance can be put in place vith ease. This fncludes such
devices as x-cay scatter machines vhich ensble one to see through valls and
other solid obstacles; instruments that can Listen In on conversations in
roums from miles avay by converting the vibcations in vindow-glass into |
sound; the use of cell phones, which can be activated surceptiticusly and
renotely, both for eavesdropping and for covert viewing, if the cellphone
has a butlt-1n canera, as the majority oo do. There ace hundreds, possibly
thausands of other such devices of this nature, designed to enable
agents, whether in {ntelligence agencies, police, or the alphabet soup of
enforcement agencies, to secretly see, hear, and follov a person at a dis
o e e i, ey s s “]

And just what 1s the potnt of it all ? Certatn progeams hint at Lt, L1
the Total Information Auareness Systen (after a public outcry, Lt vas renams
the Terrorisn Information Avareness Systens, but vas othervise unchanged), |
whose goal 13 to track and hopefully predict the actions of anyone deemed |
suspiclous by the U.S. government. The secret, ultimate purpose of the whole
schene 1s to control every person on the planet, and to manipulate then in °
- vays favoeable to U.S. goverment policy. Failing that, the sinimm goal, *
endlessly steiven for, is to continue the pattem of U.S. exploitation of
the world's natural resources; maintain the grossly unequal distribution of
wealth, keep the poot powerless to effect any meaningful change, all for |
the banefLt of the elite owning both U.S. corporations and goverment (in
50 far a3 there 13 any difference batween the two).

The elite themselves are mot monlithic grouwp, of course, and nany
¥ithin Lt destce a fatrer and aoce decent world, and the end of totalftarian|
govermaent control. But the majority of the elite suppoct the U.S. govermment
and its polictes, and actively aid and abet 1t in its many ceines.

400 fanilies 1n the U.S. oun assets equal to the cambloed assets of the
bottam 20,000,000. 49,000 people in the U.S. o assets worth aoce than
$100 aillion. Within this select ainority are those who effectively o the
state. Add to these perhaps snother 50,000 cructal functionartes - CED's and
GFO's of cocporations, top sanagers and those in key executive positions
vthin government bureaucracies, ncluding mesbers of Congress and the Senate
their staffers, top ailitary brass, and those In cruclal posts in acadenta,
the mecia, and 5 forth, and you have the core of those who direct the ac-
tivities of the U.S. goverment.

They satntatn their control in a ayriad of vays; a complex system of
revards and punishments that emmesh the entire vorld. Abcoad the U.S. irposes
its will directly through the threat or use of force, relylng on its gar-
gantumn ailitary machine, with army bases acound the vorld, 8 vast naval

e patrolling the sens, and an atr force controlling the skies - all

® rpIrgs of enpice, vithout the oam. Tt's on & permanent vee footire,
revec (lghting a var againat vesker states on one pretense or mather, by
ter to Lrlghten other nations into comliance vith U.S. fnterests. T

5. furthers it forelgn mbitions indirectly through financtal and mi1itary
1 28 form of beibery, and manipulation of the agendas of intemational
mies such as the WD, the (N, the N, and the Uorld Rank (to name 2

¥) 83 & more subtle method of coercion. "

A bone, the U.S. government rules dicectly vith the threat and use of
o8 via the mchinecy of state repression - what might be termad the peison-
hstelal complex; courts, Lav enforcanent agancies,
3100 of the gulag archipelago. The state rules {ndl
bery of the populace - the begulling carrot of
oueh mind control by the media with all its tri
In€luence and persusde.

Ths the U.S. uses means both obvious and subtle to perpetuate Lts dom-
ne. Those who obey and help the U.5. are revarded ith monay, goccds and
vices, weaponcy, pratse, and - for a privelaged fov, fame and fortume.

v o dizobey or threatan the U.S. ace pmished vhenever possible wiih

the horrors of war (violence, torture, and death), vith atsery and m
oo, poveEty and outcast status, every effort being made to keep these
senters wiceless and poverless.

A Stanley Dlamond put Lt, conquest abeoad and repression at have. Fesr
Breed, the o forces driving captealist markets, are also the toots vast
he state to rule. Threaten the vorld with violence, frighten and soures
Lnto dolng your will. Where this ts trpractical o peohbitively exc
e, entice then nto campliance vith the offer of gatn,
€ matertalistic urges.

