Loyalists of the western empire have been growing increasingly honest about their desire to use censorship and propaganda in order to win an “information war” against Russia.
The other day we saw a Guardian article arguing for the necessity of a coordinated campaign by western governments to “combat Russian disinformation” due to Russia’s disinterest in “cooperating to reach a common understanding of the truth”, i.e. agree with unproven western accusations and capitulate to the longstanding western agendas those accusations are meant to advance.
Before that, we saw a Defense One article authored by an Atlantic Council official arguing in favor of the creation of a “NATO for Infowar” to propagandize westerners against Russian interests for their own good. The author of this article went so far as to suggest that the Kremlin-backed television channel RT ought to be forbidden to air in western nations.
It always comes back to RT. Because of the network’s relatively high profile in comparison to other Russian media, it has been made into an ideal Emmanuel Goldstein for the empire’s daily Two Minutes Hate. RT is now so completely reviled by establishment loyalists that citing it in an online debate will be taken as an instant debunk of not just the point you were trying to make but of your entire position (and often your humanity itself by getting you labeled a “Russian bot”), even if your citation is comprised entirely of independently verifiable facts.
Luckily for the screaming hysterical Big Brother devotees, there is a very easy and 100 percent guaranteed way to get RT removed from western airwaves forever. Are you ready? Here it is:
Allow leftist and antiwar perspectives to be voiced on western mainstream media.
That’s it. That’s the whole entire recipe for RT’s destruction. If western media simply ceased deliberately excluding leftist and antiwar voices from mainstream discourse, there would no longer be any demand for RT’s output, since the only reason anyone outside of Russia watches RT is to get perspectives they can’t get anywhere else.
A few leftist, antiwar and activism-oriented programs on stations like BBC and MSNBC is all it would take to kill any interest in RT’s programming and steal their entire audience. They wouldn’t ever have to have a single Russian on their programs; there is an abundance of home-grown talent with clear antiwar, anti-capitalism, pro-environment perspectives to keep reliably churning out fresh content on a daily basis, and there is simply no way RT’s feeble budget would be able to keep up.
And of course they wouldn’t just be stealing RT’s audience, they’d be stealing their talent as well. Redacted Tonight‘s Lee Camp has gone on record saying the only reason he’s on RT is because his leftist antiwar perspective got doors slammed in his face everywhere else. He went to RT, and they make no attempts to influence him to say or not say anything other than what he wants. Talent wouldn’t have to rely on RT if it could share the same ideas with bigger audiences for better pay.
That’s actually RT America’s entire schtick: people like Chris Hedges and Jesse Ventura get de-platformed by western mass media due to their anti-establishment views, so they go to RT where they are given a platform. There are Americans who are drawn to those perspectives, so their eyeballs go to RT programming. If CNN had some programming that allowed for such perspectives this would steal all the demand for RT, but they don’t. The closest they ever get is having Jill Stein on once in a blue moon so Chris Cuomo can admonish her for not participating correctly in the information war against Russia.
This is a surefire way to get rid of RT without violating the US Constitution, committing unprecedented acts of government censorship, or having anything whatsoever to do with the Kremlin. But of course, we all know that it will never happen.
It will never happen because RT is not the real enemy. Leftists and antiwar activists are the real enemy.
Indeed, the fact that RT America gives a platform to Americans who oppose war, ecocide and plutocracy is the US establishment’s primary grievance against it. In January of last year the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published its hotly anticipated report on Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election. The disappointing report provided no proof whatsoever of those allegations, and instead spent much of its space accusing RT of covering stories which are inconvenient to US plutocrats. According to the report, RT America’s offenses included the following:
- Airing two new shows that were critical of the US government.
- Running reports on the vulnerabilities of US election machines.
- Broadcasting, hosting and advertising debates between third-party candidates.
- Covering the Occupy Wall Street movement.
- Criticizing the US surveillance state and alleging widespread infringements of civil liberties, police brutality, and drone use.
- Criticizing “the US economic system, US currency policy, alleged Wall Street greed, and the US national debt” and comparing the United States to Imperial Rome.
- Running anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health.
- Opposing Western intervention in the Syrian conflict and blaming the West for waging “information wars” against the Syrian Government.
