THE WESTERN MEDIA: PROPAGANDA FOR THE ELITES

On a regular basis we are told that the media in countries like Russia and Turkey are restricted. Their media is not free and reduced to channels for the unceasing stream of State-propaganda. That might be the case, but how independent and free is the media in the Western world actually?



The one who pays, decides

In 1983 about 50 media groups controlled the papers, radio and television networks, movie studio’s and publishers in the American media landscape. In 1992 about 24 of those were left and in 2003 there were only six. Furthermore, the residual media giants are all connected with each other by shares and profit shares. One by one they are under the control of financial monopolies, such as the New York Stock Exchange, Pfizer, Pepsi-Cola and American Express, who use the media mainly to look after their own interests. Because who controls the media landscape, controls what is news and what is not.

So it becomes clear that in contradiction of what the liberal myth,that the Western media supposedly has a critical and controlling function, wants us to believe, the Western media is not an independent opponent for the political and financial elites. On the contrary, the media is an extension of those elites and functions as their personal propaganda-channel.

The media giants are all embedded into the liberal free market; they are commercial enterprises whose main goal is making profit and who belong to the vested elites. As such, the Western media thinks and acts according to the dominant ideology, which is motivated by the elites who control them. Regularly the Western media lends itself for straightforward propaganda campaigns, who are nothing short of those of their Russian and Turkish counterparts.



Information as commodity

These days making media is big business. It costs huge amounts of money, which can only be generated by big wealthy corporations. In their turn these corporations are under control of their investors and the market principles. The media is part of the free market with all the negative consequences; scale enlargement, profit, and stock exchange listing.

Since the ‘80’s the neoliberal policies of the European Union are aimed at the privatization and deregularisation of the European media branch. As a consequence we witness an ever increasing concentration of media ownership in lesser and lesser hands.

At the same time consumers pay the media to be misled. To meet their profits advertising has become the most important source of income for the media. On their part advertisers publish their advertisements preferably in a consumer-friendly environment. Media which is easy and compliant finds advertisement sponsors, those who give a hard time don’t. Ofcourse advertisers prefer brainless lifestyle entertainment over difficult talkshows which can give you a headache. They force the media to look at the world through their eyes. They rather make us live in a fantasy world, than the reality of most ordinary people.

Advertisement weighs on information. An example of this is for instance a newspaper which publishes an advertisement for travels to the Middle-East next to a negative article about problems with immigrant youth. Ofcourse the advertiser protested, because that particular article was hard to unite with selling travels to the Middle East. The day after, the advertiser could place the same advertisement again for free. If this happens more often it will cost the newspaper a considerable amount of money. Therefore, next time they might be more careful and adapt the content to the wishes of their advertisers. This way the influence of the advertisement industry on media concerns increasingly grows further and with this the character of the information the consumers receive.



Internet the free alternative?

For a while it seemed that the arrival of the internet would offer a way out. A brand new medium that was accessible for all and where everybody could spread information. However, nothing is less true. Whoever these days wants to develop a multimedia website, needs huge amounts of money for internet infrastructure and servers. Next to this, making quality media still costs huge amounts of money and many hours of work and employees.

The software monopoly Microsoft, developed ‘Internet Explorer’, the first internet browser that was aimed on marketing. If the user visited a certain commercial website, the moderator of that site did not only know who this was, but also where he lived and which sites he visits on a regular basis. On the basis of this profile a selection of advertisements were offered. This method has become commonplace and is applied by practical all software monopolies - from Facebook to Google. Big software companies like facebook have thousands of employees and revenue billions, these pages are however “free” to use, this means that the user of these pages is the product.

Just as with the media monopolies, also the software monopolies and their information streams are controlled by the market and the financial and political elites. The openness and accessibility that was once the big strength of the internet, now has become its biggest weakness. All information on the internet is public and many times reaches people, corporations and agencies for which it was not meant. The big software monopolies control and manipulate the streams of information.



Conclusion

It becomes evident that the media in the West is neither more nor less corrupt than that of autocratic regimes like those in Russia and Turkey. Also, here the media is controlled and manipulated by the financial and political elites, reduced to true propaganda-channels in order to spread their ideology. Behind the liberal myth of freedom and democracy also lies an oligarchic system; the rule of big money. Therefore: remain suspicious and critical, don’t take everything for granted and above all do your own research!

