Hurray! Something to celebrate! The facts don't matter!

www.newsinsider.org...

1. I once applied the term 'cognitive dissonance' to another member. I want that person to know, I did that knowledgably, independently of this article, not having seen this article, and not in the way that is talked about here. And in a friendly way.

2. This news is now over a week old. The same poll taken to day would get different results, because of the massive mainstream media coverage of the WMDs issue and the focus on '16 words' and political cartoons. But the results may not be that much different.

3. The conclusion of the writer is inaccurate. Activism, and not just good intention, creates results, such as 400,000 signatures to Congress. And there will always be a certain proportion of the middle American public who don't want to be informed on anything at all.

4. Is an underinformed America the kind you want to live in? If yes, why are you bothering to visit ATS? If no, what are you doing with the information at ATS?

This info will be no surprise to some, but it was to me:


Floating On A Dinghy
Why Facts on Iraq Don't Matter
By Isa F. Atkins

I have read it twenty times and I still don't believe it. The latest PIPA Knowledge Networks poll shows that a third of the American public believes US forces have actually found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A further 22 per cent think Iraqi troops used banned chemical or biological weapons against US soldiers in Iraq.

Poll analysts, who go to great pains to appear to respect the subjects of their research, have come up with an interesting name for this surreal phenomenon. They call it 'cognitive dissonance'. When pressed to explain the meaning of this term in plain English, they admit -with a sense of humble discomfort- that it describes the lack of agreement between reality and a person's understanding of it. In other words, it describes one's inability, or even downright unwillingness, to grasp the truth.

Not surprisingly, the poll showed that the above erroneous beliefs were expressed primarily by those supporting the war on Iraq.

Now, it is true that ever since Antonio Gramsci's writings were smuggled out of his stingy Italian prison cell, educated liberals have accused media propaganda of being responsible for popular misconceptions throughout this century's wars. And, granted, with ample reason. From the paid lies of American Civil War correspondents, to the fraudulent nationalistic rants of reporters covering World War I, to the disgraceful, corrupt journalist intelligentsia of the Cold War, no modern institution is more directly responsible for the perpetuation of mass militarism than the corporate media -and this includes the military itself.

Yet the media is not to blame for the findings of this latest poll. Sure enough, rarely do the American corporate media seriously question the striking absence of illegal weapons in Iraq, the cold-blooded murder of over 6,000 Iraqi civilians, or even the 'intelligence' invented by the Bush Reich to reinvigorate the American weapons and oil industries. But nobody, not even the fascistoid Fox News Network, has announced the incontrovertible finding of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. No one, not even the CIA's own disinformation unit, has yet thought to invent non-existent biological attacks on US troops, with non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In fact, why should the CIA go to all the trouble of making up false news, when large chunks of the American public are actually doing it themselves? This is a professional propagandist's dreamland -the blissful earthly paradise of fifth-column emissaries!

All humor aside, the depressing conclusion is as unavoidable as the next 9-11: in the domestic war of opinion over Iraq, facts don't matter. It is of little to no use wasting brain power, typing endless keystrokes, arguing at dinner tables or utilizing basic principles of morality and common sense to enlighten the 30 per cent of Americans who insist on believing that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have been found. When logic is abandoned voluntarily and en masse, and replaced with 'cognitive dissonance' or, as I prefer to call it, schizoid paranoia, then the floating power of reason and critical thinking becomes as effective as that of a windswept foam dinghy in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The inevitable question is what to do upon finding yourself on that fragile little dinghy, amidst the dark waters of the Atlantic. I fear my answer to this question is somewhat plain: if you consider the advancement of peace and social justice to be simply a rhetorical pursuit, an entertaining political diversion whose actual outcome will have minimum impact upon your life and immediate environment, then you are doing just fine. Stay on the dinghy until the attainment of professional status, property, and financial stability cause you to reconsider the surrounding waters and, eventually, dip in for a carefree swim. If, on the other hand, you consider the widespread attainment of peace and social justice to be fundamental to your personal and moral stability, as well as to the prosperity of your loved ones and your community, nation and world, then make yourself at home. It looks like you will be on this dinghy for a very long time, battling the perilous waves. Try to look forward to your only valuable sources of enjoyment: the daily recurrence of small and large acts of courage and commitment, through which you will show the 'cognitive dissonance' crowd that when you talk about justice, solidarity, compassion and peace, you really, really mean it.

Maybe they're already testing/using invisible forms of mind control/thought suggestion - and not only that, but still allowing the opposing truth (no WMDs, etc.) to be shown through the media to see how successful the control is...

It's highly visible.

they are using the primary news networks to color what the public perceives. Don't get me wrong, I was for the war, and I was also behind the hidden agendas. However, the handling of it is piss-poor at best. Watching the regular news here, we saw all kinds of constant reminders of the biological threat, and slants on stories to make us believe that chemical weapons were ready to fire at us in a moment's notice. It's no wonder those polls reflect that. It was conditioned that way.

Personally i like how the news networks are making people believe all Iraqi's are killers.

Gotta love Fox News and the changing of "Suicide Bombers" to "Homicide Bombers"

I'm in the UK but i get Fox news, and i seriously hope that its not the most watched news channel in the US. If it is then God help us all!

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
www.newsinsider.org...

1. I once applied the term 'cognitive dissonance' to another member. I want that person to know, I did that knowledgably, independently of this article, not having seen this article, and not in the way that is talked about here. And in a friendly way.

Acid head says it all.....