{"id":246007,"date":"2023-10-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=246007"},"modified":"2023-10-12T05:41:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T04:41:14","slug":"the-achilles-heel-of-propaganda-julian-assange-nick-cohen-and-russell-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/10\/the-achilles-heel-of-propaganda-julian-assange-nick-cohen-and-russell-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"The Achilles\u2019 Heel of Propaganda \u2013 Julian Assange, Nick Cohen and Russell Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Silencing-dissent-media-cartoon-censorship.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-246009 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Silencing-dissent-media-cartoon-censorship-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Silencing-dissent-media-cartoon-censorship-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Silencing-dissent-media-cartoon-censorship.png 678w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><em>11 Oct 2023<\/em> &#8211; In the second decade of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century, after much empty talk of \u2018government of the people, by the people, for the people\u2019, it was discovered that people weren\u2019t even capable of governing their own media consumption. Huge, artificially intelligent computers revealed that while 49.5% of the population was drowning in a \u2018post-truth\u2019 sea of \u2018disinformation\u2019, another 49.5% was away with the fairies in \u2018filter bubbles\u2019 borne aloft by nothing but hot air.<\/p>\n<p>This left the 1% to cope with the crisis. Giant media corporations recruited \u2018disinformation experts\u2019 \u2013 savant guardians uniquely qualified to distinguish between rational and propaganda journalism. Their mystical powers are such that, working within profit-maximising, billionaire-owned, advertiser-dependent, government-subsidised media, they are nevertheless exposing \u2018disinformation\u2019 without the slightest trace of bias. If CEOs, ad department managers and others privately despise these truth-tellers fearlessly biting the many hands that feed, they are holding their tongues, presumably out of deep respect for their noble cause.<\/p>\n<p>In all the endless blather about \u2018misinformation\u2019, you will see precious little recognition of the great Achilles\u2019 heel of propaganda journalism, the characteristic by which it is instantly exposed, rooted in the fact that it has fundamentally different goals from rational journalism.<\/p>\n<p>The goals of rational journalism are honesty, accuracy, completeness and clarity. Rational journalism will, of course, present the US-UK governments\u2019 explanation for why they invaded Iraq, <em>and<\/em> it will present honest, credible, authoritative sources challenging that explanation.<\/p>\n<p>Notice this claim to rational, honest journalism is not a claim to <em>objective<\/em> journalism. Judgement about which individuals and organisations <em>are<\/em> honest, credible and authoritative is a subjective one. We might insist that we are choosing credible sources based on rational, testable evidence, but rational thought is a subjective phenomenon that occurs inside a human head \u2013 it is not objective. Our reasoning might be faulty \u2013 we might simply be mad.<\/p>\n<p>Rational, subjective journalism requires that you and I play our parts as honest, rational readers and viewers checking the claims and forming our own subjective opinions. We cannot take the arguments of purportedly honest, subjective journalists on trust \u2013 we have to do the work ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>The goals of propaganda journalism are different: it aims to lead readers and viewers to a particular conclusion. In this case, honesty, accuracy and clarity are subordinated to the needs of persuasion. As for completeness, because it works <em>against<\/em> the goals of propaganda, it is not merely omitted; it is a threat to be attacked.<\/p>\n<p>This, then, is how we can distinguish rational journalism from mere propaganda. The great Achilles heel of propaganda journalism is that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It necessarily combines meticulous, detailed, forensic analysis of the facts with vast, \u2018inexplicable\u2019, counter-intuitive gaps. The propagandist will collect every tiny detail in favour of the required conclusion but \u2013 as though mentally impaired \u2013 will \u2018fail\u2019 to notice any number of lounge-based elephants leading away from the desired conclusions. The aim is to present a clear-cut, black and white view of the world with no room for doubt.<\/li>\n<li>It will find reasons to attack anyone suggesting that this filtered, black and white version is incomplete. Any rational journalist interested in completeness, in doubt, will be attacked as an \u2018apologist\u2019, a \u2018traitor\u2019, a \u2018Lord Haw-Haw\u2019-type character undermining the nation\u2019s moral and intellectual health with \u2018disinformation\u2019. Any other rational journalists who then seek completeness in responding to these first claims of \u2018treachery\u2019 will be accused of \u2018treachery\u2019 in the same way. It is a logical closed-circle \u2013 vital because, for a propagandist, victory is all that matters. The flourishing of rational debate is both a threat and a defeat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Nils Melzer \u2013 \u2018I Had Been Blinded By Propaganda\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2019, while working as the UN\u2019s Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer \u2013 a highly experienced practitioner in the field of international law who was the Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and who is now Director of Law, Policy and Diplomacy of the International Committee of the Red Cross \u2013 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@njmelzer\/demasking-the-torture-of-julian-assange-b252ffdcb768\" >commented<\/a> on Julian Assange:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Surely, I thought, Assange must be a rapist! But what I found is that he has never been charged with a sexual offence. True, soon after the United States had encouraged allies to find reasons to prosecute Assange, Swedish prosecution informed the tabloid press that he was suspected of having raped two women. Strangely, however, the women themselves never claimed to have been raped, nor did they intend to report a criminal offence. Go figure. Moreover, the forensic examination of a condom submitted as evidence, supposedly worn and torn during intercourse with Assange, revealed no DNA whatsoever \u2014 neither his, nor hers, nor anybody else\u2019s. Go figure again. One woman even texted that she only wanted Assange to take an HIV test, but that the police were \u201ckeen on getting their hands on him\u201d. Go figure, once more.