Going Public- to see that justice is served

March 26, 2011

A news discussion on CNN  yesterday revealed the Army’s reversal of charges of dereliction of duty by superior officers  Army accused of covering up mistakes in Afghan battle evidently in the hallowed tradition of “protecting the institution” and blaming the dead……

I noted another article in The Scientist which discusses the same inclination in scientific circles:

Sometimes going public with an accusation is the only way to bring the truth to light……..the local commission investigating the case might delay, play down or even suppress incriminating evidence, perhaps going public was the only way to see that justice was served.

A South Carolina news item Ideology trumps health reports:

Dr. David Cull, a prominent vascular surgeon in Greenville, had invented a small valve system that, if it works, could spare 300,000 dialysis patients across the country enormous suffering and save U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars.

But Cull’s hometown senator, Jim DeMint, would not write a letter supporting the surgeon’s application for a federal grant under the landmark health care bill that President Barack Obama signed into law a year ago today….

DeMint vowed in 2009 to make health care Obama’s “Waterloo” and is leading Republican efforts in Congress to repeal or deny funding to the law.

All our institutions are prone to cover their butts, choose ideology over the public good and discard those who seek justice.

In effect this delays institutional ability to learn from mistakes, and it used to go on for generations. New technology and recognition of the value of “transparency” (in word if not in action) are game changers.  Recent comments by Fouad Ajami about WikiLeaks in Foreign Policy magazine  included observations that nothing particularly new was revealed, just confirmation of what people already knew but was not officially acknowledged.

The powers-that-be are certain to push back in order to censor or punish those who reveal painful truths.  But those with the courage to go public today are challenging traditions of smirking hypocrisy, institutionalized corruption, and blaming the victim. I applaud them!

–Claudia

see also: Despite Reforms, Whistleblowers at Development Banks Face Retaliation
By Charles Davis

Establishment ‘Journalism’ and Standard Military Puff-Pieces

“it’s all based on, on trust and relationships” ….And an agreement not to tell the truth

The McChrystal Bombshell

June 25, 2010 NPR On the Media

How did Michael Hastings get such candor from McChrystal and his advisers? CNN’s former senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre was on the military beat for 16 years. His theory comes down to the beat reporter versus freelancer divide. Beat reporters may be less likely to use such candid moments in their stories for fear of losing future access. For a freelancer like Hastings that’s not much of a concern.

Download MP3

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today I accepted General Stanley McChrystal’s resignation as Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

BOB GARFIELD: In case you, by some miracle, missed this development, the head of military operations in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal resigned this week over insubordinate remarks made by himself and his staff about the President, the Vice-President and others, recounted by freelance reporter Michael Hastings in Rolling Stone Magazine.

In an interview with WNYC’s and PRI’s The Takeaway, he explained why he reported what others did not.

MICHAEL HASTINGS: In the past the general has given pretty good access to a number of journalists, and I believe those journalists were interested in giving sort of a flattering profile of the general, which assures you more access in the future. I understand that, but it’s not something I’m interested in doing.

End of Empire – Propaganda and the American Myth

“It’s shocking to realize how seldom we change our basic beliefs or understanding when confronted with new information that normally would affect change. Instead, we bend or ignore facts to fit our established world view. John Maynard Keynes once said “When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?” Sadly most people don’t subscribe to this logical practice. Instead, conformation bias and denial are the tools we use to manage and manipulate information to our liking. And there are plenty of governmental, corporate and private citizens ready to help us accomplish this through deliberate and targeted propaganda. The most common personal warning sign that this is happening is the pain of cognitive dissonance, which is usually set off when new information is in conflict with long established and dearly held views.

Questioning authority? you must be crazy

Is straying from the herd, questioning conventional wisdom, and trying to figure out things for yourself– a sign of “mental illness”?  The increasingly Stalinist stance of many pundits makes one wonder if a Gulag may be in our future. 

While it is still acceptable to notice “spin” and agenda-driven explanations that challenge physical realities, it is evidently no longer acceptable to question the conclusions of the spinners and explainers.

Steve Watson details in his Alex Jones article Salon Hit Piece Implies Truth Seeking Is A Mental Illness examples of this “labeling as mentally disturbed anyone who is skeptical or open to the possibility that conspiracies may have a basis in reality.”

He focuses  particularly on Salon’s Cary Tennis, who acknowledges a past of addiction related problems. (Tennis advises that teenagers visiting Alex Jones’ website may be psychologically unstable….)

I wonder if Tennis has considered that the efforts to swallow conventional wisdom against the bounds of one’s innate common sense, may be what drive many to self-medicate in the first place??

Conspiracy nuts, Carnies and Misfits

 

By Claudia

If you think for yourself, you are probably used to being marginalized and have also become frustrated and grouchy.  Choose this as a way of life and your nearest and dearest will probably think you are something of a head case. 

Traditionally, such people become mystics, scam artists and hermits.  The mystic figures it all doesn’t matter anyway, rises to a point light years above his own head and counts on the Universe to make things right. The scam artist, seeing so many sheeple flocking all over, figures why not shear a few as he passes by.  The hermit, hating the brainwashed hordes cluttering up the place, heads for the margins where she can breathe without recourse to a vomit bag.