Net neutrality and the death of the first amendment

JC Craze
JC Craze
Jul 28, 2017 · 7 min read

A historical perspective.

Lately we have been hearing a lot about net neutrality and why we need to make sure that it is maintained, which we do. What I haven’t read though is why. Yes there have been articles explaining what would and could happen. This however is not what I mean when I say why we must maintain it. So over the course of this article I hope to provide the historical context needed to fully understand what is really going on. This is not about allowing ISPs to charge more for some peoples bandwidth, although it is a possible and probable outcome. Nor is it about suppressing non ISP businesses in favor of ISP businesses, although that is a likely outcome. This is about suppressing non consenting viewpoints. See here is the truth, Neoliberalism hates free speech. Ultimately the constitution cannot coexist with neoliberals. I say this because whether you call them neoliberal or neoconservative they both subscribe to the same economic and foreign policy ideals, there is no difference. Yes, I know what I just suggested there. In another article I am working on Called “ A House Divided” I will go into more depth on this but for now that is not the purpose of this writing.

The Fairness doctrine

In 1949 The FCC introduced the Fairness Doctrine. From WikipediaThe Fairness Doctrine had two basic elements: It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The demise of this FCC rule has been considered by some to be a contributing factor for the rising level of party polarization in the United States” Basically what the fairness doctrine said was that the airwaves were a public trust. The United States owned the airwaves and the media had an obligation to present an issue as it related to both sides of an issue and diversity. When Ronald Reagan became president his FCC chairman decided that due to the high level of media outlets, including cable there was no need for the doctrine. However they couldn’t remove it at that time because of the outcry, that it was going to negatively impact diverse information to the public, so they ignored it. It wasn’t officially taken off the books of the FCC till August 2011 by Barack Obama. The elimination of the fairness doctrine helped with the next step in the overall plan, the segregation of viewpoints and the rise of partisan media. Enter Bill Clinton, the vast right wing conspiracy and fox news. First however we need to take a step back into the way back machine and talk about the CIA for a few moments and Operation Mockingbird.

In the 1950s the CIA began an operation that came to be called Operation Mockingbird. Its expressly stated goal was to be able to control and disseminate anti-communist propaganda in response to the rise of The International Organization of Journalists. I won’t go into the full history of the operation as Global research did an excellent job already, but here is the main thrust of the Operation. The CIA began not only cultivating contacts within the American media who were friendly to them, but also started training CIA operatives as reporters and getting them hired on at major media outlets. They then, counter to the stated CIA charter, began running CIA approved messaging through these contacts. Today it should be noted that nearly every major media outlet has very large funding and association with the CIA. Including a very interesting deal with John Brennan, Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post.

As I said before one of the primary reasons given to disregard the fairness doctrine was the number of independent media outlets and sources. In 1996 there were 50 companies that controlled most of the media outlets in the United States. In addition there were rules in place stating how many print, radio and television outlets in a given market in order to prevent the control of the media messaging by any one group or enterprise. Today 5 companies control almost all of the radio, news (both print and broadcast) in addition to what is seen in television programming, the music industry, and the big screen. Not only does this provide only an illusion of choice but it also has given 5 CEOs tremendous power over what is or isn’t shown to the public at large. Consider if you will this instance, the war in Syria. In 1983 the CIA released a memo discussing overthrow of or coercion of Assad in order to facilitate a pipeline for transmission of oil and gas through Syria as part of the 7 country plan. Syria though had some unique strategic challenges associated with it. The first was its very close alliance with Russia, followed with the fact that Assad was hugely popular with the Syrian people so the CIA wasn’t able to start homegrown revolutions. Also the United States got bogged down in the two wars it was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq long enough for the US population to get war weary and also find out it was lied to about the reasons for the invasions. Additionally the governments we installed in the two countries asked us to leave. So Syria was put on the back burner until oil was discovered in the Golan Heights. Since the Golan Heights was actually Syrian territory that was annexed during the 1973 Yom Kipper war. It has been a source of contention between the UN and Israel every since. When oil was discovered exclusive leases for exploration and extraction were given to AFEK oil a subsidiary of Genie oil. Genie oil has as its Strategic advisory board the following individuals:

Michael Steinhardt (SAB Chairman) Noted Wall Street investor and Principal Manager, Steinhardt Management LLC. Founder Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and noted philanthropist

Richard Cheney

46th Vice President of the United States. Vice President Cheney also served as President and CEO of Halliburton Company and U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993. Halliburton was also a major reason for the rise of Blackwater and Cheney helped to more fully develop the public private security contractor infrastructures in the CIA. In addition he was a primary architect for the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and the media echo chamber regarding weapons of mass destruction.

Marry Landrieu

United States Senator from Louisiana from 1996 to 2014. Senator Landrieu served as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In her capacity as chair, she sponsored and passed the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Bill. The bill fosters partnerships focused on developing resources such as natural gas and alternative fuels, on the academic, business and governmental levels.

Rupert Murdoch

Founder and Executive Chairman of News Corporation, one of the world’s largest diversified media companies. News Corporation’s holdings include Fox Entertainment, Dow Jones and Company, the New York Post, HarperCollins and significant media assets on six continents.

Bill Richardson

Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. Mr. Richardson has served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997–1998), Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration (1998–2001), Chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Jacob Rothschild, OM, GBE

Chairman of the J. Rothschild group of companies and of RIT Capital Partners plc. Chairman of Five Arrows Limited. Lord Rothschild is a noted philanthropist and Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation.

Dr. Lawrence Summers

Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. Dr. Summers served as the 71st Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton and as Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.

R. James Woolsey

Director of Central Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 and as Under Secretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979. Mr. Woolsey is co-founder of the United States Energy Security Council and is Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

So we have an Energy company with the In country head being Efraim “Effi” Eitam who called for expelling Arabs out of Israel and Palestine and who global strategic board is made up of the architect of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The owner of most world banks who is directly threatened by Iran and Syria’s efforts to set up state banks that compete with not only his interests but the petrodollar, also whom most large corporations have to go to for lending. A former CIA director and various other high level US former officials. All of whom stand to lose out on development of a billion barrels of oil while Syria maintains rights to the Golan. I’ll bet you did not hear any of this through your favorite mainstream media news organization. Nor did you probably hear that the head of Libya was setting up a gold standard that would have destroyed US and French financial interests in Africa. I can go on but I hope my point has been made. How did we get here though?

As I alluded to earlier to earlier we need to go back to the 90s and the Telecommunications act of 96. What this law did was remove the restrictions on market ownership and allowed the more wealthy and connected companies to start gobbling up smaller media franchises leading to the state we are in today where 90% of all media is owned by one of 5 mega Corporations. In fact the only media sources that are not under control by one of these corporations are alternative news sources and to a degree social media. I say to a degree because social media has started to soft regulate free speech on their platform after the 2016 primaries where independent media outlets and social media users were able to overcome a blackout of information on certain candidates and issues. This proved the power of the blog sphere, social media and independent media. Now the only way to overcome that power is to limit its reach. When that reach is dead so is the 1st amendment.

JC Craze

Written by

JC Craze

I was told once, “If you dont see the stories you would like, it means its time to write them”. There are many stories needing to be told, time for Craze talk.

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