Matt Farwell's painstaking timeline of over a hundred years of American information suppression, secret bureaucracies, and "anti-disinformation" scares
A good compendium but there is a blinding hole in 2017 where Obama signed the NDAA that authorized the use of information warfare on the domestic population. The same agencies and teams, now expanded, that caused the Arab Spring, the Midan color revolutions and likely what is going on in Turkey with the elections right now. Obama's order legalized the use of propaganda, censorship and other means of psychological manipulation of Americans in order to secure the state interests in our election cycles.
So we've been a society obsessed with policing and censoring "disinformation" for about 80 years. Make that over 100 years. Creeping totalitarianism has blossomed into not-so-friendly fascism, or the American version of totalitarianism cooking on its fascist stove all these paranoid decades.
And Matt was right the other day that Durham's report on the Russiagate fraudulent investigation by the FBI is almost certainly too little too late. The mass psychosis that underlies true believers in the Russia-Trump collusion lies are and will remain unswayed by anything issuing from quarters not fully vetted by the Dem party and its TDS infected leadership. They've been doubling down on the Truth of the Mueller Report before Mueller himself admitted he had nothing substantial to run with, as if Trump is still going to be hauled into court any day and tried for treason. They believe all the charges regardless of anything Matt, Aaron Mate, Greenwald or anyone else has said about the core charges behind Russiagate.
They octuple down on ALL of it. And until the NYTimes, CBS, NBC, NPR and the rest of the liberal media confess to being dead-ass wrong about it for 6 years, these true believers aren't going to change their tune one note. I've seen this from personal experience. These clowns are the vanguard of the totalitarian state we're trapped in.
So what we're saying is this is a long-standing process and that there really are no "good guys," with both Obama and Trump furthering this process along.
I think RFK, Jr. might be the only presidential candidate who could purge - perhaps even abolish - a few of these totalitarian agencies. My first thought was he had no chance of winning ... but now I've changed my view.
I've reached a point of peak cynic when it comes to the federal government. I completely and wholly understand now the position of smallest government possible. I come from the left and I fully believe in labor rights and social equality and even programs to help people out of poverty as I benefitted from this myself as a child. But now I see that it puts you and the country as
a whole into a position of servitude and unable to be as critical as one should be over matters like censorship and the organizations that propagate it. I'm constantly torn now between my liberal nature and my violent repulsion to anything government these days. I miss being
oblivious...but I don't regret the eye opening. Just doesn't make for a happy world to live in
Ugh, why does Racket News continue to bore me with tedious, in-depth reporting and historical analysis that hurts my feelings? Well, at least no one I know will take the time to read this, so we can all chalk it up to being another nothing-burger unworthy of consideration. #WeekendAtBidens2024
and the beat goes on but now the world is digital and "they" can control EVERYTHING. Swallow your loathing and Vote appropriately. Policy not personality.
When I saw the phrase "painstaking timeline," 2 other phrases came to mind: "Can't be compressed into a soundbite" & "Will probably be ignored."
Maybe we all need to realize that censorship, much like constantly mutating genitalia, is something the modern urban hipster just can't live with out.
I have to admit that they have a point. Facts can be brain muddling & hard to digest while pre-chewed facts go down like pureed cabbage.
Facts can also be depressing little bastards.
For example is it better to think that Joe Biden is a corrupt & senile old coot gleefully shoving us towards nuclear armageddon or is it better to think of him as a fierce warrior defending Democracy?
I think that the answer is obvious.
Maybe we all need to return to the words of that great 20th century philosopher, Bobby McFerrin, and just "don't worry, be happy."
Happy folk always look so fucking happy, don't they?
Granted most liberals look like they've just swallowed a case of rotten lemons but that's probably just a social construct. They are, in reality, most likely happy little bunnies spreading happiness to all the maladjusted domestic terrorists everywhere and we just can't see it because we are blinded by pesky facts.
I agree with EyesAndMindOpen. 2017 NDAA is important and should be added. Also, don’t forget the damage that The Smith-Munda Modernization Act (I believe that was in 2013) did to the open doors for propaganda now used on US Citizens.
Thank you for a great summary. I rarely see anything written about the past 100 years. That's sad because we all could really learn a thing or two from the last 100 years of US history. Laid out like this it's rather sickening, to be honest. Still very much worth the read. So many young people don't realize what's happened in the past 50 years, never mind 100 years. Being a 60+ year old I remember only about half of these efforts myself.
One missing piece on this timeline: After 1934, Joseph Breen, representing the Catholic Church, was involved in the writing of every Hollywood movie script. To this day, the pre-1934 films are much less accessible to the public, even though they are much better and more interesting films, in my opinion...
Glad to see you being published on Racket News and hope you have more articles here. Listened to your interview on Trueanon when it first became available and thought it was definitely in the top 10 on that site. You have a unique perspective and I'm glad you are getting more exposure.
