America ... entered the Dark Ages

To quote...

In one of his final essays from 2006, Vidal wrote that America had “entered the Dark Ages.”

“What we are seeing,” he explained, “are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture—a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; as well as, today, the political and economic marginalization of our culture.”

None of the horror is possible without, at least, the tacit approval of a large percentage of the American public. Polls reveal that Americans are comfortable with drone killing and torture, that they do not believe in evolutionary biology, and that they no longer read much. Vidal once quipped, “Half of the American people read a newspaper. Half of the American people vote. Let us hope it is the same half.”


Extract from: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/great-american-novelist-who-warned-us-about-donald-trump-fox-news-and-rise

Journalistic Integrity and "Manufacturing Consent" - Dying German editor confesses planting stories to encourage war!

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/editor-of-major-german-newspaper-says-he-planted-stories-for-cia/article/424470

By Ralph Lopez     Jan 26, 2015 in World

Editor of major newspaper says he planted stories for CIA

Becoming the first credentialed, well-known media insider to step forward and state publicly that he was secretly a "propagandist," an editor of a major German daily has claimed that he personally planted stories for the CIA.....

...Dr. Ulfkotte says the corruption of journalists and major news outlets by the CIA is routine, accepted, and widespread in the western media, and that journalists who do not comply either cannot get jobs at any news organization, or find their careers cut short....

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/editor-of-major-german-newspaper-says-he-planted-stories-for-cia/article/424470#ixzz3TGQnV4ss