- Trying to expand RT America in the US.
Which, of course, are all reflective of the interests and concerns of millions of rank-and-file Americans. They are also subjects which are rarely if ever covered my mainstream western media.
The fact that there is a very easy way to eliminate RT, and yet establishment loyalists continue fearmongering about it instead of solving the problem they claim to have, should be taken as a tacit admission that they have no real problem with RT. The only people the plutocrat-owned media corporations have ever had a problem with are those who oppose plutocratic interests, be they oligarchy or war profiteering or ecocidal fossil fuel agendas.
So remember that the next time you hear some empire loyalist whining about RT. They have no problem with RT. They have a problem with you.
_______________________
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27 responses to “How To Silence RT Forever”
Great article but do we really need to get rid of RT. For me it offers another perspective against the fake news forever promulgated by the Western MSM in their efforts to keep fooling us that the world is all Goldilocks and lovely.
I believe that a crisis event is due in the near term – some 2-3 years max. I have written a book (100,000 words) and have an e-copy available, trying to explain the why and how of our dysfunctional global financial system to ordinary people. I have yet to get a publisher interested although I have emailed 100s of literary agents. The feedback generally advises that the subject is too controversial for them to publish.
I am offering my book (PDF) free on request to those who are interested: peter@underco.co.uk
The assumption that the USA and world in general have been expanding for the last 10 years is based on the false premise of GDP. Since real inflation rates (taking commodity and assets together) far exceed nominal growth rates per the GDP deflator formula, we have in fact suffered negative growth or a prolonged, hidden global depression for 10 years. We have actually seen the end of growth as we have known it and evidence is everywhere to be found, not least of which is the oil energy resource or EROEI. My book explains all this and much more, here’s a list of subjects:
Preface
Introduction (to a Bank Robbery)
Money
Commercial Banks
Credit & Debt
Central Banks
Government Finances
European Union
Markets
Financial Engineering
Inflation & Deflation
National Economies
Macroeconomics101
The End of Growth
The New Emergent Economy
Epilogue
Just thought you should know that we are all being fooled by fudged statistics and QE/ZIRP.
I am against censorship of any form, but the idea that RT, a Russian thug-state-owned enterprise, cares about America and is against “plutocracy” is shockingly stupid. You can have your cake and eat it, too, without fellating Putin.
not at all. russia need not “care” about “america” or even be against plutocracy. russia need only want to make a telling critique of the u.s. plutocracy which demonstrably doesn’t “care” about 99.9% of “america.”
imo johnstone needs to widen her to be encouraged additional views to include the alt right as well, as it is not represented much in the legacy media.
but really, what is at the base of the hatred of rt and the generations old bias of the legacy media is that which one may not criticize, the ones who therefore rule you, the likud/mossad zionists who have infiltrated and now control much of the deep state and most of the legacy media.
I love your writing Caitlin. In this instance I have to add that RT is a lot more than just left and antiwar viewing. I’ve been a follower of RT for many years, when it was clearly Russia Today. It’s a wonderful channel with a tremendous variety of views and programs. I’d watch Max Keiser and Crosstalk and fascinating Russian documentaries and on the spot news reporting from the Middle East and dozens of other programs whether there were leftists on US mainstream channels or not.
I love RT!
Left and right have virutally no meaning anymore and I think are best eliminated. In the US many people consider the corporatist (fascist) media to be “left.” They call neoliberals “communist” and so on. Of course, it shows an ignorance of history and language but I don’t think it can be corrected at this point.
Caitlin
You are mistaken if you think its Leftist views that the MSM ban. Most MSM are left leaning. The Guardian prides itself on being hard left, The Times is soft Left, like the BBC and NYT and Wapo. What they all share is they support the western imperial CIA establishment narrative (which is soft left and pro war and western imperialism).
Right wing views are barred from western media, but you can find them on RT.
The dicotomy we now have is not left/right but Authoritarian vs Libertarian. The Leftists are very authoritarian (like Stalin and Hitler – Hitler was a socialist, remember national socialism).
