|
Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
The Pentagon-Media Complex Fibs about Star Wars
Share and save this post:
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Wall Street's Meltdown: How America Caught Speculative Fever
Sam Pizzigati
Democracy and Elections:
Voter Rolls Grow As States Help Poor People Register
Scott Novakowski
DrugReporter:
Marijuana Is Real Medicine
Paul Krassner
Election 2008:
Obama vs. McCain: Who Won? Short Takes on the Debate
Environment:
Forget the Gas Pump -- Heating Bills May Be the Killer This Winter
Simran Sethi
ForeignPolicy:
Iran, Israel and American Disinformation
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Health and Wellness:
Will the Economic Meltdown Undermine Interest in Health Care Reform?
Niko Karvounis
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Arab "Registry" Upheld; Policy About Immigration, Not Counter-Terrorism
Edward Alden
Media and Technology:
The Growth of Talking Points Memo: A Case Study in Independent Media
Joshua Micah Marshall
Movie Mix:
The "Battle in Seattle" and Beyond
Stuart Townsend
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Our Next President Will Transform the Supreme Court
Ellen Goodman
Rights and Liberties:
Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"
Naomi Wolf
Sex and Relationships:
New Poll: Parents Overwhelmingly Support Age-Appropriate Sex Ed
Scott Swenson
War on Iraq:
Revealed: "Secret" Executions Being Carried Out in Saddam's Old Intelligence Headquarters
Robert Fisk
Water:
New Information Shows How Climate Change Will Affect Water
What is it about the media powerhouses that make them such suckers for Pentagon fairy tales?
One would think that multibillion-dollar media giants (from CBS to CNN, the New York Times to the Washington Post) would bring at least a smidgen of journalistic skepticism to the Pentagon's incredible claims about its technological prowess. Yet, you might recall that during the Gulf War a decade ago the media gullibly swallowed the military's daily press assertions that some 99 percent of our whiz-bang, computer-guided missiles were on-target against Saddam Hussein's forces. Month's later it had to be admitted that these gushing reports were slightly misleading -- indeed, about 90 percent of the missiles had missed their targets.
Recently the Pentagon put out another whopper ... and once again the media barons swallowed it whole, then regurgitated it to us as truth. At issue was a widely ballyhooed test of the razzle-dazzle, video-arcade, anti-missile-defense scheme known as Star Wars. The Bush team is determined to dump about 160 billion of our tax dollars into this boondoggle, even though it's so technologically flawed that military experts think it's silly.
So, the Bushites and their corporate partners scheduled a test in July in which a "bad guy" missile was fired at the US and our "good guy" missile was launched to shoot it down in mid-air. Sure enough, the Pentagon claimed that this technological impossibility had worked, asserting that our "good guy" blasted the "bad guy" out of the sky. "Success," shrieked the media in union with the Pentagon.
Only now have we learned from watchdog groups that the July test was rigged -- our "good guy" missile was programmed with information about the time and location of the "bad guy" launch, and the "bad guy" even had a beacon in it to guide the "good guy" to it.
This is Jim Hightower saying ... It's hard to take the media establishment seriously about anything as long as it continues to act as a straightman for the jokesters of the military-industrial complex.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More Columns: | ||
|
Why It's Hard to Change People's Minds A new study shows that after being exposed to information contradicting their ideas, most people still cling to their prejudices. By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet. October 7, 2008. |
Opposition to the Bailout Will Not Destroy America Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Instead of applauding representatives who, for once, heeded the public, the pundits blasted those who dared get out of line. By Robert Scheer, Truthdig. October 1, 2008. |
Let's Renegotiate NAFTA and the WTO Agreement Trade is not an end in itself -- the goal is to improve people's living standards. By Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet. September 30, 2008. |
EMAIL
PRINT
