MB Civic

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/books/review/Buruma.t.html?ref=books&pagewanted=print

The Greatest Story Ever Told: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina, by Frank Rich

“Show business has always been an essential part of ruling people, and so is the use of fction, especially when going to war…Rich’s subject is the creation of false reality…What is fascinating about the era of George W. Bush…is that the spinmeisters, fake news reporters, photo-op creators, disinformation experts, intelligence maniuplators, fictional heroes, and public relations men posing as commentators operate in a world where virtual reality has already threatened to eclipse empirical investigation.”

Noting the comment by a White House aide that we live in “an empire” where “we create our own reality,” the reviewer notes that, “This kind of official arrogance is not new…although it is perhaps more common in dictatorships than in democracies. What is disturbing is the way it matches…the postmodern debunking of objective truth, bloggers and talk radio blowhards driving the media, news organizations being taken over by entertainment corporations, and the profusion of ever more sophisticated means to doctor reality,” and adds that “Accusing the media of bias is an act of remarkable chutzpah for an administration that pitches its messages straight at radio talk show hosts and public relations men.”

The reviewer goes on to say that, “[T]he point of Rich’s fine polemic is that the Bush Administration has consistentyl lied about the reasons for going to war, about the way it was conducted, and about the terrible consequences….[W]aging war under false pretenses is highly damaging to a democracy, especially when one of the ostensible aims is to spread democracy to others. If Rich is correct…the Bush Administration has given hypocrisy a bad name.”

Noting that The New York Times (for which Mr. Rich writes) is by no means forgiven for its complicity in both touting questionable stories (Jessica Lynch, “Mission Accomplished,” etc.) and ignoring important ones (particularly the British intelligence memo that clearly shows that “the intelligence and facts” re the planned invasion of Iraq “were being fixed around the policy” of going to war), the reviewer asks: “How could this have happened? How could some of the best, most fact-checked, most reputable news organizations in the English-speaking world have been so gullible? How can one explain the temporary paralysis of skepticism? This is perhaps the most painful question raised by Rich’s book…Newspaper editors should not have to feel the need to prove their patriotism, or their absence of bias. Their job is to publish what they believe to be true, based on evidence and good judgment.”

Looking for reasons for this “gullibility” and “lack of skepticism,” the reviewer suggests that “Intimidation is only a part of the story…The changing nature of gathering and publishing information has made mainstream journalists unusually defensive. That more people than ever are now able to express their views, on radio shows and Web sites, is perhaps a form of democracy, but it has undermined the authority of editors, whose expertise was meant to act as a filter against nonsense or prejudice. And the deliberate confusion, on television, of news and entertainment has done further damage.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/books/review/Weiner.t.html?pagewanted=print

Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon’s Scientific Underworld, by Sharon Weinberger

Weinberger, the editor of Defense Technology International, “argues, irrefutably, that fringe science has reached ever greater heights in military circles. Since the United States has fewer and fewer real scientific experts in the government, fringe-science projects can receive the backing of the Pentagon without a semblance of peer review or the application of the scientific method.”

Weinberger suggests that, “[T]he planning process is beyond parody. The different branches of the armed forces conjure up dream weapons, setting technological requirements for them far beyond the state of science of the art of war. Once an idea is born, it goes through two stages of research and development: too soon to tell and too late to stop. Contractors cross their fingers while promising to fulfill the Pentagon’s visions, whether or not those visions comply with the laws of physics.”

This is particularly troubling, suggests Weinberger, because “The Defense Department controls the biggest and most inviting pool of public capital available to private contractors in the United States. Over the years, much of thoe 12-figure sum has gone down the drain in pursuit of wonder weapons.”

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http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F20C1FFD3C550C7B8CDDA00894DE404482

The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way Into Elite Colleges – and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates, by Daniel Golden

Golden starts with the premise that “By the time my son follows his two sisters…through college, I will have spent $1.7 million on tuition and other unavoidable add-ons…” adding that, based on the research for this book, he’s “gotten away cheap” because “What it [really] cost[s] to buy your kid into Harvard…seems to be $2.5 million, plus what you’ve contributed to politicians, legally or not, so they’ll make a follow-up call for you.”

However, according to the reviewer, “Golden…is not objecting to superhuman tuition costs, or even…that lots of people…go to expensive private secondary schools (where the same admissions corruption is at work) in order to have a better shot at getting into these top 100 colleges. His focus is the excess on top of the excesses already built into the system. What he’s saying is that hard-won privilege should not, damn it, be trumped by greater privilege.”