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Melzer added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In the end it finally dawned on me that I had been blinded by propaganda, and that Assange had been systematically slandered to divert attention from the crimes he exposed. Once he had been dehumanized through isolation, ridicule and shame, just like the witches we used to burn at the stake, it was easy to deprive him of his most fundamental rights without provoking public outrage worldwide. And thus, a legal precedent is being set, through the backdoor of our own complacency, which in the future can and will be applied just as well to disclosures by The Guardian, the New York Times and ABC News.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Melzer, clearly an impeccable source on these issues, offered this opinion piece to the Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, the Canberra Times, the Telegraph, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Newsweek. The result:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018None responded positively.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Why not? Because Melzer was dealing with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2022\/the-medium-an-appeal-for-support\/\" >The Medium<\/a>, a state-corporate propaganda system that needed the Assange case to be presented in black and white terms to neutralise public support so the state could \u2018deprive him of his most fundamental rights without provoking public outrage worldwide\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This propaganda requirement is so important, so relentlessly pursued, that many state-corporate propagandists \u2013 people who genuinely imagine they are rational journalists \u2013 felt authentic revulsion for anyone interested in challenging the official narrative. As we found out, although no charges had been brought against Assange, and although he had not been convicted of any crime, to promote completeness by challenging the various claims was to be branded \u2018a rape apologist\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the truth of the claims made against Assange, the very fact that expert, rational journalism seeking completeness was not only ignored, but was barred, was the great Achilles\u2019 heel indicating that Assange was indeed the target of a state-corporate propaganda blitz. This automatically meant that, whatever the claims against Assange, The Medium was already guilty of a profound subversion of democracy, civilised debate and freedom, because it was acting as an agent of state, not as an impartial source of information. It was treating the domestic population as an enemy to be controlled and manipulated.<\/p>\n<p>To summarise, then: when meticulous detail is widely combined with elephant-sized gaps, and when interest in completeness is widely denounced as \u2018treachery\u2019, or \u2018immorality\u2019 of some kind, this is the Achilles\u2019 heel exposing a propaganda blitz.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018La, La, La!\u2019 The Medium Puts Its Fingers In Its Ears<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In June we were one of a tiny number of outlets who supported women exposing the sexual abuses of high-profile former Observer columnist Nick Cohen in a front-page <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/6WoLl#selection-565.0-585.267\" >article<\/a> published by the New York Times. Seven women told the NYT that Cohen \u2018had groped them or made other unwanted sexual advances over nearly two decades. Four insisted on anonymity, fearing professional repercussions. In each case, The Times reviewed documents or otherwise corroborated their accounts\u2019. This was not trial by media \u2013 the NYT report followed an internal investigation by Guardian News &amp; Media, after which Cohen had left the Observer.<\/p>\n<p>The contrast with the media reaction to the Assange allegations could hardly be more disturbing. The NYT\u2019s report on Cohen was published on May 30. Our ProQuest media database search on June 15 of UK newspaper mentions after May 29 gave the following results:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Nick Cohen\u2019 = 9 mentions<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This was the sum total of interest in the entire UK press. The story was simply buried and was not covered by the Guardian or the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>We were one of very few outlets to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2023\/killing-the-story-bakhmut-nick-cohen-kakhovka-nord-stream-and-piers-morgan\/\" >quote<\/a> sexual abuse survivor Lucy Siegle:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In 2018, Freelance journalist and BBC One Show reporter Lucy Siegle \u2013 who wrote an Observer column on ethical living and launched the newspaper\u2019s Ethical Awards \u2013 reported Cohen to the Guardian for groping her in the newsroom, but \u201cnothing had happened\u201d. Siegle described her 1 February 2018 meeting with senior Guardian management as \u201caggressive\u201d, an \u201cabsolute car crash\u201d, in which she felt \u201cgaslit\u201d and that they \u201cbasically spent half the time trying to diminish what I was saying and then the other half of the time sort of putting their fingers in their ears and almost going \u201cla la la\u201d.