1984 Redux

It just dawned on us, in an awakening of our conspiratorial senses, that the missing Malaysian plane is not what it seems. In reality, the plane went down in the water minutes after the transponder was turned off. But agents of the U.S Government convinced the main stream media to continue the avalanche of "news" about the missing plane and the continuing "search" in order to present the subliminal message that government surveillance technology was a very imperfect technology and the public need not worry about the government spying on its own citizens. The media were at first reluctant to participate in the hoax until they realized the positive effect on their profits coming from the sale of advertising time and space. The government for its part always has deniability from "black ops" operations.   

Simulacra-Land

This post is probably the result of too many servings of winter fruits and vegetables. "It looks like a tomato but it doesn't taste like one." Doesn't that sound familiar? Now substitute tomato with strawberry, melon, or peach and you get the picture, a familiar one to many of us. It doesn't taste like what it says!


Now switch to the national scene. "The U.S. gross national product per capita is the highest among all nations." But how come it doesn't feel like that? Maybe it's because we have lost millions of U.S. jobs to plants overseas. And maybe it's because the U.S. tax code encourages companies to invest in joint ventures and overseas production while protecting their profits from the Taxman.


Next image of reality. "The unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level since 2009 because of strong job creation." How can that be? Maybe it's because we stopped counting the millions of Americans who have given up looking for work and who are no longer counted as being in the labor force.


Simulacra are images of reality, but not the real thing. Our tomato, GDP, and unemployment rate are poor representations of the real thing. Unfortunately, our political leaders and national media have been very successful in spoon-feeding the American people with false images of reality and constructing Simulacra-Land.