Society's ChildS

Paradise of lies: How the West manipulates Africa through neocolonial media

Veronica Usacheva
RT
Sun, 12 May 2024 12:36 UTC

The battle for Africa's independence cannot be won until Africa has complete and undeniable control over its media, writes Rosalynde Ainslie in her book 'The Press in Africa' from the 1960s, one of the first books about the media in Africa.

Already in those times, it was clear that whoever controls the media controls a lot more than just the distribution of information. The media is a powerful weapon - it shapes public opinion, forms a specific worldview, and helps people identify their place in the world. For newly independent African countries, all this was very important.

Comment: Many of the points brought up also apply to the situation for many people living in Western countries, including those that were colonial powers in Africa. To argue this point, below are a few search terms and examples of articles on SOTT.net though the numbers of articles will probably be outdated in some cases.

Agents of chaos
Search: "Agents of chaos"
The meaning becmes more rich when one looks at the use in the results where the term appears in the text.
Title: 2 articles
Summary: 1 article
Text: 15 articles
Comment: 8 articles
Examples:
5th-gen warfare terms and tactics where there is:

Controlled opposition, disruptors and chaos agents. Historically, these tactics involve a protest movement that is actually being led by government agents. Nearly all governments in history have employed this technique to trick and subdue their adversaries. However, in 5th-Gen warfare, controlled opposition often may come in the form of disruptors and chaos agents. Either "real" people or bots that generate outrageous claims that delegitimize a movement (examples currently may (or may not be); "snake venom in the water" or "everyone is going to die who took the vaccine within two years". Another tactic is placing agents of chaos whose job is to basically disrupt organizations and events. This may also come in the form of "reporters" who assert fake or highly exaggerated news stories, and who most likely are funded by the opposition. "Undermine the order from the shadows " is the tactic here.

3) The article may leave the impression that Africa is mainly a consumer of content produced elsewhere, but this is not entirely true. Africa, or at least some of its countries, have very well developed film industries, see the Wiki for Cinema in Africa. The largest industry is Cinema in Nigeria, known as Nollywood. Many movies are available on YouTube, and it does not take much watching to identify a few differences.

Best of the Web: Medicine shortages in England 'beyond critical', patients at immediate risk of harm and even death, pharmacists warn

Denis Campbell
The Guardian
Thu, 09 May 2024 16:26 UTC

Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned.

The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue "owings" to patients - telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder.

Hundreds of different drugs have become hard or impossible to obtain, according to Community Pharmacy England (CPE), which published the report. Widespread and often long-lasting shortages posed "immediate risks to patient health and wellbeing" and caused distress, it said.

Comment: It seems that the lockdowns exacerbated what was clearly a burgeoning issue, and, since then, the shortages have mostly worsened, and will continue to do so because little is being done to remedy it.

It's probably no coincidence that many of the same countries suffering these shortages are also seeing a surge in crime and rapidly crumbling economies - that hasn't, however, stopped them mobilising their governments and their raiding the taxpayer to give tens of billions of euros and dollars to Ukraine and Israel for warmongering and genocide.

It's rather telling that these same organisations were eager and able to mobilise their forces to roll out an experimental covid injection, but they're apparently unable to do the same for proven medications that people need to live. And this at a time when the health of a significant proportion of the population is compromised, and there are threats of food shortages:

Multiple plane mishaps revive scrutiny on Boeing

RT
Fri, 10 May 2024 21:38 UTC

One Boeing-made plane has crashed and three more have suffered technical problems this week, bringing renewed focus on the US aerospace giant's production woes.

A United Airlines 737-800 series passenger jet had to make an emergency landing about 40 minutes after takeoff on Friday. Flight UA166 from Fukuoka, Japan to Guam had reported a "problem with flaps."

In the early hours of Thursday, an Air Senegal 737-38J skidded off the runway during takeoff from the Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD) in Dakar, Senegal. There were 73 passengers and six crew on board the flight to Bamako, Mali. Eleven were injured in the incident, four of them seriously.

Comment: See also:

Now anti-vaxxers turn on Pfizer and Moderna after AstraZeneca's decision to withdraw Covid jab sparks panic about rare but deadly clotting side effect

Emiyl Stearn
Daily Mail
Wed, 08 May 2024 16:48 UTC

Anti-vaxxers today called for Pfizer and Moderna to urgently withdraw their Covid jabs in the wake of heightened safety fears.

AstraZeneca's landmark decision to withdraw its lockdown-banishing vaccine from global markets sparked hysteria online about the rival jabs - made using pioneering tech never utilised until the virus crisis spawned.

The UK-based pharmaceutical titan insisted its decision was a commercial one due to demand being slim, with its jab no longer being manufactured.

Target restricting sale of LGBTQ-themed merch for 2024 Pride Month

Will Potter
The Daily Mail
Fri, 10 May 2024 20:37 UTC

target store lgbt transgender clothing children kids

Backlash over trans-friendly slogans on T-shirts for kids led to customer boycott. It will now only sell adult options in half of its stores nationwide

Target is set to limit the sale of LGBTQ-themed merchandise for Pride Month after the retailer faced backlash a year ago.

Ahead of its Pride product release in June - a practice it has followed since 2013 - Target will reduce the number of stores selling the merchandise, and stop offering Pride-themed children's clothes.