LOL! It’s because of the fact that you most likely are sensitive to leftist views that you think that RT only gives a platform for the left. The give a platform for people on both the left and the right. They are one of the few platforms where they will allow people on both sides to debate openly a topic. That you think that if others gave a platform for people with leftist views shows that you’re not really paying attention. Anything other than the official narrative is discouraged, irrespective of the left or the right. That’s the reality!
Nice website. I can now drop Medium and give you a raise, Caitlin.
How noble of the Grand Duke of Muscovy to have his boyars promote American democracy! Such disinterested nobility of character.
And isn’t he just dreamy as the man on the white horse?
I’m sure he’ll do for American democracy what he has done for democracy in the Russian Federation.
Maybe when the left has built an actual party committed to social revolution, and has organized the masses, won victories for rank-and-file workers, the media won’t be able to ignore them.
…and does that party happen to have a name?
I genuinely enjoy RT. Humor at the corrupt American Empire is way overdue. But to call this site a “foreign agent” is beyond absurd. It just shows you how scared they are of the truth coming out.
Bingo.
Caitlin,
I recognize that this offers a healthy dose of irony, but to the extent that your claim is in interest, I’m not sure I agree–what RT offers me is a certain concentration of these dissident views. The West has been playing the game of allowing safely policed leftist criticism for decades. Though times have changed, one used to be able to find the odd piece scattered among the choirs of warmongering, capitalist, omnicidal messaging. But RT gives us something I have never had in my 40 years of sifting through this dross–high-grade ore. In quantity, and, to some degree, quality as well.
that should read “in earnest” not “in interest”
So you believe in global warming aka climate change and blame CO2? Nobody is perfect.
Colin – you’re not perfect, you’re an idiot. The argument has been posed thousands of times and refuted each time with facts. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Ed Schultz has said almost the same thing Lee Camp said. He is on RT because no one else will carry him, and RT (unlike MSNBC) let’s him say whatever he wants to say.
Re the Guardian piece, notice there is no comments allowed on such articles. That’s a tell
Most sites filter their comments. I’ve been banned on nearly every site I have posted on for this reason. Comments are now considered “evidence” of “agreement” to a website and the agenda being posted. If you don’t fit, you’re quickly removed. It’s very, very widespread.
My recent Duck Duck Go exercise serves to validate Caitlin’s claim. I can’t ever remember doing a search for a Sky News piece , but once I found out that both Caitlin and Syrian Girl were on a Sky discussion panel , I frantically started searching for a clip. If more such guests are invited onto Sky channels , I may be forced to bookmark their sites , just as I have for RT.
‘
( BTW , RT is a Russian international television network funded by the Russian government. It operates cable and satellite television channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing … Wikipedia )
I have never seen RT but i applaud its existence – if it was available on Free to Air TV here in Australia i am sure i would prefer its news to that of the national broadcaster – the now largely LNP nobbled ABC!
Don’t they have Internet in Oz
Ever hear the grammar rule that when you use an acronym, you define it the first time it’s used?
What is RT? You’re very long article is pointless without that definition.
There is a large graphic at the top of the article that may help.
“RT” is a brand name, just like e.g. “BP”, “UPS”, or “IBM”. One recalls that at one time it signified “Russia Today”, but like most other acronyms-as-brands it only stands for itself now.
Did you bother to view the leading image? It’s right there.
Bwahahahaha!!! Ever hear of using the correct form of “your” when complaining abut grammar?
RT is in and of itself the correct callout for the entity. Just like LG. When referring to the appliance giant, one does not use the underlying “Lucky Goldstar,” because that isn’t its name.
Bloody moron.
It seems the report from U.S. intelligence listed nine reasons I read RT. It sounds good to say western media could eliminate RT by allowing leftist views here, but those nine points are exactly what the left would say, and that is why they won’t be allowed to say it.
I’ve been immersed in a debate on Consortium with supporters of your namesake, and as disgusted as I am with Consortium’s allowance of a divisive, slanderous, attack on the left by her, it’s one of the only forums where I or we can express ourselves. This is what we are reduced to in the belly of the beast: a place to be polemically pummeled.
So thank you for this article, as you really nailed it. If Diana has used different terms she would have had agreement. You are head and shoulders over her, writing from your modest outpost, without a fancy title, defending us yanks better than we can ourselves.