A good compendium but there is a blinding hole in 2017 where Obama signed the NDAA that authorized the use of information warfare on the domestic population. The same agencies and teams, now expanded, that caused the Arab Spring, the Midan color revolutions and likely what is going on in Turkey with the elections right now. Obama's order legalized the use of propaganda, censorship and other means of psychological manipulation of Americans in order to secure the state interests in our election cycles.
Good work Matt. It clearly shows the tendency of men holding power to suppress free speech.
As James Madison noted, in truth, all men holding power ought to be mistrusted.
So we've been a society obsessed with policing and censoring "disinformation" for about 80 years. Make that over 100 years. Creeping totalitarianism has blossomed into not-so-friendly fascism, or the American version of totalitarianism cooking on its fascist stove all these paranoid decades.
And Matt was right the other day that Durham's report on the Russiagate fraudulent investigation by the FBI is almost certainly too little too late. The mass psychosis that underlies true believers in the Russia-Trump collusion lies are and will remain unswayed by anything issuing from quarters not fully vetted by the Dem party and its TDS infected leadership. They've been doubling down on the Truth of the Mueller Report before Mueller himself admitted he had nothing substantial to run with, as if Trump is still going to be hauled into court any day and tried for treason. They believe all the charges regardless of anything Matt, Aaron Mate, Greenwald or anyone else has said about the core charges behind Russiagate.
They octuple down on ALL of it. And until the NYTimes, CBS, NBC, NPR and the rest of the liberal media confess to being dead-ass wrong about it for 6 years, these true believers aren't going to change their tune one note. I've seen this from personal experience. These clowns are the vanguard of the totalitarian state we're trapped in.
So what we're saying is this is a long-standing process and that there really are no "good guys," with both Obama and Trump furthering this process along.
I think RFK, Jr. might be the only presidential candidate who could purge - perhaps even abolish - a few of these totalitarian agencies. My first thought was he had no chance of winning ... but now I've changed my view.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/bobby-kennedy-might-win
I've reached a point of peak cynic when it comes to the federal government. I completely and wholly understand now the position of smallest government possible. I come from the left and I fully believe in labor rights and social equality and even programs to help people out of poverty as I benefitted from this myself as a child. But now I see that it puts you and the country as
a whole into a position of servitude and unable to be as critical as one should be over matters like censorship and the organizations that propagate it. I'm constantly torn now between my liberal nature and my violent repulsion to anything government these days. I miss being
oblivious...but I don't regret the eye opening. Just doesn't make for a happy world to live in
Ugh, why does Racket News continue to bore me with tedious, in-depth reporting and historical analysis that hurts my feelings? Well, at least no one I know will take the time to read this, so we can all chalk it up to being another nothing-burger unworthy of consideration. #WeekendAtBidens2024
-BlueAnon Cult Member
This was such a good read that it makes me want to read some books. This Matt Farwell guy needs to write more books. Excellent writing.
and the beat goes on but now the world is digital and "they" can control EVERYTHING. Swallow your loathing and Vote appropriately. Policy not personality.
When I saw the phrase "painstaking timeline," 2 other phrases came to mind: "Can't be compressed into a soundbite" & "Will probably be ignored."
Maybe we all need to realize that censorship, much like constantly mutating genitalia, is something the modern urban hipster just can't live with out.
I have to admit that they have a point. Facts can be brain muddling & hard to digest while pre-chewed facts go down like pureed cabbage.
Facts can also be depressing little bastards.
For example is it better to think that Joe Biden is a corrupt & senile old coot gleefully shoving us towards nuclear armageddon or is it better to think of him as a fierce warrior defending Democracy?
I think that the answer is obvious.
Maybe we all need to return to the words of that great 20th century philosopher, Bobby McFerrin, and just "don't worry, be happy."
Happy folk always look so fucking happy, don't they?
Granted most liberals look like they've just swallowed a case of rotten lemons but that's probably just a social construct. They are, in reality, most likely happy little bunnies spreading happiness to all the maladjusted domestic terrorists everywhere and we just can't see it because we are blinded by pesky facts.
Be seeing you.
I agree with EyesAndMindOpen. 2017 NDAA is important and should be added. Also, don’t forget the damage that The Smith-Munda Modernization Act (I believe that was in 2013) did to the open doors for propaganda now used on US Citizens.
Thank you for a great summary. I rarely see anything written about the past 100 years. That's sad because we all could really learn a thing or two from the last 100 years of US history. Laid out like this it's rather sickening, to be honest. Still very much worth the read. So many young people don't realize what's happened in the past 50 years, never mind 100 years. Being a 60+ year old I remember only about half of these efforts myself.
One missing piece on this timeline: After 1934, Joseph Breen, representing the Catholic Church, was involved in the writing of every Hollywood movie script. To this day, the pre-1934 films are much less accessible to the public, even though they are much better and more interesting films, in my opinion...
Glad to see you being published on Racket News and hope you have more articles here. Listened to your interview on Trueanon when it first became available and thought it was definitely in the top 10 on that site. You have a unique perspective and I'm glad you are getting more exposure.
Snowden, never forget.
Is that all you've got? /sarc/