The Neo-Inquisition, Censorship and Mass Media Hysteria

May 3 was World Press Freedom Day. U.S. President Biden marked it by setting up a Ministry of Truth. Freedom of the press and thought face an unprecedented assault.

If there’s just one thing you remember from this article, let it be this — I take no one’s side in any conflict and controversy. I’m on the side of facts and truth. I advocate for the free flow of information, for constructive debate, and for letting all sides speak in any controversy so that each of us can reach his/her own conclusions and understand better what’s really happening in the world.

Stop the censorship. Stop the mass hysteria. And most of all, stop the Neo-Inquisition by which those in power target, harass and try to bludgeon dissenters into conformity and subservience.

The intense censorship that plagues the western world is a desperate attempt by malicious forces to suppress the truth and keep the public ignorant in order to solidify their control.

Major media, most of which are controlled by Neo-liberals (such as the Democratic Party in the U.S.), only give coverage to one side, and often promote fake news and disinformation. In addition, compliant Big Tech companies help to control the narrative on social media.

As a result, the Western public has a highly skewed and false understanding about important issues such as Covid-19 and the experimental vaccines, the war in Ukraine, the global economic crisis, and a host of other important issues.

Mass media hysteria is censorship’s handmaiden. Thanks to the screeching voices of such hysteria, the public only hears what the ruling Neo-liberal regime wants them to hear, and most other voices are drowned out.

Whip the masses into a self-righteous fit of hysteria and they’ll do the censorship for you. They’ll turn with a vengeance on family members, friends and colleagues in order to enforce the Party’s ideological dogma.

Well, it turns out that’s not enough. The Neo-liberals want even more power and control. Last week, President Biden announced the creation of his Disinformation Governance Board (a department of Homeland Security).

This is a very disturbing moment in U.S. history. This is the creation of the “Ministry of Truth” from George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984.

The timing of Biden’s announcement is no accident. It came just one week before World Press Freedom Day. The Democratic Party wants to make clear their disdain for freedom of the press and to instill fear in anyone who might speak truth to power.

About My Page

Before I continue, as a matter of transparency I’d like to say that I created this page last year simply for a small circle of friends and those who are open-minded and inquisitive. We believe in verifiable facts, educated analysis and seek the truth.

Nevertheless, I am glad that my audience is growing, and my posts are getting between 1,000 and 9,000 views. Thank you for the support.

While many other writers, journalists and analysts have a pay-wall to subscribe to their Substack page, mine is free of charge. Please subscribe and share my articles. In an age where the U.S. media narrative is closely controlled and warped, it’s our civic duty to promote truth in reporting, independent analysis and freedom of the press.

The Neo-Inquisition

Since most people are busy with their lives and don't have time to do their own research, the mass media has the opportunity to abuse the public's trust, which it does by promoting fake narratives and then shutting down independent thinking by weaponizing ridicule and the threat of social ostracism.

This is what I call the “Neo-Inquisition”, which is far worse than the Middle Ages. Technology today allows the ruling elite to track and monitor every step we take and then record that information forever. The medieval inquisitors never had such power.

Today, there’s nowhere to hide, which is why many Americans are fearful and remain silent. They worry that they could lose their job and friends simply for doubting the prevailing media narrative, and that their unsanctioned opinions might be recalled at any time in the future to discredit and punish them.

We’ve seen it many times over the past few years. Covid 19 and the pandemic. Face masks. George Floyd. Covid vaccines. And now the war in Ukraine. Think and do as you’re told by the media. Shut up and obey! Dissent will incur a heavy price.

And who is leading the charge to shut down free speech? It’s former U.S. president Obama, the real power behind Biden. Obama thinks the threat to freedom doesn’t come from Big Government, but rather the lack of it. This is what he said recently:

“You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth, the game’s won.”

How dare anyone ask questions! How dare anyone not trust their leaders and the mainstream media! Trust Obama and his Party. They know best.

I’ve worked for and with the major media for 31 years, and 14 years were spent as a journalist for the most powerful media - New York Times, Bloomberg and Reuters TV. (The other years I spent working in communications and media consulting, including for the United Nations, as well as for clients in Europe, USA, Russia and Ukraine.)

