Times Of Israel Book Review-How US, UK Newspaper Moguls Enabled Hitler
The Times of Israel does an important review of a new book by Kathryn Olmsted, "The Newspaper Axis," detailing the history of six UK and USA Media/newspaper moguls who openly praised Hitler and Mussolini, in some cases men who were rabid anti-semites. Included are Lord Rothmere of the UK Daily Mail, William Randolph Hearst, and Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune. They wrote fascist propaganda and aided the pro-fascist political groups in their respective countries.
One omission in this review (though I've not read the book itself yet) is in the section on Lord Max Beaverbrook, owner/publisher of the UK's "Daily Express." The reviewer cites Beaverbrook's personal history of support for Hitler up until the invasion of Poland, (even after Kristallnacht which he defended at the time, the first phase of Hitler's "Final Solution" for the Jews ) Not mentioned is that Beaverbrook was the personal mentor and sponsor for the then young Australian newspaper entrepreneur, Rupert Murdoch, who was just getting started in the Tabloid business and was taken under Beaverbrook's wing. How the Times of Israel article could neglect to mention this is astounding, actually.
I will read Olmstead's book, hopefully she did not make the same omission as the reviewer. But it is worth restating. All of these men were very rich. So is Murdoch today. But what underlies their greed and power-grabbing is an ideology which drives them. It is oligarchicism. Oligarchism is the outlook of "rule by the few."
Oligarchs create and destroy political and economic systems out of convenience, like putting on a new suit. In the course of our fight to defend our democracy in the coming period, it is crucial to remember that oligarchs control public opinion. There are differences among them, but in the larger sphere they are agreed upon one thing. They are united by the idea that people need to be controlled, and the very concept of "self-government" dependent upon "the consent of the governed" is anathema. They are expert in social profiling and psychological warfare. They decide what "information" should be presented that day, or not. Some of them are factual, but still "manage" our opinions by deciding what facts we should be allowed to hear, and what spin to put on them.
America is vulnerable to this because we are very much a nation without philosophy. We have Biblical and other forms of religious indoctrination, some Eastern religious currents, the remnants of indigenous cultures. But for the most part, the majority of Americans reject philosophy as a waste of time. We are pragmatic to a fault.
It is a tragic irony that we now have technology which gives us access to almost all of the information in world history and to check the validity of every "fact," yet we are less able than ever to draw the correct conclusions from those facts and information, because as a society, we are superficial and live in the moment.
You wonder why men like these have the power that they do? Because we gave it to them, by deferring judgment on the most important things, because we were too lazy to be bothered with them at the time. That is the unpleasant truth of the matter.
