The Last Days of Democracy

by COHEN, ELLIOTT D.FRASER, BRUCE W.

• ISBN13: 9781591025047
• ISBN10: 1591025044
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-04-03
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

In this chilling account of an America in political and cultural decline, media critics Elliot D. Cohen and Bruce W. Fraser show how mainstream media corporations like CNN, Fox, and NBC (General Electric) together with giant telecoms like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have become administration pawns in a well-organised effort to hijack America. Cohen and Fraser show in blunt terms how incredible power, control, and wealth have been amassed in the hands of an elite few while the rest of us have been systematically manipulated, deceived, and divested of our freedom. Calling attention to the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a carefully devised plan for international dominion launched by high officials in the Bush administration, this book tells the story of an America quietly being stripped of its democratic way of life on its way to becoming a full-blown authoritarian state. The authors detail how mainstream media have failed us in covering issues crucial to the survival of American democracy -- the Bush administration's domestic spying program; the facts about the September 11 attacks; presidential election fraud; the events leading up to the Iraq war; and the selling out of Internet freedom, to name just some. They reveal how corporate media have systematically attempted to dumb down and distract us from reality with sex and violence; how government has used corporate media to "shock and awe" Americans into surrendering their constitutional rights in the name of the "War on Terrorism"; and how media personalities have been complicit in the mass deception. The final chapter points out important ways in which Americans can counter the erosion of democracy by relying less on mainstream media and more on independent news sources, through grassroots activism, peaceful assembly, and exercising their free speech, and by using critical thinking to expose the dangers we face.

Author Biography

Elliot D. Cohen, PhD, is the director of the Institute of Critical Thinking Bruce W. Fraser, PhD, is founder and president of Americans for Moral Government

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 9
The New American Dictatorship	p. 17
London Bridge Is Falling Down	p. 17
The Emperor Is Naked	p. 32
Bush's "Culture of Life" Is Really a Culture of Oppression	p. 47
The Fox Is Guarding the Henhouse	p. 55
Who's in Bed with Whom?	p. 55
The Socio-Pathology of Corporate Media Giants	p. 62
Less Unscrupulous Media Corporations	p. 64
Film Censorship: Coming Soon to a Theater Near You	p. 72
Look Who's Not Looking Out for You	p. 81
The High-Priced Hookers of Mediaville	p. 81
Journalists with Chutzpah	p. 93
The Media Matrix	p. 108
The Un-American Dream	p. 109
The Illusion of Freedom	p. 110
Extreme Makeover of the American Mind	p. 118
Wasting Away in Mediaville	p. 127
Manufacturing Prejudice	p. 127
Exploiting Family Relations	p. 130
Dumbing Down America	p. 136
Marketing War	p. 139
Blaming the Liberals	p. 148
The Quiet Plot to Steal America	p. 150
The Myth of Liberal Bias	p. 155
Shock and Awe	p. 173
American Terrorism (The MSM Covers Up the Blood)	p. 173
Bush's War on Terror: Keep Us Afraid, We'll Submit	p. 176
Who Terrorized Whom on 9/11?	p. 183
Big Brother Is Watching Us	p. 195
Dissidents Beware: The Outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame	p. 197
Prosecuting Journalists as Traitors for Doing Their Job	p. 202
Project for the New American Net	p. 208
The PNAN Plan	p. 209
The Supreme Betrayal of Internet Freedom	p. 212
Silencing the Little Guy: The Mega Telecom "Pay for Play" Plan	p. 217
The Great American Firewall	p. 219
Now Under Way: The Hostile Takeover of Wi-Fi Internet	p. 228
Pax Americana	p. 233
America the Tyrannical: The Neoconservative Vision for the Twenty-first Century	p. 234
The Godfathers of K Street	p. 246
Deconstructing Politico-Corporate Power	p. 254
Democracy in a Black Box	p. 259
The Help America Vote Act (AKA: The Help to End Free Elections in America Act)	p. 261
The Unimpeachable Evidence for Widespread, Systematic Voting Fraud	p. 271
What Now, Compatriots?	p. 290
The Timely Lesson of Nazi Germany	p. 291
Keeping Informed with Indie Media	p. 298
Saving the Free Internet	p. 300
Peaceful Assembly and Civil Disobedience	p. 302
Educators Are Vanguards of Democracy	p. 306
Selected Media	p. 313
Selected Bibliography	p. 317
Index	p. 321
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