For decades, I enjoyed vigorous and inspiring conversations with media colleagues on controversial issues. That all began to change in Obama’s second term. He became sinister and maniacal. If you criticized Obama you were labelled a “racist”. Fear crept into American society, and my media colleagues quickly began to tow the Party line.

The free flow of information is the lifeblood of a civilized country. Everything I write is based on months of research, as well as decades of acquired contextual knowledge, understanding and insights. Every day, I read voraciously from a wide range of sources that cover the political spectrum and the globe. I’m a subscriber to the bastions of Neo-liberal media — New York Times, the Financial Times, and I listen to NPR in the car. In addition, I have my own sources on the ground in many places.

No amount of threats, intimidation and harassment will silence me. Yet, some people try. I’m not talking about differing opinions or intellectual debate. I’m talking about vicious and libelous attacks. Any information that contradicts their mass media-based narrative is dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” or “Putin propaganda.”

In some of my recent articles I committed the ‘thought crime’ of pointing out that Ukraine started the war with Russia in 2014 when Kiev began the ethnic cleansing of its eastern regions where ethnic Russians live. I committed the ‘thought crime’ of saying that Ukraine’s military is controlled by the far-right Azov Battalion that has held or still holds entire cities hostage, such as Mariupol and Kharkov, and that local ethnic Russians are used as ‘human shields’, which is a war crime.

Silencing discussion of such facts is precisely an example of the Neo-Inquisition. Many people are a part of it, perhaps unaware of the dangerous role they’re playing in suppressing free speech. In the past few weeks, people with whom I’ve not spoken to for years suddenly felt compelled to write me and try to shame me for my meticulously researched articles on Ukraine.

Their accusations were particularly galling because they have no expertise in geopolitics and Ukraine. All they can do is reference CNN and the BBC, both of which serve the State.

Every media outlet has its biases and editorial policy. That’s understandable. What we need to be concerned about is when the major media and Big Tech act in unison, saying the same thing and enforcing the same narrative. The result is a poorly informed and ignorant America.

The eternal dilemma that we all face is: How to be sufficiently informed about the world, but not succumb to media-induced hysteria and fear-mongering. Many of us just want to turn off the news and tune out. That’s understandable. However, only an active and well-informed citizenry can maintain the balance of power in society, and protect freedom and human rights from attacks by the State.

More than anything, I encourage you to do your own research and think for yourself. Otherwise, we in the West run the risk of the rise of totalitarian regimes, which in fact is already happening.

Whenever you see nearly all major media outlets repeating the same information, with the same spin, then be certain that you’re witnessing a propaganda campaign that’s been mapped out and paid for by a powerful special interest group.

Take the war in Ukraine, for example. Why should we believe the media when they promote hysterical narratives about an innocent Ukraine attack by bad Russia? The media merely rehash press releases from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and the Pentagon.

As mentioned above, our media omit the part about Ukraine committing ethnic cleansing against Russian speakers in the breakaway Donbas region, killing thousands of civilians over the course of 8 years! They omit the brutal clampdown and violence against anyone who disagrees with President Zelensky and his far-right policies.

The same people who lied and misinformed the public about Covid-19 and the vaccination program now tell us to #StandwithUkraine. Why should we support anything they say? How can we trust them about Ukraine or anything?

Let’s look at this another way: If you caught a close friend, neighbor or colleague lying to you — lying in a big way — would you ever trust that person again? Of course not. The relationship would be permanently damaged. Right?

This is why I’m stupefied when I see people return to the major media and government bureaucrats, and accept and believe what they say. Those institutions have consistently lied to the public for years and even decades, whipping up mass hysteria and silencing dissent with their Neo-Inquisition.

Well, it’s time we put an end to this. The most powerful tool in the struggle for justice and truth is merely NOT to give the media and government our trust and faith. Turn them off. I know most of you agree with me, but let’s spread the word to family and friends who don’t yet understand.

If those institutions won’t reform themselves and won’t protect press freedoms, then we should deny them any Legitimacy simply by ignoring them. And by denying them Legitimacy we nullify their ability to rule over and manipulate us.

Sorry Obama, we won’t be silenced and intimidated. We will continue to ask difficult questions and Speak Truth to Power. That’s the true American spirit.

ENDS