The indespensible role the mass media play is to vet the news and suppress the truth. Important events and newsworthy items are examined only sporadically and superficially and in a sensational matter. Events handled this way tend to desensitize the population. As well, regularly with-holding the critical political issues from the population. For instance, when have the newspapers ever revealed parliament is a fraud run by demagogic scoundrels? In reality, doesn't the media tyrants promote all the treacherous and devious politicians? Don't they promote and imply the Labor Party is a party for workers when it is another party for big money. Let us not forget the newsmedia reported all the lies, uncritically, about the non existent weapons of mass destruction and the colonial aspirations involved to steal the oil. Then there are the media tyrants trying to privatise (steal?) the ABC so the programs and content is being gutted or dumbed down. All very democratic of course. What about when the media is in feeding frenzy, the shark attack mode. Or when the press is judge jury and hangman and no aspect is too sensational. There is no presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial in the media; just ask Mr. Hicks, oh he is not available for comment - he is tied up doing 5 years of torture without charge! When do the media ever come out and explain clearly that it is Bush and Howard that should be charged with war crimes. The media are not babes in the woods, they certainly know what constitutes war crimes! The media is monopolised and owned by billionaires to suppress democracy, they have the media in an iron grip. For instance, in the US one person owns 600 radio stations. Democracy is just some bombast, a swear word the media throw around when it is convenient.

I find it interesting that no one appears to have picked up on what to me is a central point of the article - the tendancy in political debate to assume those who see issues differently have bad motives or are evil.

My own experience in many cases has been that when when you take the time to listen you find that those who see things differently have some similar goals but see a different means to achieving those goals.

There are self serving manipulators on all sides of politics, but many on both sides care about the same goals, they just have different views on how those goals can be achieved.

We learn most by listening to those who see things differently rather than on focussing on the words of those who think like ourselves.

R0bert

Robert,
I couldn't agree more, someone on another thread was complaining about Gillard being a fan of Swedish socialism, so what it is a different system to ours, but Sweden hasn't disappeared from the globe, after 25 years of that system. I'm not saying that's the system we should have, I agree with you we have had a good look at extreme right wing politics, and come election time the population can vote for a change, or more of the same. All systems have plus and minus points our current one no different, well said Robert.

'I find it interesting that no one appears to have picked up on what to me is a central point of the article ..'

Too much thinking involved R0bert, cant you see these people just want to dumb it down into another right v left war?

Re the book, the title: "The War on Democracy: Conservative Opinion in the Australian Press" is all we need to detect the irony and hypocrisy.

I'll 3rd Robert. Anyone who uses ANY means to try to discourage debate is anti-democratic. And these people can be found across the political spectrum and across all groups that humans have ever belonged to. All voices need to be heard & illogical or misguided comments need to be criticised based on logic without all sorts of other things being attached, eg. abuse & categorisations (ie your opinion means that you are x, y, z). Of course we have all done it at times, but we need to remember the old adage, "opinions are like * * * * *'s....everyone has one". Any tactics other than logic simply weaken the argument. If an opinion really is The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth (and with all issues I believe there is no such thing), then it wouldn't be opinion, it would be fact. So by definition all debate on Online Opinion really is just opinion. Of course, some opinions are more reasonable & therefore more persuasive than others.

I've been on OLO only a short time but it's easy to tell the democratic posters from the anti-dem ones. And the former are usually more intelligent & certainly more persuasive than the latter by a long shot.

"They contend that right wing columnists are not just participants in a culture war, but are also anti-democratic"

There have been government finance cuts to all the artistic-cultural events, theaters, art galleries very similar to the starving of funding in the schools and universities. In the universities, the Arts and Social Sciences have been severely gutted. The TAFE has had funding cuts and courses reduced in the arts. In the art galleries and theaters the criteria in conjunction with the blockbuster is 'bums on seats' - 'making money, money, money.' There is a procedure taking place to hose down art from peoples lives particularly limiting or attacking any creative aesthetic sensitivity in peoples understanding towards life; the exclusion of vast masses of people and their lives from artistic consideration, replaced by the fantasized, trivial treatment of the lives of ‘beautiful’ people without financial problems, people who don’t exist, and the systematic degradation of popular culture, the calculated effort to brutalize and render humanity indifferent to suffering and social ills. To desensitize and break up any considerations of genuine international solidarity replaced by a national narrow mindedness and 'whats it got to do with me.' Society must be prepared and debased mentally by the press in order to implement Bush's "one war following another." As well, driving masses of people into the most wretched poverty. None of it possible without the press dictating the course and whipping the politicians into line!