DE WESTERSE MEDIA: PROPAGANDA VOOR DE ELITES

Met enige regelmaat wordt ons hier verteld dat de media in landen als Rusland en Turkije aan banden is gelegd. De media daar is niet vrij en gereduceerd tot kanalen bedoeld voor de onophoudelijke stroom aan staatspropaganda. Dat mag natuurlijk wellicht zo zijn, maar hoe onafhankelijk en vrij is de media in de Westerse wereld eigenlijk? 

Wie betaalt, die bepaalt

In 1983 controleerden circa 50 mediagroepen de kranten, radio, televisiezenders, filmstudio’s en uitgeverijen in het Amerikaanse medialandschap. In 1992 bleven er daar nog ongeveer 24 van over en in 2003 waren dat er nog slechts zes. De overgebleven mediareuzen zijn bovendien onderling met elkaar verbonden door middel van aandelen en onderlinge winstverdelingen. Stuk voor stuk staan deze op hun beurt weer onder de controle van financiële monopolies zoals bijvoorbeeld de New York Stock Exchange, Pfizer, Pepsi-Cola en American Express, die de media hoofdzakelijk inzetten om hun eigen belangen te behartigen. Immers wie de macht in het medialandschap heeft, bepaald wat nieuws is en wat niet.

Zo wordt duidelijk dat in tegenstelling tot wat de liberale mythe, dat de media een kritische en controlerende rol zou hebben, ons wil laten geloven de Westerse media geen onafhankelijke tegenspeler is voor de politieke en financiële elites. In tegendeel de media is juist een verlengstuk van die elites en functioneert als hun persoonlijke propaganda kanaal.

De mediareuzen zijn helemaal ingebed in de liberale vrije markt; het zijn commerciële ondernemingen die als belangrijkste doel winst nastreven en toebehoren aan de gevestigde elites. Zodoende denkt en handelt de media volgens de dominante ideologie, die ingegeven wordt door de elites die hen controleren. Met grote regelmaat lenen de Westerse media zich voor regelrechte propaganda campagnes, die in niets onder doen voor hun Russische of Turkse evenknieën.

Informatie als koopwaar

Tegenwoordig is het maken van media ‘big business’. Het kost gigantisch veel geld en dit soort bedragen kunnen enkel nog door grote kapitaalkrachtige bedrijven opgehoest worden. Deze bedrijven staan op hun beurt weer onder de controle van hun investeerders en de marktprincipes. De media draait mee in de vrije markt met alle gevolgen van dien; schaalvergroting, winstoogmerk, en beursnotering.

Sinds de jaren ‘80 is het neoliberale beleid van de Europese Unie er op gericht om de media sector in Europa te privatiseren en dereguleren. Het gevolg hiervan is dan ook een steeds grotere concentratie van media eigendom in steeds minder handen.  

Ondertussen betalen de consumenten de media om misleid te worden. Om aan het winstoogmerk te voldoen zijn advertenties de belangrijkste inkomsten bron voor de media geworden. Adverteerders publiceren op hun beurt hun advertenties het liefst binnen een koopvriendelijke omgeving. De media die makkelijk en meegaand is vindt makkelijk reclamesponsors, wie moeilijk doet krijgt geen sponsors. Adverteerders hebben nu eenmaal liever hersenloos lifestyle entertainment, dan moeilijke praatprogramma’s waar je hoofdpijn van kunt krijgen. Zij dwingen de media de wereld door hun bril te bekijken. Ze laten ons liever in een fantasiewereld leven, dan in de realiteit van de meeste mensen.

De reclame weegt op informatie. Een voorbeeld hiervan is bijvoorbeeld een krant die een advertentie plaatste voor reizen naar het Midden-Oosten, met daarnaast een negatief artikel over problemen met allochtone jeugd. Uiteraard protesteerde de adverteerder hiertegen, omdat dit artikel moeilijk te verenigen was met de verkoop van reizen naar het Midden-Oosten. De dag erna mocht de adverteerder daarom de advertentie nogmaals maar nu gratis in de krant plaatsen. Gebeurt dit vaker dan zou dit de krant veel geld kosten. Daarom zullen zij in het vervolg wellicht voorzichtiger zijn en de inhoud naar wens van hun adverteerders aanpassen. Zo groeit de invloed van de reclame industrie op mediabedrijven verder en verder, en daarmee het karakter van de informatie die de consumenten ontvangen.

