Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.
Profile image
Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

U.S. Militarism and Perpetual War

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.


U.S. Militarism and Perpetual War

By Jeff Cohen
Counterpunch
April 10, 2013

I spent years as a political pundit on mainstream TV – at CNN, Fox
News and MSNBC.

I was outnumbered, outshouted, red-baited and finally terminated.

Inside mainstream media, I saw that major issues were not only
dodged, but sometimes not even acknowledged to exist.

Today there’s an elephant in the room: a huge, yet ignored, issue
that largely explains why Social Security is now on the chopping
block. And why other industrialized countries have free college
education and universal healthcare, but we don’t.

It’s arguably our country’s biggest problem – a problem that
Martin Luther King Jr. focused on before he was assassinated
45 years ago, and has only worsened since then (which was the
height of the Vietnam War).

That problem is U.S. militarism and perpetual war.

In 1967, King called the United States “the greatest purveyor of
violence in the world today” – and said, “A nation that continues
year after year to spend more money on military defense than on
programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Nowadays MSNBC hosts yell at Fox News hosts, and vice versa, about
all sorts of issues – but when the Obama administration expanded the
bloody war in Afghanistan, the shouting heads at both channels went
almost silent.

When Obama’s drone war expanded, there was little shouting.
Not at MSNBC, not at Fox. Nor at CNN, CBS, ABC or so-called
public broadcasting.

We can have raging debates in mainstream media about issues
like gun control and gay marriage and minimum wage, but when
the elites of both parties agree on military intervention, as they
so often do, debate is nearly nonexistent.

Anyone in the mainstream who goes out on a limb to loudly
question this oversized creature in the middle of the room
known as militarism or interventionism is likely to disappear
faster than you can say ‘Phil Donahue.’

I know something about mainstream journalists being silenced for
questioning bipartisan military adventures because I worked with
Phil Donahue at MSNBC in 2002/03 when Bush was revving up the
Iraq invasion with the support of Democratic leaders like Joe Biden,
John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid. That’s when MSNBC
terminated us for the crime of JWI.

Not DWI, but JWI – Journalism during Wartime while Independent.

JWI may be a crime in mainstream media, but it’s exactly the
kind of unauthorized, unofficial coverage you get from quality
independent media today and from un-embedded journalists like
Jeremy Scahill, Dahr Jamail and Glenn Greenwald.

Unfortunately, many liberal journalists who were vocal about war,
human rights and civil liberties during the Bush era lost their voices
as Obama continued and, in some cases, expanded Bush’s “War on
Terror” policies.

It says something about the lack of serious national debate on
so-called national security that last month one of the loudest
mainstream TV news questioners of the president’s right to
assassinate Americans was Sean Hannity on Fox.

That’s obscene.

And it says something about mainstream TV that the toughest, most
consistent questioners of militarism and defenders of civil liberties
are not on a news channel, they’re on the comedy channel.

A few weeks ago, I watched a passionate Jon Stewart taking on
the U.S. military budget:

“We already spend more on defense than the next 12 countries
combined, including China, including Russia. We’re like the lady
on Jerry Springer who can’t stop getting breast implants.”

What our mainstream media so obediently call the “War on Terror” is
experienced in other countries as a U.S. war OF terror, kidnappings,
night raids, torture, drone strikes, killing and maiming of innocent
civilians, that creates new enemies for our country.

Interestingly, you can easily find that reality in mainstream media
of allied countries in Europe, but not in the mainstream media of
our country.

Needless to say, it’s our country that’s waging this global perpetual
war.

In a democracy, war must be subjected to questioning and debate.

And not just on the comedy channel.

Jeff Cohen is founding director of the Park Center for Independent
Media at Ithaca College and an associate professor of journalism
there. His latest book is “Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures
in Corporate Media.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/10/u-s-militarism-and-
perpetual-war


Source:


Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!


Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST


Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!

HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.

Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.

MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)

Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser!  Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!

Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.

Smart Meter Cover -  Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).

Report abuse

    Comments

    Your Comments
    Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

    MOST RECENT
    Load more ...

    SignUp

    Login

    Newsletter

    Email this story
    Email this story

    If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

    If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.