\u201d\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u2018La, la la\u2019, pretty much sums up the reaction of the entire state-corporate Medium to the scandal.<\/p>\n<p>Compare, again, the response to claims against comedian and dissident political commentator Russell Brand, accused of rape by one woman, and of sexual abuse by three other women. The Metropolitan Police subsequently <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-66918331\" >reported<\/a> that it had also received a \u2018number of allegations of sexual offences\u2019. The World Socialist Network (WSWS) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2023\/09\/21\/ygvq-s21.html\" >commented<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The hysterical response to the Brand story in the media, with the Guardian and other nominally \u201cliberal\u201d newspapers far in the lead, undermines basic legal and democratic principles. It has pre-emptively judged Brand guilty, rendering him a pariah and jeopardising any chance of a fair trial if that were ever on the cards in the future\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Legal and democratic rights must be defended to put an end to the situation where public figures and artists can be torn down purely through maliciously intended allegations and gossip. It should not need explaining what enormous power this gives those with the most influence on the media and politics, and the injustice which can be wrought.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And indeed, anyone who has followed the Assange case will have been alarmed when Foreign Secretary James Cleverly <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/2023\/sep\/17\/russell-brand-entertainment-industry-has-question-to-answer-says-james-cleverly\" >commented<\/a> publicly on the claims against Brand:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018We have to be particularly careful when we listen to the voices of the people who are relatively powerless. Because we, I think, collectively have missed opportunities to do the right thing and intervene much, much earlier.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This, of course, strongly implied Brand\u2019s guilt, helping to set the tone for the subsequent trial by media. One might, of course, wonder why such a senior Foreign Office politician responsible for British relations with foreign countries and governments was speaking out on claims targeting a British comedian and actor. After all, Britain\u2019s Foreign Secretary did <em>not<\/em> comment on the Cohen sex scandal.<\/p>\n<p>Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the House of Commons media committee, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rumblevideo\/status\/1704584929026216118\/photo\/1\" >wrote<\/a> to the media platform, Rumble:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018We would be grateful if you could confirm whether Mr Brand is able to monetise his content, including his videos relating to the serious accusations against him. If so, we would like to know whether Rumble intends to join YouTube in suspending Mr Brand\u2019s ability to earn money on the platform.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To their credit, Rumble <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rumblevideo\/status\/1704584927834960196\" >replied<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Today, we received a deeply disturbing letter from a committee chair in the UK parliament\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018We regard it as deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the UK Parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living from doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Singling out an individual and demanding his ban is even more disturbing given the absence of any connection between the allegations and his content on Rumble. We don\u2019t agree with the behavior of many Rumble creators, but we refuse to penalize them for actions that have nothing to do with our platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Although it may be politically and socially easier for Rumble to join a cancel culture mob, doing so would be a violation of our company\u2019s values and mission. We emphatically reject the UK Parliament\u2019s demands.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Dinenage has also <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/committee\/378\/culture-media-and-sport-committee\/news\/197530\/culture-media-and-sport-committee-chair-writes-to-broadcasters-and-tiktok-over-russell-brand-allegations-and-investigations\/\" >written<\/a> to TikTok, and also to GB News, commenting:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018\u2026 it is concerning that Beverley Turner, who described Mr Brand as \u201ca hero\u201d and invited him to appear on her show, subsequently fronted GB News\u2019s coverage of the allegations regarding Mr Brand on the morning of 18 September\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Tweeting over a letter he sent to Dinenage, US journalist Glenn Greenwald <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ggreenwald\/status\/1704576961530515949\" >asked<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Since when do Western political officials have the power to impose extra-legal punishment on people for alleged crimes they\u2019ve never been charged with? What gives US and UK officials the right to demand that tech companies remove or demonetize speakers?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No government ministers wrote to the Guardian Media Group demanding the demonetisation of Cohen\u2019s articles. The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/topics\/c48yrnxyk79t\" >BBC<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/russell-brand\" >Guardian<\/a>, which failed even to report the Cohen scandal, have lavished coverage in dozens of news and comment pieces on the claims against Brand.