Second anly o the beute pouer of military might, the propaganda/medis
78 are the decisive factor in the machinery of pover. The mats help
mt beliefs and cepetitively ceinforce then. Owed by the same corporations
domirate the govecent, their interests neatly cotede. Nine vost,

4 corporations control over 85 of the U.. media markets (and over €07
relan Bnglish-spesking mwdia markets), {rcluding the content providecs,
Abutors, and producers of television, movies, radto, mte, publishing
ookatores, magazines and nevepapees.
i icredible concentcation of power to shape the opintons nd thoughts

® Population 13 jut o uses a3 sinple as they are insidious. First and
ost, the media vork constantly to portray .5,

nd the swollen American

rectly through a kind of
confort. and comventence, and
ks, distortions, and power

appealing to

23 bentgn entitles, ganerous, vell-seaning, prooting "progress” mmd

¢ standards of living in the U.5. and around the orld. The fact that
this is airage, proven daily by events to be lie, satters oot at all. T
dostruction of nature, atrocities and var crines againat lmocent pecples,
corporate robbery and corruption, government viciousess and {ncompetence,

- are whitevashed as excusable "aistakes” and "scldents”; ane-off errocs tha
won't be repeatad, despite the glacingly obrious truth that these crises are
ypical behavicr, ot tsolatad instances of weongdolrg.

Corporations ney regulacly cheat, ahuse, and even nain and kL1 thelr
custamers and exployes; they say tape and polson the natural vorld; mey act
Like paychopaths in pursult of pover amd profit, but these activities are
treated a5 "ummevsworthy”. bhere corpocate-spauned disasters and crininal ac
are 5o tereible they can't be {znored, they are downplayed, and reports are
kapt focused solely on the imediate probles. Uhile the culprits of the noms
iy be condamed, the systen Ltsel 1 never questioned.

Likevise, goverman atrocities and evils ace ignored for as log a3 o
and vinen the cries of outrage bacame deafentng, are treated a3 minor errors |
“inavitably” occur as the U.S. beings "demcracy and freedon” to every corve
of the world. Orwell's beilliant coining of the term "doublethink” (vhere
people are trained to belleve tuo diametrically opposed things at the sane
tinm, though only cne can be true), is here demnstcated. For exarple, the U
attacks a neutral countey, murders tens or hdreds of thousands of civilian
destroys the nation's infrastructure, vipes out the ailitary and police, cre
chaos and misery for aillions, and then nakes the patently sbourd claim it °
does %0 on behal of the people 1t saims and murders ¢

The actual reason for the attack may b to gatn control of soue natural
cesource 1t vants to plunder, such as ofl, o it may be to elininate some
threat to U.5. corporate Interests, such as an indigencus freedon oovenent
progesing nationalization of mines oc utllity compantes. The tntervention,
bowever vicious 1t aay be, 1s alvays paintad as an attempt to sske the world
"reer”, batter, sore pesceful. This s classic doublothink, with Amecicans
tcained to belleve the goverments intenttons are good, vhile simltaneousl
Koouing the goverment s actions are evil.

The media st therefore work overtine to pronote the false bellef that
capitalizn 1z fair, that corporations can be trusted, and that govermment
intervention - donestic and foreign, L3 a positive force.

The matta’s sacond and aqually imortant fonetion is to tnatill the
beltef that natertalism is the key to happiness. Again, the fact that this 1
- damonstrably false i irvelevant. Thogh everyooe knovs subconactously tha
human velationshipe ace the source of happiness - love and fetendship, sharl
creativity and comection, the modia doss Lts best to aantulate and distort
this fact 50 a3 to support conmmption.

The nessage is repeated 50 often and 1n s0 sany veys the Lodisputable
i that the nessage 1s a e is papersd over and forgotten. I you by
2, you' 11 be loved ! 1€ you buy that, you'LL be treated s scmmone
clal. By things, and you'Ll be happy. The medta poctrays relationships
depering, on thirgs, with ft-giving an essential element, vhereas ceal
ationships flouetah vith intisacy and attention, ifts that camet be
eht. The nedia mntea of enless shopping, and buying L a rectpe for. 3
btednass and alienation.

The astounding stze of the budgets devotd to advertiatng by corporations
soverTment ke plain hov cructal - and dIfficult - this beatmmshing
ce98 s, "Consunacs" are harless, they'ce the 1deal citizens, obeying

uthorlties, mmbly laboring for ages which are then spent vith cor-
#tlons for goods and services (often trmecessary and super luous mes),

y pursuing an advertiser's vision of paradise. It keepa pocple focused
solitical activities that benefle corporations, and 1s mn effective
03y for croating a plisble, distracted population. That 1t also crestes
icitually ety Life, devold of neanirg, absent of the relationshipe

- can Leirg true happioess, 1s conventently {gnored.

