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Aaaah - The Irony
True Story
Sitting at the bar, I found myself talking to a couple of old white guys (so of course - we had a lot in common). One of them was in ‘Corporate Communications’, the other was a writer - both were ex journalists. They both seem to have got out of journalism before the ‘rot’ set in. They seemed angry about the state of journalism … “Nobody investigates things any more.” … “Journalists have just become mouth pieces of what people in power want to say.” … “They just regurgitate press releases.” … and many other comments that seemed to indicate that they thought the world had gone to ‘hell in a hand basket’ - and was being manipulated.The one writing the book explained how a book can come to be a New York Times best seller. I didn’t let them know that I knew this. I just let them talk. It was explained to me as if it was breaking news that should be exposed. “Indeed.” I agreed. “Indeed.” And so the
conversation moved on to Politics. And while they described CNN as the mouthpiece of the left (sic), that nobody understood the media corruption and only Fox had it right … it became real clear - real quick - that I had a couple of die hard ‘Republicans’ on my hands. This was amplified by their belief that the forces and drivers of the ‘Trump Revolution’ was exactly the same as we had in the UK with Brexit. (1) Various news stories were raised how HRC is part of a satanic cult, (2) that she parties with Bill on something called ‘Sex Island’ and and and …. (if you didn’t already ‘know’ this … it is emerging form the latest email haul from Weiner’s PC. (Seriously). I couldn’t help myself. “That’s interesting.” I replied. “Where did you read that?” “Well you need to know where to look - because mainstream media isn’t going to cover this”, I was told. “Clinton will be in jail for 20 years over this. You need to go to a site called ‘brite
something’ ” .. and at this point, my confidant turned to his friend - ”where was it again?“_ ”Bright Bar” he replied.”Oh” I said. “Do you mean Breitbart.com?“ ”Yes that’s it”_ they said. (Seriously - no exaggeration) I asked if they knew that the editor of Breitbart is currently the guy running Trump’s campaign? His name is Steve Bannon. No. They did not know that. But that it seemed was not the point. What was the point? “Only Breitbart has the courage to publish this kind of stuff.” I explained that I thought that as the guy leading Trump’s presidential campaign, he wasn’t exactly coming from a neutral point of view, and how much more powerful it would be if other’s published the story. They won’t. They explained. “The media is in the pocket of HRC.” They emphasized how important it was that Trump didn’t need money to be in the running for POTUS and so the media were against him, because they stood to lose so much.
(I obviously need to go back to my logic classes). I asked if they had heard of ‘Cambridge Analytica’. No they hadn’t. Robert Mercer? No. I let them know that Robert Mercer is the billionaire who is not only Trump’s biggest donor through the SuperPac Make America Number One and his personal donations - but also a major financial backer to Breitbart.com - and Cambridge Analytica which is actually owned by a UK company SCL. He was also Ted Cruz’s biggest backer - until he dropped out of the race, which is when he switched to Trump. At that time Cambridge Analytica switched from working on the Cruz campaign to the Trump campaign. Personally, I see a pattern. My new friends didn’t. Actually, they couldn’t, because none of this did they know. nor did
they care. It didn’t matter. Nor did they see any coincidence that the analytics company that Nigel Farage used in the UK over Brexit was Cambridge Analytica. No. It is nothing to do with a few manipulating people. Not in Trump. Not in Brexit. It is the ‘people’ standing up and saying ‘NO’. Cough. My point? Two old, white guys, both ex journalists, rooing the ‘passing’ of investigative journalism - who in a 15 minute conversation demonstrated that they themselves had no interest in investigation, being inquisitive, understanding both sides. No, they just wanted to be heard. No - not us. We are not being manipulated.
(1) It must be my English accent, because I find Brexit raised as a topic with me rather a lot, given that most American’s don’t know how to pronounce Leicester and certainly do not understand the UK political system. Hell - they barely understand ‘Soccer’. (2) Added Monday 7th : Spin Magazine reporting on how this even came to be talked about.
Trump-supporting websites like InfoWars, Drudge, Danger and Play, and Conservative Outfitters all seized on the news, treating Abramovic not as the world-renowned artist she is, but some kind of backwoods occultist witch.