There's a lot you can say about the world's second oldest profession. Not much of it is very good, though. Let's face it. Journalism leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Watch five minutes of mainstream media if you feel the need to refresh your taste buds. And it's not just because journalists are cunning opportunists who don't respect the most basic ethical norms. They are also deceitful hypocrites and money-grubbing hacks who don't have an ounce of integrity. But other than that, those in today's news media have succeeded admirably in advancing their profession's long-standing tradition of peddling fabricated news and phony narratives.
Only now this has reached a tipping point. We are at a phase in which the news media pose a real threat to freedom of speech itself, a principle they still claim to be duty-bound to uphold, of course.
They threaten it openly by ignoring or suppressing issues and views that don't fit their narratives. They do so secretly through the subtle circulation of partisan propaganda and subliminal disinformation campaigns directed against those who refuse to accept their Orwellian groupthink view of the world.
And what has this led to? Our "most trusted names in news" now find themselves in the absurd situation of masquerading as arbiters of truth and free speech while actively suppressing both. Oddly, they seem indifferent to this irony as we watch them morph into Western culture's new super-villains right before our very eyes. But they can't stop.
Nor can we stop watching, apparently. We ought to watch more closely then. This book takes a closer look. It is a collection of observations about how the journalist's twisted mind works. Most are humorous but all are dead serious when it comes to addressing the threat our "media professionals" pose to our free society today. It is called the Media Mind Manipulation Manual, or MMMM for short, and demonstrates the ways in which today's media clones use shameless spin and hysterical hype to manipulate those who still believe them. It illuminates the latest deceptive journalistic methods and perfidious practices in vogue. It reveals that no matter how far-fetched, heavy-handed and downright ridiculous the disinformation we call news may seem at times, the current state of journalism is no laughing matter. It is not only hopelessly dishonest and corrupt, it has literally changed the course of recent history in very significant and negative ways. If we continue to let ourselves be manipulated in the manner described, we are in very real danger of losing the freedoms we still enjoy.
PS: The original title of this book was going to be the Mass Media Mind Manipulation Manual (or MMMMM), but I was worried the extra M might induce a seizure.
