Wednesday 6 November 2013

The mass media is enemy headquarters

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We almost-all pretty-much have-to use the mass media - so once the usage has been minimized, there still remains the question of having to deal with the irreducible minimum.

The most important aspect is having the correct general attitude: and that is to regard the mass media as enemy headquarters, which means that in interacting with them you cannot afford to drop your guard - or at least only seldom, and for brief periods.

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A particular danger is when you come across somebody nice, kind, friendly... who is a part of the mass media. People working for the mass media may genuinely be all this and more (after all, everybody has to work somewhere and most jobs aid the progress of evil more than of good - there are few modern jobs as basically-wholesome as that of a medieval peasant) - but we must not therefore assume that their nice-ness endorses the activities of the mass media.

The role of good people in the mass media is - properly - to minimize harm and ameliorate where possible. But their presence does not alter the fact that the mass media is enemy headquarters. It seems that some of Hitler's personal circle were genuinely nice people; and it may even be the case that some professional torturers have genuinely tried to inflict as little suffering as possible compatible with their goals.

Nonetheless...

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So we must not suppose that all those who serve evil (those who work for the mass media) are themselves evil, and indeed (since all actual people are a mixture of good and evil) those who serve evil may contain more good than we ourselves do.

Nonetheless, those with positions in the mass media do work for the enemy, and that fact should not be forgotten.

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My point is that in dealing with the mass media - in paying for it, by attending to it, spending time with it, being influenced by it - one is wandering around enemy headquarters, maybe looking and hoping for good people and good things that deserve our support and might support our cause - yet always aware that most of the people and things we are likely to encounter will be hostile.

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