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, the Achilles\u2019 heel of propaganda is clearly visible: meticulous claims with astonishing gaps \u2013 for example, the fact that the government is applying enormous pressure to silence Brand, though he has not been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime \u2013 while rational journalists seeking completeness are widely shouted down as \u2018rape apologists\u2019, exactly as they were in the Assange case.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have argued that to suggest Brand is being targeted with a propaganda blitz is to dismiss the women\u2019s claims as propaganda fabrications. This does not follow at all. It is quite possible, for example, that the claims are both true <em>and<\/em> being used by unscrupulous forces to silence Brand.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have also asked why we haven\u2019t commented on the plausibility of the women\u2019s allegations \u2013 how can we doubt the claims of four women speaking independently? The Assange case, and especially Nils Melzer\u2019s expert analysis of that case, convinced us that it is frankly absurd for people like us \u2013 and people like the many people passing instant judgement on social media \u2013 to affect to offer an informed opinion on these complex legal issues based on media reports and commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is Brand A Leftist?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As ever, nothing is allowed to interfere with the required, black and white version of events. Cover for the propaganda blitz has even been provided by the assertion that Brand cannot be the subject of an Assange or Corbyn-style blitz because he is not a left dissident at all.<\/p>\n<p>Whether we call Brand a \u2018leftist\u2019 or not, the fact is that over the last decade he has done much to challenge and offend state-corporate power. This year, he has interviewed radical leftists like Cornel West, Noam Chomsky and Aaron Mat\u00e9. He has long and vocally <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ggreenwald\/status\/1703099202572611923\" >supported<\/a> Corbyn and Assange, and in the last couple of years he has interviewed Max Blumenthal, Edward Snowden, Chris Hedges, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Jimmy Dore, Joel Bakan, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva and many others. This is important work giving a voice to leftists and environmentalists who are completely ignored by \u2018mainstream\u2019 media, when they aren\u2019t being slandered and abused.<\/p>\n<p>Brand has consistently <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rustyrockets\/status\/1710022294293062107\" >challenged<\/a> the official narrative on the Ukraine war. On YouTube last February, he conducted the first <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vSaxPEnyCu0\" >interview<\/a> given by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh after Hersh had published his <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/seymourhersh.substack.com\/p\/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream\" >damning claim<\/a> that the US was behind the Nord Stream 2 terror attacks in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>As we <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2022\/wicked-leaks-part-1-how-the-media-quarantined-evidence-on-nord-stream-sabotage\/\" >documented<\/a>, Hersh\u2019s claims were either ignored, or at best ridiculed, by the likes of the Guardian, BBC and The Times as part of another suppression of dissent. Apply whatever label you like, the fact that Brand conducted this first interview with Hersh on YouTube, that he has 6.6 million YouTube subscribers, and that the video has been viewed 855,000 times, was a serious contribution to anti-war dissent.<\/p>\n<p>The Hersh interview alone and the fact that Brand is consistently reaching a large audience with his dissent \u2013 former Guardian journalist Jonathan Cook <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2023-09-17\/thoughts-russell-brand-furore\/\" >argues<\/a> \u2018He is possibly the most influential critic of capitalism in the English language\u2019 \u2013 means Brand is certainly going to be targeted by the state-corporate propaganda system that successfully destroyed Corbyn\u2019s political project, and Assange\u2019s reputation, for fundamentally the same reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, as we <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2014\/russell-brand-s-revolution-part-2-the-backlash\/\" >discussed<\/a> at the time, Brand had already been subjected to a Corbyn-style, media trashing a decade earlier, involving pro-war big hitters like David Aaronovitch, then of The Times, and Nick Cohen. Brand\u2019s high-profile, 2014 book, \u2018Revolution\u2019, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2825252\/Crack-open-champagne-Russell-Brand-proves-s-big-money-left-wing-ideology-Revolution-book-rakes-230-000-just-11-days.html\" >described<\/a> as \u2018anti-capitalist\u2019, sold 22,000 copies in the first 11 days and cited the likes of Noam Chomsky and David Graeber. It was targeted because of comments of this kind:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Today humanity faces a stark choice: save the planet and ditch capitalism, or save capitalism and ditch the planet.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The reason the occupants of the [elite] fun bus are so draconian in their defence of the economy is that they have decided to ditch the planet.\u2019 (Brand, \u2018Revolution\u2019, Century, 2014, ebook, p.345)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The reality is that \u2018we live under a tyranny\u2019. (p.550) The US, in particular, \u2018acts like an army that enforces the business interests of the corporations it is allied to\u2019. (p.493) Brand noted that 70 per cent of the UK press is controlled by three companies, 90 per cent of the US press by six, and \u2018the richest 1 per cent of British people have as much as the poorest 55 per cent\u2019. (p.34)<\/p>\n<p>On possibilities for radical change, Brand wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Remember, the people who tell you this can\u2019t work, in government, on Fox News or MSNBC, or in op-eds in the Guardian or the Spectator, or wherever, are people with a vested interest in things staying the same.