Chavez and the American msm news coverage

I don’t know about you, but I find it interesting that the American msm spends so much time obsessing on Hugo Chavez. Every time Chavez farts, there are scores of news articles and opinion pieces about it throughout our media with the same overall gist. From what I gather, our msm would have us believe that he is paranoid, a ego maniac, a dictator, a power hungry megalomaniac, and a basic all around nut job.

Some of this may be valid, but honestly, how is that different than many other leaders (You know what I am thinking, but I didn’t say it). Sometimes it seems to be a prerequisite for the position. In addition, Hugo would have to be super human not to be just a little paranoid. Lets see, he has had influential American leaders call for his demise and there has been a coup attempt against him. Hmmm. Easy for me to call him paranoid sitting in my comfortable chair from my comfortable environment.

Let us break it down. Corporations don’t like socialism, PERIOD (especially oil companies in reference to Venezuela). Hugo is a socialist and would rather have the profits from their oil go into his own country, rather than some wealthy persons pocket, who most likely won’t even live in Venezuela. That is a big corporate NO NO.

Corporations have a vested interest in sinking this guy. He is cutting into their profits. Corporations own the media in this country and they have truly made an art form out of perception management and public relations. It sure seems that old Hugo is having a tough time of it in our msm. Through misdirection and obfuscation our msm can always get folks to carry their corporate water for them, even so called progressives (surprise surprise).

As Noam once pointed out, in a totalitarian government they hit a person upside the head to get them to do their bidding. In a government such as ours, you have to be a little more subtle.

I could be wrong about this, but I am seeking truth and am not trying to grind anyone’s axe. So the next time Hugo farts and you find yourself getting all worked up about it, you may want to ask yourself WHY. But then again, to see the truth in a given situation, you have to somehow get outside of yourself, a very difficult task indeed, if even possible.

I am sure there are valid complaints about this guy, but I have to wonder about the obsessive nature of the coverage and dialog about it all.

There was a report in the corporate media that was astro turfed about how the Chavez government was stifling student dissent and manhandling the protesters. The exact opposite was true and only Reuters issued a correction. That was last week, iirc.

This morning, NYTs and WaHo have dueling editorials comparing him to a variety of dictators. Today is officially "Chavez is like X dictator day". The corporatists HATE this guy. He thumbs his nose at them and they can't stand that. I'm amazed he's still among us.

From here it seems as though the test is " if its good news it is real" and " if it is bad news it is American Propaganda". Personally I think there is a mix on both sides. Some good and some bad stories are fake and some are real. Chavez has some very good points and also some very bad points.

People who see no shades of gray and cannot see flaws within their heros worry me. Even leaders with the best intentions can get off the path sometimes.

regarding a relatively small student protest in opposition:

'"We're doing this because we're sick of Chavez, sick of his government, sick of the way he governs," said Roberto, who covered his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He gave only his first name because he feared reprisals from the security forces."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/29/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Constitution.php?WT.mc_id=rssamerica


Sounds pretty scary. The problem is, these students went on a rampage, destroyed property, tried to provoke the police into an armed response and tried to break in to another university where pro Chavez students were putting up flyers. The Chavistas had to be rescued from the mob.

Not to mention, there is no history of "security forces" seeking "reprisals" for student protests. On the contrary, dissenting students have been invited to speak in the national assembly.

It's just cr@p.

was already debunked LAST WEEK.

I just wanted to thank you for all of your thoughtful posts on Chavez. You really cut through the bullshit, knee-jerk reactionism that runs rampant through here DU on an ongoing basis.

are the Jedis. lol

:)

K&R :kick:

Here's a few more threads relating to this in the GP forum today ... for those who care to take the time to take the blinders off.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x323488

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x323551

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2363912


Good to see DU'ers still investigating, thinking, and putting this stuff out there. Peace.

...but that doesn't necessarily mean a lot of their coverage isn't crap. There are several reasons for this that I can see right away:

1) Chavez makes for good copy. He says a lot of "outrageous" things, and the media don't actually have to do any work. Instant story! Controversy!

2) The American media leans to the right. They're never, ever going to cozy up to someone who's buddy-buddy with Castro.

3) The American media's coverage of world events SUCKS. Especially when it comes to poorer countries. International bureaus have been shrinking for years, so it makes it very easy for some heavily biased stringer to get his bullshit reported by the big networks/newspapers.

4) Chavez does not exactly have a lot of high-profile defenders in the United States, does he?

as business.

The TV news is especially dire. Gawd, I am amazed by how bad the TV news has gotten every time I go back to the states. For a while the BBC (or someone, I can't remember) was airing the ABC nightly news over here (which used to be one of the tolerable ones) and it was simply appalling.

In the US, the viewer is considered too dumb to address major policy issues like foreign policy or the war in Iraq. It feels glossed over in the US, but often you can find a lot of hard news from Le Monde, the Guardian Unlimited, the Independent, BBC News, Asia Times, and so forth.

If people are misinformed or uninformed, there is no real long-term hope for democracy if every voter is ignorant of the very issues that affect them. It's like driving a car with blindfolds up.

So far as I can tell, that critter is extinct, especially on television.

It's all been replaced by carefully managed "reality" shows.

Even NPR serves up great steaming piles of solar-cooked shit propaganda on their best china, using organicly grown and politically correct aromatic spices to disguise the stink.

I've had all the lying and obfuscation I can take in this lifetime

i hope people down there vote down some of his amendments to their constitution....

no term limits is a bad idea for a democracy.

yeah, some people on DU would seem to think that...
sorry, but chavez is just a man to me... not a god. haha

hes done good things, but on the same hand that doesnt give him the right to become dictator. lol

The guy still has to get elected and he can still be recalled unless Nancy takes that off the table, too. :)

its easy to get elected if your already in power... specially in young democracy....

i mean look whats happened here the last two presidential elections...

to think that they arent capable of fraud when it comes to elections yet the united states is ... is well... kinda silly.

if you strong arm people enough(doesnt have to be physically) and play dirty politics... anybody can win.

so just because someone wins an election, doesnt make it legit.

like i say, just look at our president.

are much more transparent than ours because they don't use the proprietary software on their machines and because they invite elections monitors. So next time Junior calls Chavez a dictator, remember that while he's talking, he knows he wasn't elected but that Chavez was. :}