Internet het vrije alternatief?

Even leek het alsof de komst van het internet een uitweg zou bieden. Een gloednieuw medium dat voor iedereen toegankelijk was en waar iedereen zelf informatie kon verspreiden. Niets is echter minder waar. Wie tegenwoordig een multimediale website wilt ontwikkelen is gigantische bedragen kwijt aan internet infrastructuur en servers. Daarnaast kost het maken van kwalitatieve media reportages nog steeds handen vol geld en vele uren aan werk en personeel.

Het softwaremonopolie Microsoft ontwikkelde ‘Internet Explorer’, de eerste internet browser die op marketing was gericht. Als de gebruiker een bepaalde commerciële website bezocht, wist de beheerder van die site niet enkel wie je was, maar ook waar je woont en welke sites je regelmatig bezoekt. Op basis van dit profiel wordt vervolgens een selectie aan advertenties aangeboden. Deze werkwijze is inmiddels gemeengoed en wordt door praktisch alle softwaremonopolies toegepast - van Facebook tot Google. Grote softwarebedrijven zoals Facebook hebben duizenden werknemers en er gaan miljarden in om, toch zijn deze pagina’s “gratis” om te gebruiken, dit betekent dat de gebruiker de koopwaar is.  

Net als bij de media monopolies worden ook de software monopolies en hun informatiestromen gecontroleerd door de markt en de financiële en politieke elites. De openheid en toegankelijkheid die eens internet haar grote kracht was, is nu een van haar grootste zwaktes geworden. Alle informatie op internet is publiek en komt vaak terecht bij mensen, bedrijven en instanties waarvoor deze niet bedoelt is. Vervolgens beheren en manipuleren de grote software monopolies die informatiestromen.          

Conclusie

Het mag inmiddels wel duidelijk zijn dat de media hier in het Westen niet meer of minder corrupt is dan onder autocratische regimes zoals die in Rusland en Turkije. Ook hier wordt de media gecontroleerd en gemanipuleerd door de financiële en politieke elites en zijn deze gereduceerd tot ware propaganda kanalen voor het verspreiden van hun ideologie. Achter de liberale mythe van vrijheid en democratie schuilt ook hier een oligarchisch systeem; de heerschappij van het grote geld. Daarom: blijf wantrouwig en kritisch, neem niet alles klakkeloos over en bovenal doe eigen onderzoek!  

CALL FOR A MILITANT PAGANISM

The origin of the Germanic word 'pagan' is 'heath dweller'; someone who worships the gods of the land. Today the word is mostly used by those who are devoted to the Germanic spirituality, also known as Germanic paganism.

The Germanic Spirit

The mythology of the Germanic peoples is more than just a collection of beautiful and frightening stories. Myths are at the basis of the formation of civilization, it is the root of or 'thought' and 'being'. As such, they represent the essence of the Germanic civilization. The Germanic mythology gives us essential answers to the mysteries of the human existence and serves as a guideline for moral- and social behavior. Paganism gives us an insight in the absolute essence of the Germanic identity.

Above all, paganism teaches us that every human is the bearer of its own fate. By our actions and accomplishments we are able to take our lives into our own hands. The gods teach us through the example of their own lives. The nine noble values*, as given in the Edda and other Pagan sources, serve as a moral guideline for our actions.

The virtue which the Germanics considered most highly was, loyalty of the given word. The whole Pagan mythology exists of hymns about heroes who sacrificed their honor and luck to loyalty. Within the Germanic peoples betrayal humiliated not merely the individual, but brought shame among the whole family and tribe. This is for instance expressed at the end of Beowulf, when Wiglaf addresses his comrades who abandoned their lord: “Your generation will be deprived of treasures and gifts, the joy of paternal inheritance, of all support; even the rights of civil society they will miss and be robbed from everything they will roam, persecuted by the memory of your degrading act. For each warriors death is better than a life of shame.”