The adult-only options come a year after calls to boycott the brand over its collection, including 'tuck-friendly' swimsuits and children's T-shirts with the slogan: 'Trans People Will Always Exist!'

This week, Target said it was only releasing LGBTQ products around half of its 2,000 stores nationwide, 'based on historical sales performance', reports Bloomberg.

Comment:

Steve Bannon is heading to JAIL as appeals court upholds his conviction for defying the January 6 committee subpoena

Rob Crilly
Daily Mail
Fri, 10 May 2024 10:21 UTC

Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon is likely headed to prison after an appeals court upheld his conviction for contempt of Congress.

He was handed a four-month sentence in 2022 for refusing to give evidence to a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But it was put on hold as he appealed, saying that he acted in good faith by following legal advice and that he was barred from including critical evidence at his trial.

The decision came on Friday when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his challenge.

'Bannon insists that 'willfully' should be interpreted to require bad faith and argues that his non-compliance does not qualify because his lawyer advised him not to respond to the subpoena,' wrote Judge Bradley Garcia.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demand endowment transparency; but it's proving not to be simple

Heather Hollingsworth, Trisha Ahmed
ABC News
Fri, 10 May 2024 12:07 UTC

Some universities are vowing to provide information about how much university endowment money is invested in companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war amid calls from pro-Palestinian protesters. On college campuses across the country, a rallying cry of pro-Palestinian protesters has been "Disclose, divest! We will not stop, we will not rest."

Now some are winning the first of those two demands: Promises to provide information about how much university endowment money is invested in companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war.

As part of that effort, the University of Minnesota, for one, disclosed this week that about $5 million of its $2.27 billion endowment investments — or less than a quarter of 1% — are tied to Israeli companies or U.S. defense contractors.

To Ali Abu, a 19-year-old University of Minnesota student and member of Students for Justice in Palestine, the disclosure is a first step. He was among more than a dozen students to stand before the university's Board of Regents on Friday and demand further action.

"That chant isn't a bluff," he said, adding: "We will truly not stop. And we will truly not rest until this university divests."

Argentina labor unions stage 24-hour strike against President Milei: Paralyzes daily life

Fox News
Thu, 09 May 2024 21:02 UTC

argentina milei general strike labor unions

The annual inflation rate in Argentina currently is approaching 300%

Argentina's biggest trade unions mounted one of their fiercest challenges to the libertarian government of President Javier Milei, staging a mass general strike on Thursday that led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and halted key bus, rail and subway lines.

Main avenues and streets, as well as major transportation terminals were left eerily empty. Most teachers couldn't make it to school and parents kept their children at home. Trash collectors walked off the job — as did health workers, except for those in emergency rooms.

The 24-hour strike against Milei's painful austerity measures and contentious deregulation push threatened to bring the nation of 46 million to a standstill as banks, businesses and state agencies also closed in protest.

Comment:

The "soft landing" lie: A global economic slowdown is already underway

Brandon Smith
Alt-Market.us
Wed, 08 May 2024 00:00 UTC

If people have learned anything from the past few years of Ivy League elites and TV talking heads feeding them economic predictions, I hope they finally understand that the "experts" are usually wrong and that alternative analysts have a far better track record. Whenever establishment economists make a call the opposite generally turns out to be true.

By extension, alternative economic predictions are usually well ahead of the curve - What we talk about might be labeled "doom mongering" or "conspiracy theory" today. In three years or less it will be treated as common knowledge and the mainstream "experts" will claim that they "saw it coming all along" while taking credit for financial calls they never made.

This has been a long running pattern and it's something those of us in the alternative media have come to expect.

IBM will stop hiring for jobs that could be performed by an AI

Rob Thubron
Techspot
Thu, 02 May 2024 10:54 UTC

A HOT POTATO: It's a case of another day, another example of AI replacing human jobs. Rather than directly causing layoffs, tech giant IBM has confirmed it expects to pause and slow hiring for roles that it believes could be replaced with artificial intelligence at some point in the future.

Speaking to Bloomberg, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that hiring in non-customer-facing roles, such as human resources, will be suspended or slowed as AI could automate many tasks performed by these hires.

Around 26,000 people within IBM currently fill the roles Krishna is referencing. He envisions about 30% being replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period. That equates to around 7,800 jobs.

IBM emphasized that no people currently working in these positions will be fired to make way for AI. However, it did say that any roles vacated by attrition won't be filled.

Like virtually all tech giants, IBM announced job cuts earlier this year in response to the economic downturn and post-pandemic-boom blues. It will be laying off around 5,000 workers in total.

“Now the challenge is for us to move into a war economy in all segments of the European defense industry." Bring in the Clowns more Cowbell… Lol -...

VooDoo6

no reaction from the crowd, and more like a silent movie with the banging of a baking tin for accompaniment.

Shangri

And there she lays with a mask on. No clue and never gonna have one. Very sad to see people so utterly incapable of independent thought.

Eventide

France supports sending weapons to Ukraine, leading to the death of hundreds and thousands of people. There is hardly any opposition. France has...

thorbiorn

When I read about these 'types' making their demands, I always retort: You FIRST bucko!

isc6822

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