\u2019 (p.514)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Anyone who has read Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky\u2019s \u2018Manufacturing Consent\u2019, will know that dissidents reaching a massive audience with messages of this kind will certainly be subject to intense, escalating attacks from establishment media. Brand doesn\u2019t need to be as radical as Assange, or as politically influential as Corbyn, to qualify. Even comparatively low-profile, UK academic dissidents like <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/conspiracy-theories-spread-by-academics-with-university-help-9g09xtc73\" >Piers Robinson<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/university-of-edinburgh-academic-tim-hayward-accused-of-spreading-propaganda-jlg8hxrhh\" >Tim Hayward<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/bristol-should-expel-its-conspiracist-professor-htmgmhvw3\" >David Miller<\/a> have been targeted with propaganda smears intended to silence them. The fact that Brand has recently interviewed the likes of right-wing Ben Shapiro doesn\u2019t nullify his record on left dissent. Incidentally, the title of the video of that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/vxss63-russell-brand-and-ben-shapiro-respectfully-disagreeing.html\" >interview<\/a> is: \u2018Russell Brand &amp; Ben Shapiro \u201cRespectfully Disagreeing\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The discrediting and silencing of influential, anti-war dissidents is an extremely serious matter. In May, the Costs of War project, based at Brown University in the United States, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/watson.brown.edu\/costsofwar\/papers\/2023\/IndirectDeaths\" >estimated<\/a> that the total death toll in post-9\/11 wars \u2013 including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen \u2013 could be at least 4.5-4.7 million. The authors of the report commented:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018A 2018 survey of Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi refugees showed that more than 60% were traumatized by war experiences, including attacks by military forces, coping with the murder or disappearance of relatives, living through torture and solitary confinement, and witnessing murders, abuse, and sexual violence. More than 6% had been raped.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There is good reason to believe that the intensity of the 2002-2003 anti-war protests \u2013 not least the impact on Tony Blair\u2019s political career \u2013 made it much <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-politics-23892783\" >harder<\/a> for UK opposition parties and the UK government to support Obama\u2019s planned war on Syria in 2013. Consequently, without British support, that formal, full-on US declaration of war did not happen.<\/p>\n<p>This absolutely does <em>not<\/em> mean that anti-war voices should be afforded lenient treatment; it means the claims against them, and any counterclaims, must be subjected to careful scrutiny in a way that is fundamentally rational and fair.<\/p>\n<p>If trial by media in a court of public opinion distorted by overwhelming propaganda is all it takes to silence leading anti-war voices seeking to restrain the rampant US-UK war machine, then that is simply not good enough.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-121823\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Media Lens <em>is a UK-based media watchdog group headed by David Edwards and David Cromwell. In 2007,<\/em> Media Lens <em>was awarded the <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/gandhifoundation.org\/2007\/12\/02\/2007-peace-award-media-lens\/\" ><em>Gandhi Foundation International Peace Prize<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0We have written three co-authored books<\/em>:\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/8-bookshop\/bookshop\/146-guardians-of-power.html\" >Guardians of Power-The Myth of the Liberal Media <\/a><em>(Pluto Press, 2006),<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/newspeak.html\" >Newspeak-In the 21st Century<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2009), and<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.plutobooks.com\/9780745338118\/propaganda-blitz\/\" > Propaganda Blitz<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2018)<\/em>. <em>Contacts: David Edwards: <\/em><a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\"><em>editor@medialens.org<\/em><\/a><em> &#8211; David Cromwell: <\/em><a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\"><em>editor@medialens.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2023\/the-achilles-heel-of-propaganda-julian-assange-nick-cohen-and-russell-brand\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 medialens.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>11 Oct 2023 &#8211; In the second decade of the 21st century, after much empty talk of \u2018government of the people, by the people, for the people\u2019, it was discovered that people weren\u2019t even capable of governing their own media consumption. Huge, artificially intelligent computers revealed&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":246009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[1733,2314,2847,2882,728,378,1855,234,2618,372],"class_list":["post-246007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-corporate-media","tag-disinformation","tag-engaged-journalism","tag-integrity","tag-journalism","tag-mainstream-media-msm","tag-media","tag-misinformation","tag-propaganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246011,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246007\/revisions\/246011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}