 Kinship was also one of the foundations of the Germanic existence. With the Germanic peoples the family and tribe stood central, Germanic man lived as a part of it. Outside the circle of kins no existence was possible for him or her. Their tribes might have been independent and autonomous, but this does not mean they were blind for their blood-relationship. Tacitus wrote: “From the god Tuisto, who sprouted from the earth, Mannus was born, the primeval man, from whom all tribes have emerged. Mannus had three sons, who became ancestral parents of the three major peoples: the Ingvaeonen, Istaevonen and Erminonen.”

Strictly centralized states as we see nowadays, were alien to the Germanic peoples. They did not know the so-called 'rights’ and 'freedoms' of a citizen bound by laws and regulations. The Germanic spirit created independent souls, who were lord and master over their own actions. They put self-preservation above submission, chose their own masters and kept every form of authority in their own hands. The proto-democratic Thing-peace was one of the most important expressions of this.


The Pagan Gods

We worship the Pagan gods not because they are forgotten archaeological antiquities, but because they are living and powerful energies that still live in our peoples. They live eternally in the group memory and collective subconsciousness of the descendants of the Germanic peoples. As ethnic and spiritual history of our folk community, Paganism is an indispensable part of our folk consciousness and the essence of your folk spirit.

 In contradiction to the Abrahamic religions, the Pagans, who did not tolerate kings other than those they chose themselves, did not serve their gods by slavish submission. The Germanic peoples did not make themselves subservient to the gods like a servant to his master. The relation between a Germanic and his lord excluded such a form of servitude. In an Icelandic sage** Thorkel is driven from his property. Therefore, he takes an ox and goes to the temple of Freyr, where he says: “Freyr, who has long been my friend, to whom I can trust completely and who has got many gifts from me. Now I once again give you an ox, that thou shalt give me satisfaction.” The Pagan sources tell us that the relation between a Germanic and his god is one of sincere friendship.

Humanity and deity do not represent two different worlds, but exist in extension of each other. When a Germanic calls a god his friend, he does not mean that he is in a personal relation with a being of a higher order, but he engages that deity in his own circle of life. By sacrificing, man can get into an intimate relationship with the gods. However, not without risk. The Edda warns: “Better no prayers, than too many sacrifices” and “every gift expects retaliation”. A sacrifice to the gods was seen as a weakness of man. A man with a lot of own strength, does not have to seek it outside of himself.

The Germanic spiritual feeling was awakened by its eternal struggle against the powers of nature. The Germanic revered nature as its ally, who made its life on earth possible. From this venerated nature forces the gods developed, who in their human form could come into contact with man and give protection from birth till death.

The advent of Christianity was not able to destroy the Germanic folk spirit. Although the Germanic traditions and customs are long neglected and forgotten, they can still be found in all aspects of our societies. One can hardly call a current tradition or festival that does not originate from Pagan times. The living and powerful energies of the Germanic gods are still among us. The Germanic mythology serves as an important time capsule filled with esoteric wisdoms, which show us how our far ancestors lived. It serves as a shining beacon in the alienation and rootlessness of modern society.

 Tacitus wrote about the Germanic peoples: “They are only equal to themselves.” The Germanic could not deny its own ego. They loved their freedom and rejected any state authority. They wanted to defend their own interests and wanted to live their own life. Above all they were warriors, who's Teutonic anger (Furor Tutonicus) was legendary all over Europe. They were driven by an unprecedented contempt for death, that was the result of a realization that life and death are equally desirable, if they bring glory and honor to theirself, but above all for their family and tribe!

Naturally we as Germanic pagans reject every form of apathy and passivity. Being Pagan means first and foremost thinking and acting according to the wisdoms our Germanic ancestors had to offer. It means living by a comprehensive Germanic ethic, that has to be implemented in all aspects of our lives. It is our task to strive for a revival of the Germanic folk consciousness to honor our far ancestors, as well as coming generations. Therefore, we advocate a Pagan militantism: not a Paganism of the word, but of the deed!

Notes:

* The Nine Noble Virtues of the Germanic mythology: Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Self Reliance, Industriousness, Perseverance.

** The Icelandic Víga-Glúms saga from the 13th century