“A third and vital function of the media 1 to distract pacple from the
s which surcound then. Thers ace s0 rany evils and perversities bred
he systen kooun as {ndustrial captialiam 1t's diclcult to list then all.
of the worst. nclide govermment oppression of the poor and afnortties,
the crisinalization of poverty; the gavermment crushing of etvil Lib-
©3; Corporations squandering the esrth's resources and potsoning the.

¢ with chesical toxins and pesticides; the diversicn of the natton's

th may from the needs of the people axd into the coffers of the il
y-industrtal and prison-indstrial complexes, and many more.

These evils have tereible effacts on the vast majority of the population.
* tnclude a tragte and enormous (and entirely avoldable) fncrease in

ers, bicth defects, and other disesses dus to envirormentsl pollutants;
of mi1Lions of broken Lives f1lled wth angutsh and despate don to
Leas poverty; the mass extinction of plant and aniaal species as capldly
ing v 1derness 1s ade barren of 11fe, s 30 on.
Trumerable problens ceylng ot for solutions are {gnored by the nevs
o are given a belef, sausatioultst glance, and are then dismlased
the unspoken assuption that there's nothing to be done, that change.
wossible or impractical, and thet corporations and soverrment mst b
1 to have thelr vey regardless of the consequences.
The crises the nevs media are villing to exanine in detatl ace anes
don't have any relevance or irpact on the status quo. Plane crashes,
wrecks, auto accidents, mucders, celabeity scandals, anything that
"t question the systen, or at vorst susgests that bits and pleces need

Fixing but that the whole Ls solid. Attention is eigidly concentrated on
imediate dangecs and probless, deliberately exclusing any analysis of
Long-tern effects. "

A celebeity dylng of cancar vill recelve attention; the cluster of
Cancecs in the calabrity's neighbuchood due to & neacty toxic weste site
W11 ot A politician caught taking beibes w1l recelve attention; the
corrupt procass of Lobbying and the trade-of. between polticians and cor-
porate campaign donors WALl not. The nass [iring of teachers due to cuts
in aducation budgets vill receive ottention; the govermment's starving of
‘aducational budgets 50 as to expand the military, the cops, courts and
prisons vill rot. Examples of this kind of selective vision could be mil-
tiplied endlessly, the comon denoninatoe 15 the media’s refusal to ex-
anine causes, snd its insistence on vieving effects a Lsolated cases
inrelated to a largec picture.

There ae aany other types of subtecfuge the msdla uses to keep the

asses 1n their place, but all these are the ruses of the nevs medla, @
narrou spectalty designed to confuse aod fool people able to think tn-
dapendently. The cest of the media - the ajority of it, 1s one exormxs
sales tool, dedicated to calebrating consmerism and the worship of youth
an besuty. Its purgose Ls to distract the general public fron “serious”
- tasues, koep then amised and fascinated by spectacles and bizarre ephaners
Sports, celabeitios, and sexusl ticillation, these are the natnstays of the
mndia’s canpaign of diversion serving corporate Intecests by promsting sat-
erialiss, nd an obsesston vith self-inage.

By such stratagens the population s pecifiel and tamed. For aust,
Erapped by debt and Lifestyle into vage-slavery, struggling to pay for the
Plthora of things they've been convincad they "need", co-opted by the syste
of revards and punishments Lrposed on then by corporations and govermment,
there Ls o visible means of escape. The masses may drean of liberation, aay
even dally vith 1t as do the poor through drugs and the middle class throve
Cybecspoce, but 1n thele hearts they koow that they ae at the mercy of the
machine. Vorse, aust understand that political solutlons ate mo solution
at all sgainst 2 systan that offers coly false cholces, forever ylelding.
foce of the same. The fasclst status quo wins by dnectia and overshelning
force, and by relentlessly destroying any altermative to its plans for
pover.

Those who seek diferent vay of 1ife, anti-corporate activia
dtssenters and dresmecs of all kinds are harassed, macginalized, and ostra-
Cizad by the povecs-that-be, or are co-opted and used as synbols of the
state’s abtlity to change and esbrace nev deas. Dissenters are humted and
persecuted, vith the hope they Wil give up and assinilate fato the total-
Starian sainstresn.

o uhat L5 to be done 7 How can one Live vith Inteslty, and overcome
fasciat nightnace {nto vhich the U:S. has descended as ethics and mor.
ty denand 7

These questions vill be addcessed in Part Tuo, Fasclot America; the Path
Froodon.

nihilist 1 -

g South Chicago ABC
K2 Zine Distro
H] Box 721/Homewood IL 60430