Bishop on Air
columnist: Bishop on Air dot com

Topic: Media
Cultural Imperialism – The West’s Drive for Profits

---

Is the west involved in an empire and what is the motive?

---

by Bishop on Air dot com
(Libertarian)
Thursday, December 13, 2007

Throughout human history, imperialistic societies all seemed to fail. By the elite thinning out the civilian population to spread their ideals and systems of control around the world, the weakening state is sure to collapse, either from bankruptcy or revolt. This is evident in Rome, Germany, Russia, the Ottoman, and Mayan Empire. As new forms of media develop and come to existence, dissemination of information must now be considered as part of an empirical strategy.

What is interesting; the power of media, be it print, audio, or video, can now be considered equal to – if not more powerful than any sitting army. Even more interesting and easier to comprehend, both the modern media and a national army are controlled by the wealthiest private interests.

Even in the past century history can tell a remarkable story of nations coming to power and covertly infiltrating neighboring regions by force or persuasion. Cultural beliefs are transferred from civilization to civilization by means of military brutality combined with propaganda. To be effective, the operations must be fully funded – derived from any source necessary, be it national wealth, taxing the civilians, or revenues gathered from the world market.

The rights to information and the effects on society; from brokers mishandling, misrepresenting, and misinforming the public on everything from classification of state secrets to fraudulent business practices among the conglomerates, are continuously balancing as the earth circles the sun. Is there a sinister conspiracy of biblical proportions taking place under histories nose or will that question ever be answered? One thing to be sure of, however, the motives are pure profit.

Communism, the CIA, Iran and McCarthy – Kermit Roosevelt, a former CIA officer wrote a book entitled Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran, a book that was recalled by McGraw-Hill in early 1979. What persuaded the McGraw-Hill publishing giant to recall copies of the book? The contents of the book were the "author's inside version of how intelligence agencies overthrew a left-leaning Iranian premier, Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953 and reinstated the Shah. The issue was control of oil." A plot lined out in the book called ‘TPAJAX' reportedly was proposed by AIOC; the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, nine months after their expulsion from Iran.

According to the CIA's own online history records, "the target was not oppressive Soviet puppet but a democratically elected government whose populist ideology and nationalist fervor threatened Western economic (emphasis added) and geopolitical interests." The Iranian parliament nationalized the AIOC after London refused to meet the demands of Iran. "After the loss of India, Britain's new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was committed to stopping his country's empire from unraveling further." With the Korean conflict underway and diplomacy faulted, a covert strategy was brewed up between the CIA and MI5 (British Intelligence). The plan used propaganda, provocations, demonstrations, bribery, and employment of agents of influence. Each of these was a medium used to persuade a culture to act a certain way.

Really intriguing is the use of radios in declaring victory. Back to the CIA's online history of operation TPAJAX

"To set the right mood just before Washington's chosen coup leader, a senior army general named Fazlollah Zahedi, spoke to the nation on the radio, US officials decided to broadcast some military music. Someone found an appropriate-looking record in the embassy library and put on the first song; to everyone's embarrassment, it was "The Star-Spangled Banner." A less politically discordant tune was quickly played, and then Zahedi took the microphone to declare himself "the lawful prime minister by the Shah's order. (Kinzer, www.cia.gov)"

TNC's – Cultural Imperialism has taken a new shape, a different form. History shows that when one nation decides to impose its rule over another nation, a bloody conflict ensues, usually in the forms of brutal wars or covert action against the victim states desire to remain free form oppression be it culturally or other. As in the case of operation TPAJAX, the consequences could have shaped foreign policy as we now know it today. Conflicts are usually funded by the monarchy or the elite rulers of any given nation. But things have changed. TNCs, or transnational corporations mainly of western and American decent, are working not for any land grab or religious ideal, but to continuously build their monopoly power, be it resource or information.

