A previous post examined how logic could be used to arrive at the truth. Journalism can be used to investigate what is true, just as it can be used to spin the facts to suit the narrative that governments want their populations to believe.

All wars depend on gaining at least some measure of support from general opinion, and it is with this end in mind that we often encounter situations where it is possible to wonder whether the narrative has been managed to reflect the version of reality that is most convenient when particular ends are desired. It’s a daring manoeuvre, given that the truth may be exposed, as many independent investigators claimed was the case in the case of this CNN newscast, which was presented by CNN news at the time as a live broadcast from a hotel roof during the Gulf war, while a missile attack was in progress. The footage has not yet been proven to everyone’s satisfaction to have been faked with the use of a ‘green screen’ in CNN’s news studios, and the debate continues.

As Bernays understood, it could be worth the gamble for a government to fake an event, since the desired outcome has been achieved by the time the lie is discovered, and a public outcry diverted before the action has been taken. Such propaganda is quite convincing at the time; as the old adage goes ‘seeing is believing‘. We tend to rely on the evidence before our eyes, and mainstream media would hardly lie to us, would they? Take a look at alternative media sources and the outlook is very different. Anything and everything is up for question, the American ‘Truth Movement’ was established the idea that everything the state did was up for question, as the American government had perpetrated many ‘false flag‘ operations even before the events on November 11th, 2001 in New York, which were watched with horror by people all around the world. Part of the American Dream died on that day, but for some people it became the starting point of a new consciousness of the nature of reality, and a discussion ensued that has persisted with the growth of alternative news sources, a conversation about how digital realities and the physical world intersect, and how it is possible to manipulate one in order to manage the other.

Syrian president Bashar Assad was not the only person questioning the reality of news stories emerging from Syria.

The boy in the back of the van narrative came in for examination, again, not by the mainstream, but by independent journalists wanting to know if the photos were staged in order to win public sympathy. The public, it seems, are not totally heartless when it comes to children’s suffering, which touches us even more deeply than that of adults, perhaps because of the responsibility adults have of protecting children from harm. Few ever got to hear about the Nayirah al-Sabah testimony, or rather the retraction of the story which was run prominently in the mainstream news media, but you can read about how fake the testimony turned out to be in a variety of so-called ‘fake’ news media. With the growth of alternative media, and the financial, and resulting ideological independence of these outlets from mainstream influences, it is no surprise that so many people are now questioning so much of the truth as we have been given it by the media to date.

An independent reporter on the ground, known as Syrian Girl, presents a theory on where the people used in the Syrian gas attack set-up came from.

One thing’s for sure, reality is very weird, and facts can be difficult to establish. Often the alternative media reflects this in ways that the mainstream just can’t manage to fit into a coherent narrative. Alt media loves the incoherence of it all, as it thrives on disassembling the narratives presented to the public. Sometimes this results in a disjointed genius, and we all know that truth is stranger than fiction. Just take the case of Nasim Aghdam, the YouTube shooter who was disgruntled about her YouTube channel being demonitised and decided to let YouTube know how she felt. A few of the strange events in the week that was are mixed in the clip from LTV shown below.

Syria update: From LTV’s show 4th May 2018