Mystic Politics

The Top Five Tricks of Religious Writers

The Top Five Tricks of Religious Writers: the five tricks, tropes and memes that pervade religious news, religious media, and religious writing.

Do you think that the media presents the religion/politics/science position they want us to have, or are they just responding to what we want?

The Science of Fox News: Why Its Viewers are the Most Misinformed

‘Authoritarian people have a stronger emotional need for an outlet like Fox, where they can find affirmation and escape factual challenges to their beliefs.’

Political Propaganda: Six Ways the Media Has Misreported Syria

‘As in the case of Libya, from NY Times to Fox News, from Guardian to National Post and from Le Monde to Le Figaro, the Western mainstream media’s coverage of the Syrian conflict has been mostly simplistic and black & white with a Hollywoodian good (opposition) and evil (Syrian government) story.’

Noam Chomsky: Are We About to Get Embroiled in a Nightmare War With Iran?

‘Europeans regard Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. In the Arab world, Iran is disliked but seen as a threat only by a very small minority. Rather, Israel and the U.S. are regarded as the pre-eminent threat. A majority think that the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons: In Egypt on the eve of the Arab Spring, 90 percent held this opinion, according to Brookings Institution/Zogby International polls.’

The Hacks of War: The Media and Iran

‘The law itself is crystal clear. Under the UN Charter it is the ultimate war crime for a nation to initiate an aggressive war against another country that has not attacked it or that does not pose an “imminent threat” of attack. And given that even Israeli and US intelligence officials concede that Iran is not at this time making a bomb, and thus cannot hope to have a working one even a year from now were they to begin a crash program, there is simply no imminent threat.’

Media Wars & Big Bluffs: Israel’s Huff and Puff Game

‘The air is full of dire warnings of an impending Israeli attack on Iran. Prophets of doom declare themselves full of forebodings and point fearfully to the meeting in the White House between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as crucial in making the decisions that will lead to peace or war.’

The Original Sin: Assassinating Iranian Scientists

‘To avoid restating the obvious, or repeating what others have already established, I take these facts as givens: that the main perpetrator of the assassination of Iranian scientists has been the Israeli spy agency Mossad, assisted by various covert operations agencies of the United States and its allies; that the claim of Iran’s possessing or pursuing a nuclear arms program is false; and that, therefore, the assertion that Iran poses an “existential” threat to Israel is, likewise, a fiction designed to justify plans of war and regime change in that country.’

Hacktivist Collective Anonymous vows ‘crusade’ against Israel

‎’Online collective Anonymous has pledged a “crusade” against Israel. Claiming the country is committing “crimes against humanity” and gearing for “nuclear holocaust”, the group promised a campaign against the Israeli government.

In their statement issued early on Friday, Anonymous accused Israeli leaders of creating false democracy, serving the interests of a “select few” while “trampling the liberties of the masses.” The group said that Israel manipulates public opinion with a combination of “media deception” and “political bribery”.

Addressing the Israeli leaders, Anonymous stated that their “Zionist bigotry” is to blame for killings and displacements, adding that “as the world weeps” they are planning their “next attack”. The group pledged not to allow the attack to happen.’

A Few Words On The Infuriating ‘Liberal Media’ Argument

‘If you tune into Fox News or Conservative talk radio, you’re not likely to have to wait a long time before they mention the Liberal Media. They talk about it as if it’s a monolithic, cohesive organization whose aim is to brainwash the American public so they can install a Tsar atop a new world order that forces people to gay marry and use energy efficient lightbulbs. In addition, Conservative politicians never miss a chance to dismiss a story as coming from the Liberal Media if it happens to cast them in any kind of negative light. Here are a couple of things that are infuriating about this.’