TPAJAX is an example of how corporate interest empires team with covert government funded operations to use the media and other forms of persuasion to profit both industry and government. AIOC and the CIA teamed up to expand an ever growing oil empire, not of Middle Eastern descent. But just three years earlier there is an example of how powerful an abuse of ownership in the media can be. In 1950 one Senator manipulated information for the purpose of battling an ideal feared to destroy the world and even Christianity as we know it to develop the ever growing empire of capitalism. His lie and the media's blatant misrepresentation held this county locked in fear for five years.

Senator Joseph McCarthy said to have possession of a "list of 205 names known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party … still shaping policy in the State Department." A friend of McCarthy's, whom inherited a media empire named Hearst, is quoted "Joe gave me a call not long after that speech. And you know what? He didn't have a damn thing on that list. Nothing". William Hearst Jr. chose not to publish the private remarks and yet used his media empire to persuade the public of the McCarthy ideal.

The Media Monopoly – Just within the 30 pages of Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly, you get a sense of how dire things have become. The empire of corporate interests has concentrated themselves on a scale so grand it is almost irreversible, short of some divine snap of the fingers.

There are basically five mega-media conglomerates in the western world, with hopes of expanding to envelope the globe and control all forms of information. The interesting thing is how capitalistic corporate interests in the mainstream multi-market global community have teamed up with the military industrial complex in a mad dash at control over resources and record profits. Defense contractors are teaming up with print publishers and radio groups with cable and internet just down the branch.

Bilderberg, the secret is out – When looking at a roster for the May 31st to June 3rd 2007 Bilderberg Conference in Istanbul, Turkey; some interesting names with very powerful titles pop up. Members of the media from around the world meet with foreign ministers, politicians, bank executives and royalty – behind closed doors. Represented at these yearly conferences are US News & World Report, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft Corporation, and at the 2007 Bilderberg meeting, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was in attendance. These delegates meet secretly and privately with members from royal families, think tanks, and government agencies. Daniel Estulin, an investigative journalist, has been following the Bilderberg group around the world to gather as much information about the very secretive group's meetings. In his book, The True Story of The Bilderberg Group, Estulin talks about the unification of big government and big business to shape a united world for their profit and the use of the already existing American empire.

"The dots leading to the unification of European nations travel from the Marshall Plan, to the European Coal and Steel Community, to the European Economic Community, and it's not far-reaching to say that America's Council on Foreign Relations paved the path for the present European government. CFR members have been involved in every step of the journey. … When you examine the CFR's life-member list, for instance, you will find that 90% either sit on the Trilateral Commission or belong to the Bilderberg Group, … (Estulin, The True Story of The Bilderberg Group)"

In a special ‘Collector's Edition' of U.S. News & World Report on Mysteries of History Secret Societies (October 16, 2007), there is a very small excerpt about the Bilderberg Group. The short five paragraph article quotes Bilderberg's current chairman, Viscount Etienne Davignon – "What can come out of our meetings is that it is wrong not to try to deal with a problem. But a real consensus, an action plan containing points one, two and three? The answer is no. People are much too sensible to believe they can do that." Let us remember TPAJAX.

America as the scapegoat – Within the past decade, and in the years to come, we are going to see some radical maneuvers by the persuasion of globalization. This will be passed off as an altruistic necessity. The real motive may be as simple as for pure profit and greed. Probably the most disconcerting notion behind this Cultural Imperialist theory of communication is just how pervasive it is, has, and will become. Even more grave is the fact that United States is being used as a scapegoat for an outcome to profit only the imperialistic elite and not the liberties and freedoms of all people.

Greg Bishop can be contacted at bishop@wmay.com 

Did you like this article?
If you did, Thumb It!
4 thumbs so far

2007 Bishop on Air dot com, all rights reserved.
Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
Last modified: Thursday, December 13, 2007

The views expressed in this article are those of Bishop on Air dot com only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Bishop on Air dot com is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

Report violation by Bishop on Air dot com of Nolan Chart LLC's terms of use policy.