The Information Age
by Robert Russo
It was announced last Thursday that terrorist Osama bin Laden would be "addressing the American people" in a new video to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.* My first thought was who is allowing him this open mike? You or I would not be able to address the nation on any issue unless we ourselves bombed someone. Shortly afterward it was declared U.S. officials "began dismissing the tape as propaganda".** How are they dismissing it? Isn't exposure the sole success of propaganda? Are they passing it on to us and then privately disconcerning over it? Then al Qaeda's "media production company" al Sahab posted the video in which bin Laden's beard has been trimmed and dyed, and he criticizes "the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages; global warming and its woes; and the abject poverty and tragic hunger in Africa.".*** So the man who before the Iraq war was considered obsolete, no longer effectually running al Qaeda, growing thin and grey in a cave somewhere, is now eternally youthful and on the pulse of modern social issues, speaking libertarian-like platforms which our own presidential candidates won't say. Who is this person to address us, some kind of world candidate exempt from the democratic process, high cost of airtime and justice itself?
In the movie Sneakers Ben Kingsley says "It's not about who's got the most bullets, it's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think, it's all about the information.".**** Our country controls the world language and media (some would say it's the only thing we control nowadays), but the media controls our country. Every leader, elected or appointed, is oblivious to the political might and influence of the media because it is so great they don't dare provoke the sword that will end their career in minutes. Stranger still is when our public officials are deaf and dumb to the effects of the information they pass along, as if they are innocently relating the facts in a world where everyone abides by the journalist's code. The "intelligence community" recently publicized their doubts about Iraqi prime minister al Maliki.***** What purpose does it serve for us to discredit him?
Our government knows the price of influence so well every statement is choreographed, and yet elsewhere this knowledge slips irresponsibly through their fingers. Whenever there is a new development in Iraq we get the news from foreign sources first because they still believe in direct journalism and an obligation to share it, whereas American intelligence is so afraid of liability an event hasn't occurred yet until it passes the gauntlet of confirmation. We could condemn China for not building the world's largest dam to American specs, but it won't keep Americans from buying Chinese products made from hydroelectric power. Every news agency fears misstating the facts, but what determines those facts is the presumed American judgment, and that thrives on shock value. Bin Laden is a "shock jock". The president calls him impotent but he has the one thing all politicians need, publicity. The 9/11 attacks might as well have involved a huge banner and floodlights for the marketing tool it has become.
We've all been in conversations where an offensive or stupid remark was quoted making you wonder "why was that worth repeating"? We need fearless leadership that cares nothing about ratings so it can put the press in its place. When the White House press corps enters for a new term they should be told "This is my house and here are the rules…", "That subject is not relevant for this forum", instead of the endless complacency and wordplay of the press secretary. We need leadership that refuses to play the game of statements and counterstatements, immune to what people say unless it is through the established channels of open-door policy. Leadership must at some point deal with reality and tell it like it is; if maintaining publicity is the only qualifier they are parrots no better than bin Laden. One day when the nation is starved for truth, cold turkey will become publicity and a libertarian will rise. This video has not yet been released in full but can be seen at http://news.aol.com/story/_a/bin-laden-jeers-at-us-government/20070906175609990001.
*http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/06/binladen.video.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
**http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/06/binladen.video/index.html?iref=newssearch
***http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/07/binladen.tape/index.html?iref=newssearch
****http://armchairgeneralist.typepad.com/my_weblog/film/index.html
*****http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/23/nie/index.html?iref=newssearch
Question of the Week: Negative influence and spam fill our eyes and ears daily from TV, radio and the internet. Do we need leadership that will engage in this fight using positive propanganda and PR to restore our peaceful way of life? Or is this censorship and as libertarians we must promote a free market, even when it comes to our own PR? Send your opinions to russo@richmondliberty.org.
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